Arizona Coffee

This summer I will be sending out an issue of the Arizona Coffee Email Newsletter. Subscribe below if you are not already on the list!

Don’t worry, I’ll never spam you and you can unsubscribe at any time.

There are so many espresso machines on the market now, and I thought it would be fun to do a little series on them. I decided to begin with a list of espresso machines. Feel free to leave a comment with any I have missed and I’ll update this post. Believe me, I know this is an incomplete list.

• La Marzocco
• Simonelli
• Laranzato
• Synesso
• RIO Espresso Machines
• Saeco
• Rancilio
• La San Marco
• Wega
• Astoria
• Victoria Arduino
• La Cimbali
• La Spaziale
• Becerra
• Brasilia
• Conti
• Faema
• Electra
• Gaggia
• Unic
• La Pavoni
• Pasquini Espresso Co.
• Nuova Simonelli
• Astra
• Dalla Corte

And a million others. Help me make this list complete by suggesting machines in the comments.

Update: I’ve added a bunch to the list based on the great recommendations from Austin, JC, Psyd, Ron Cortez, and Roberto Bergami, thank you!

Every first Tuesday of the month Inza Coffeehouse opens their doors for about 50 or more web designers, developers, and tech geeks. It’s called Refresh Phoenix. I took some photos at the May event.

I love the red espresso machine.

My Irish Cream Latte.

Front entrance.

The crowd before Refresh Phoenix begins.

It has been a while since we’ve done a poll on Arizona Coffee, so leave your thoughts on what matters most when selecting a coffee house:

Tomas sent me this link to some really outstanding coffee art. I have to admit, some of them are really good. I’d imagine by the time they are done with some of those, the drink is cold.

Also, there is a huge difference between coffee art and latte art. The biggest is that with latte art you build the design using simply the pour of the milk. With coffee art typically an instrument is used to draw on the foam or sprinkle nutmeg or cinnamon. Just thought I would clarify that.

Here are the poll results from this poll which has been on this site for a year. Obviously this poll is unscientific in nature so take it with a grain of salt.

Does Wireless Internet Influence Coffee Shop Choice: 57% say yes.

It’s sometimes difficult to find good, real live music events at local coffee shops. I was happy to hear about a monthly music event at Drip Coffee Lounge in the newspaper recently.

Every last Saturday of the month, for the last 3 months and ongoing they have events. There are 3-5 artists each month.

(more…)

I have some sad news to report today…

One of our own has passed away. Bill McCauley, the owner of Red Rock Foods and Daily Buzz Coffeehouse passed away on Monday morning. You may know Bill on this web site as “AzBill.” He was a regular contributor, and a sponsor.

If you’d like to read more about what happened, you can see the original article on the Tribune web site (with a few photos). Or watch the original television broadcast on AZ Central. Lastly, a follow up article was posted late Wednesday with additional details.

Important: Daily Buzz Barista’s Need Jobs

An unfortunate side effect of this is that Daily Buzz, which only opened 2 months ago in Queen Creek will be closed. This is really unfortunate.

One of the baristas emailed me to ask if I could post something about them looking for work. Here is what he said: “The Barista’s including myself are out of work and need jobs. I myself have a son and wife and others including the Manager Carla Zacher as well are hurting over the situation and need jobs. Contact me at jason_casale@fastmail.fm if anyone has jobs for us. I can pass the info to the other baristas and Carla.”

Jason Casale (Barista) — Phone (480) 654-3690 or email jason_casale@fastmail.fm
Carla Zacher — (General Manager / Barista) Email carla@dailybuzz.com
Logan (Barista) — Email jason_casale@fastmail.fm
Anthony (Barista) — Email jason_casale@fastmail.fm

I really hope that a local company can offer these people jobs or at least something temporary. If you can, kudos to you!

Red Rock Foods future…

Ron Cortez passed along that “Red Rock Foods has decided to be closed by Bill’s relatives, however business as usual will be taken by a new company called Arizona Coffee Source. Bill’s cousin who is a lawyer has everything set up and is going to operate even with the same employee and inventory (orders are being filled and delivered as now) I got my order today.” If you have an account with Red Rock Foods, just call them and they’ll take care of you.

I’d like to close by quoting Griffin911 (from the forum) when he said: “[T]he AZ coffee community lost a great friend and advocate this week. He will be missed.”

I visited Jolta Java the other day and had a latte. I really like the atmosphere of Jolta Java, but found my latte leaving a lot to be desired. The foam just wasn’t right. Hope next time it’s better.

Here is a 20 second video clip I took:

Jolta Java
14418 N. Scottsdale Rd.
Suite 185
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
SW Corner of Scottsdale Rd. and Acoma
Phone: (602) MY JOLTA

A Human Bean coffee shop has recently opened in Fountain Hills. It is at Shea Boulevard and Arizona 87 (the Beeline Highway). The Arizona Republic has the rest of the story:

The coffee chain has four Valley franchises with plans to expand by 25 stores in the next several years. A Scottsdale store will open in September on Granite Reef Road and McDonald Drive.

Torkelson said the Valley market is desirable because it “isn’t as saturated with coffee providers as other cities.”

Most of the coffeehouses have no sit-down area. Instead, customers get their fix via drive-through windows.

There is no “order box,” so transactions are quick and intimate, Torkelson said.

“We want to maintain a relationship between the barista and customer,” Torkelson said. “We’re targeting commuters and people who might not have time to get out.”

If I remember correctly, this location was going to be a Coffee Plantation at first, but then plans fell through.

The Human Bean Fountain Hills
17257 E. Shea Blvd.
Fountain Hills, AZ 85268

The best way to describe Red Espresso is making tea with your espresso machine. Got that? Okay, then watch this video which shows someone making some drinks.

Thanks for the tip Tomas!

An Arizona Coffee reader named Sean Hoy emailed me this week to let me know about his cartoons. He’s just recently published a cartoon book of 90 pages of cartoons with a coffee emphasis. You can learn more about the book, his cartoons, and Sean’s upcoming meetup in Scottsdale at his web site which is www.offkiltercartoons.com.


Reprinted with permission.

This week is the 2008 United States Barista Championship (USBC). There are a couple of people attending from Arizona and we wish them safe travels and a good time.

Jason Calhoon who represented Arizona at the SWRBC is going and will be competing in the barista competition. We wish him good luck!