This was my cappuccino on Friday afternoon. There was enough foam to go around, too! I could have shared with several other patrons.
I just received a message from Sam Clark at Lo-Fi Coffee in Mesa. They wanted to let everyone know they are hiring:
Looking for barista with training preferably, if no experience knowledge and interest in the industry is important. Employee will need to think on feet and be able to work in a traditional coffee shop as well as non-traditional climate. Ability to work amongst musicians is important. Prior Experience, resume, cover sheet, and references are required.
I received an email this morning from Victor Kessler, one of the first readers of Arizona Coffee, and owner and operator of Lost Dutchman Coffee Roasters. They are growing fast and looking to hire at their Tempe location.
The job description:
Part time work of 10 hours/week to start with. Looking for an extremely coffee oriented person for our business that knows how to work on and update web sites using standard HTML code. Secondary duties (to start with) will be to roast coffee on various equipment including Ambex and Probat roasters as well as equipment maintenance.
An interesting response to the question about super-automatic espresso machines:
The wrong assumption that underpins superautomatic espresso machines is that the critical variables in espresso coffee making can be standardized and controlled. They can go close, but superautomatic espresso machines cannot control some of the finer nuances that are necessary for quality espresso coffee making. Control and adjustment of these nuances typically requires the expert ‘eye’ and judgement of a skilled barista.
Today my wife and I wanted to grab some Greek food and drove over to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant. They offered Greek Coffee so we had that with baklava for dessert. It is very similar to Turkish coffee… finely ground coffee beans, made in a briki, etc.
Saw this cute little espresso maker photo and wondered if anyone has tried using one before?
This, my friends, is a small cappuccino ‘for here’ from Coffee Plantation (the location on Shea Blvd). I stopped in yesterday afternoon for a game of chess, as I like to do occasionally (good group there), and had this.
Had this exceptional cappuccino yesterday at Echo Coffee. Very tasty, and I like how they give you a little cookie if you order ‘for here.’
Echo Coffee
2902 North 68th St.
Suite 135
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone: (480) 422-4081
Twitter: @EchoCoffeeAZ
Here’s a sweet video showing the new Shine Coffee on ABC 15. They show the inside of their Airstream which they drive all around the valley making espresso drinks. Pretty cool idea. In the video, they say it took almost 9 months to fully renovate the Airstream and get set up for business. They buy coffee from a variety of local coffee roasters, according to the video. Laryn Blok, co-founder, says: “Make friends with your local roaster.” Such great advice.
Manuel Santana-Bendix is quite possibly the only person who grows, processes, imports, and roasts coffee and lives in Arizona. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Thanks to Dana Desonie for emailing to let me know about Café de Doña Ella. From the web site:
Café de Doña Ella is an effort to bring you the best quality coffee, from the Highlands of El Salvador. It is farmed and processed by Manuel Alberto Santana-Bendix, a resident of Flagstaff who also owns his family’s small coffee farm in El Salvador (Finca Grano de Oro). On the farm he grows the Borbón (Bourbon) variety of Coffea arabica, arguably the best variety of coffee trees.
In 2004, his coffee was one of the winners in a Cup of Excellence. You can purchase his coffee in Flagstaff. To learn more, visit his web site at cafededonaella.com.
What a year! My wife had a baby girl (Emily), and we travelled all over the state visiting coffee shops. Visited Bisbee, Tucson, Flagstaff, and lots of other cities (still need to write about several of those stops).
Arizona Coffee has 6,676 followers on Twitter (up from 5,800 last year). Facebook is still a fraction of what is on Twitter, but I like the photo album aspect on Facebook. We have 527 fans on Facebook (up from 337 a year ago).
So without further ado, here’s the best posts from this year:
In case you are curious, you can browse my “Best of” posts from previous years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.
I’d like to give a warm shout out to all of my sponsors this year, especially:
Have a Happy New Year! — Chris Tingom
Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas! Here’s a little Christmas tree I made awhile back:
Here’s a funny clip from the movie Elf, in which Buddy the Elf discovers the worlds best coffee.
I saw this clever little flowchart the other day and had to share it. What to do if you find a coffee pot at work.
I have to admit, this sounds simply cool, but I don’t know why.
Stumptown rolled out an on-tap version of their Stumptown Cold Brew. It’s pulled from an actual beer tap, with a wooden tap handle, and served tall in a pint glass with ice.
Also, Sprudge notes that Stumptown is experimenting with a slow-bar concept… something I recall Cartel is planning to implement as well.
