Arizona Coffee

I have some sad news. The Coffee Vein in Tucson has closed. I’ve received this news from Matt Moran and confirmed it by looking at their MySpace page. Best wishes to the entire crew. It was great.

Sometime soon I’m planning a trip over to Cartel Coffee Lab, but for those not in the loop it is a new coffee bar / coffee roaster located in Tempe.

From their MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/cartelcoffeelab

We’re a new coffee roastery located in Tempe, Arizona. We are excited to offer our customers quality whole bean coffee as well as brewing equipment and grinders. Curious what our coffees taste like? We’d love to serve you a drink at our espresso bar, or brew you a fresh cup of coffee on our Clover. We’re located on the southwest corner of University and Ash, just around the corner from buffalo exchange.

Cartel Coffee Lab
225 W. University Dr.
Suite #101
Tempe AZ 85281
Phone: (480) 225-3899

A new coffee brand is coming to Tucson, and they’ve just opened their first location in Arizona, a drive-through.

Waverly’s Premium Coffee Roasters is located at 5775 E Broadway Blvd. Donna Hammond emailed me to let me know that they are planning a grand opening in May. I believe they are now open for a soft launch. Waverly’s is a coffee company based in Spokane, Washington.

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* Daily Buzz Coffeehouse is now closed *

I took a video of the Daily Buzz Coffeehouse and wanted to post it here on the site.

Daily Buzz Coffeehouse
22721 S. Ellsworth Rd.
Queen Creek, AZ 85242
(in the new Village Shops at Queen Creek)

* Daily Buzz Coffeehouse is now closed *

A few weeks ago I drove down to Queen Creek to check out the new Daily Buzz Coffeehouse. For people who live or work in that part of town, you are lucky.

Their are two things you need to know: First, the coffee is exceptional. They import all of their coffee from PT’s Coffee in Kansas City. It’s very smooth yet flavorful blend. Along with that, the owner, Bill McCauley is also experienced in food distribution, also managing Red Rock Foods. What does this mean? It means that they know their products and how to make them taste the best.

Carla Zacher is the manager at Daily Buzz, and prepared both a latte and a double espresso for me to taste. I’ve got to say, both were quite good — I drank them both in just a few minutes they were so delicious. I forgot to take a photo of the espresso, but here is a photo of my latte.

The second thing you need to know is that the building and interior are all custom designed and perfect for hanging out. There’s a section in the back that is geared towards laptop users. There are even plugs and wires if you want to plugin, or use their wireless internet (which is free). I hear that they’re installing televisions in this back area, too, so you can watch the news.

In the middle are some comfortable lounge chairs and then in the front are tables. A huge outdoor patio is also available when the weather is nice.

Beautiful outdoor signage. Some of the best I have ever seen on a coffee shop.

A shiny silver La Marzocco two group espresso machine takes center stage on the huge granite counter top. There is also room for a second espresso machine. You can also see the grinder and when I visited they ground and dosed for my shots.

A closeup of the La Marzocco espresso machine.

The front of the La Marzocco.

A view from the front counter — lots of tables for seating. I should also mention that Daily Buzz sells fruit smoothies which I understand are to die for. They make them with fresh fruit. Plus, they have breakfast bagel sandwiches and I understand more food is on the way.

Another view of the front counter.

Here is a view of the back room where there are stools and a counter for resting your laptop. Cool place to work for sure.

As you can see, they have a huge patio. Too bad the weather is turning warm. Overall, Daily Buzz is exceptional and if you’re in the area, or even want to try a new place then head down to Queen Creek and give it a try. Now, I just hope they open one up close to my office!

Daily Buzz Coffeehouse
22721 S. Ellsworth Rd.
Queen Creek, AZ 85242
(in the new Village Shops at Queen Creek)

View Larger Map

Terry writes:

I was at the Jamaican Blue last night and heard they are closing for good on May 1st 2008.

I am looking for a place I can go to late nights – 11PM or later in the east valley/south Scottsdale area.

Wanted to check out Contraband but cannot find an address. On Ash in Tempe south of University.

I phoned Jamaican Blue and the phone number was disconnected.

Brandon from Coffee Plantation posted a comment in a recent thread and confirmed the upcoming location on Camelback Rd. & 20th St. at Town & Country shopping center.

It will be opening in May, 2008.

In addition, it looks like they have finally updated their web site with revised location information. Here are all of the current locations.

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I visited SOLO Cafe on Friday afternoon with a bunch of friends. I had a chance to meet Chad, one of the owners, and had myself a latte. Here is the video I shot that day.

SOLO Cafe
107 E. Baseline Road
A-4
Tempe AZ 85283
Phone: (480) 838-SOLO (7656)

John wrote to let me know about Cornerstone Coffee House in El Mirage (right next door to Surprise). They have a nice looking interior, live music, and free wifi.

Cornerstone Coffee House
13915 N. Dysart Road
El Mirage, AZ 85335
Phone: (623) 933-1118

Who has the best monthly “subscription” style coffee service? Thinking of a setup where you get coffee from a different roast in your mailbox every month.

Brian Shaler staged a protest at a local donut shop today. It was a blast (I went, but I’m not in the photo). More photos are on Flickr. If you’re confused, you should be as there wasn’t much reason to hold a protest. It was a lot of fun though, and a reaction to this.

I was invited to visit SOLO Cafe by the owners. Two gentlemen by the name of AndrewLiam Kelsey and Chad Bare. SOLO Cafe is brand new. Having only opened at the beginning of this year. They have a considerably nice shop and I was very impressed by the quality of the product. Take a look below at my latte. It was awesome.

SOLO is located in the Mill Towne Center on the southeast corner of Mill and Baseline in between Curves and Altered Ego Salon. AndrewLiam wrote to describe their product: “Our coffee is supplied by Cortez Coffee in Tempe, our tea is from Maya Tea of Tucson, our Chai is from Third Street Chai of Boulder, CO and our pastries from Jonathan Robbins Bakery in Tempe.” I love the fact that they’ve disclosed sources. There’s nothing better to inspire confidence than knowing they’re willing to do that.

The interior is really nice. Dark stained cement floors and comfortable seating make for an enjoyable place to cozy up for a few hours or more. The free wireless internet worked great, and I was able to get online without any trouble.

I thought the red bicycle in the back of the shop over the counter was cool. That along with the colorful photography on the walls made for an interesting place to relax.

Considering they are close to ASU, I wouldn’t be surprised if SOLO ends up being one of the top college hangouts for students.

SOLO also recently acquired patio furniture – enough to seat at least 15 outdoors.

SOLO Cafe
107 E. Baseline Road
A-4
Tempe AZ 85283
Phone: (480) 838-SOLO (7656)

Check out this womans reaction after tasting a macchiato she didn’t enjoy.

On Wednesday, there is an informal donut meetup at Wishill’s Donut House. Starts at 11 am for a little more than 1 hour. The event will probably be fun because it’s sort of a joke protest of the fact that Flickr now allows videos.

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/474099/

This caused me to wonder about good places to get donuts in the valley. For some reason Krispy Kreme closed and Dunkin Donuts is also closed across the valley (installing new lunch equipment or something).

Here are a few donut shops:

Wishill’s Donut House
1345 W Mcdowell Rd
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

Rainbow Donut
1347 E Mcdowell Rd
Phoenix, AZ 85006

Rainbow Donut
5045 W Thomas Rd #151
Phoenix, AZ 85031

Rainbow Donut
3458 W Van Buren St #103
Phoenix, AZ 85009

Karsh’s Bakery
5555 North 7th Street,
#116 Cinema Park Plaza
Phoenix, AZ 85014

Bosa Donuts
1016 N Arizona Avenue
Chandler, AZ 85225

Next on the Tempe Coffee Shop Circuit was Bunna Coffee.

Bunna has been open just shy of 2 years now and I’m afraid to say this is my first visit. The coffee shop is in a cozy little strip mall on the NW corner of Elliot & Rural. Bunna serves an almost exclusive organic menu. Their web site claims that 95% of their items are organic.

The coffee shop is small and only has table seating — no couches. I think it’s a wise choice considering the small space available.

Now to the coffee. I ordered a macchiato, which is two shots of espresso marked with foam. I have to be honest, it wasn’t the best. The espresso was under extracted and was very strong. The color in my photo was impacted by the tough florescent lights. I’ll be going back soon and will order a few more drinks to get a better sample.

Bunna Coffee
NW corner of Elliot and Rural in south Tempe.
7520 S. Rural Rd. Suite #12
Tempe, AZ. 85283
Phone: 480-377-2886