Barry Collins wrote to let us know about Roadrunner Coffee Co. in Tucson. I believe we’ve covered them in the past, but maybe not. They have two locations in the NW Tucson area.
Roadrunner Coffee Co
8245 N Silverbell Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85743
Phone: (520) 572-9011
Roadrunner Coffee Co II (Drive Thru)
9665 N Thornydale Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85701
Phone: (520) 579-7011
Barry says “these guys have great coffee, frappes, wraps and now serve gelato at both locations.” Thanks Barry.
Thomas Bates sent me a tip about a new coffee shop opening in the east valley:
Looks like we have a new coffee house opening up in Pinal County east of Queen Creek.
It’s on the Northwest corner of Ironwood & Ocotillo. According to their website, they do not have stores in AZ, so this might be the first.
Picture from Thomas Bates.
My emails to Bear Creek Coffee went unanswered.
Ted Klimaszewski writes:
Cortez Coffee & Oscar’s Coffee Bar are joining forces this summer to beat the heat in the cool pines of Northern Arizona. It’s a big undertaking taking a roasting operation on the road. But a nice roaster, steamer and portable espresso machine bring a real coffee experience coupled with beans roasted on the spot. Ted has been training w/ Ron Cortez learning the art of roasting coffee.
Ron will be joining Ted and Maria at the 28th Annual Pine/Strawberry Arts & Crafts Fair July 4-6 with roasting on site, hot coffee in the morning and Iced drinks in the afternoon. It is a welcome change from the premixed ice coffees offered by the usual drink vendors.
Austin sent me this video today, it’s a clever TV ad for a phone!
If you think about it, one of the oldest coffee shops in Scottsdale is Village Coffee Roastery. They’ve been around for more than 10 years, and I understand the shop is now run by new owners (the third owner). Next time I stop in I’m planning to ask a few questions of the owner. First of all, I want to ask them why they don’t grind per shot.
My cappuccino (not the best).
Raspberry Danish, baked fresh in the Roastery that morning.
The new owners have vastly improved the interior of the shop, adding new furniture, fixing up the paint and lighting, and installing a few new counters.
Village Coffee Roastery
8120 N. Hayden Rd.
Suite E104
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
Phone: (480) 905-0881
I stopped in at Coffee Rush in Gilbert the other day and had a drink. It was really hot outside so I decided to try one of their sweet drinks. I couldn’t finish it! It had so much sugar. It was the Black & White Mocha. I’ve had friends rave about it, I guess I just can’t handle that much sugar all at once.
On a side note, I saw that they are hiring baristas at $12 hr.
Coffee Rush – Gilbert
1555 N. Gilbert Road
Ste 107
Gilbert, AZ 85234
Phone: (480) 507-0930
Directions: South-East corner of Baseline & Gilbert.
Kevin from Areopagus Coffee in North Scottsdale blogs about how you can help support your local coffee shop. It’s worth a read.
Sonoma Coffee Cafe is a new coffee franchise run out of the Airpark. It appears that one of their locations in Phoenix has opened recently (note the two separate web sites).
Thanks for the tip Kevin.
Sonoma Coffee Cafe
25 W Van Buren St
Phoenix, AZ 85029
Phone: (602) 252-3858
Brian Shaler recently launched a cool site called My Motivatr, it lets you create your own motivational poster (or if you like, de-motivational poster!). Here’s one that Brian made and shared with me relevant to coffee! You can make your own here.
It’s 111°F outside as I write this and boy is it hot. Are you hot?
The Phoenix New Times has interviewed Lisa Dowd, the owner and head barista at A Shot of Java. Here is a quote from the interview.
CB: Tell us the truth. If you’re craving coffee and you’re driving along the road and see a Starbucks, will you stop there?
LD: No, absolutely not. Never.
Read the interview at Chow Bella.
A Shot of Java
7003 N. 58th Ave
Glendale AZ, 85301
Brian Shaler passed this news along to me about Into The Bean. As you know, it closed earlier this week after 3 years. At the last minute it was sold to The National Advocacy & Training Network (NATN).
It will be re opened on Sunday as Cup O’ Karma. It is a soft opening from 2:00—5:00 pm. Click here to view a PDF with information.
Cup O’ Karma
1710 W. Southern Ave.
Mesa, AZ 85202
Directions: Between Dobson & Longmore, across from MCC & next to Cheba Hut
Is the world getting better? You know it is! Check out this Savage Chickens cartoon.
Reprinted with permission.
It’s a month of bad news, and now more: Inza Coffee is closing. The last day of operations will be this Friday, June 13th. They are also closing every day at 4 pm; earlier than normal.
This news was passed along to me from Ron Cortez, owner of Cortez Coffee Company, the roaster for Inza. Ron tells me that Inza is “planning to have the last day this Friday.” He says that “Cortez is going to donate the coffee and all the employees will share the ‘tip jar’. The idea is to have a day to say goodbye to all there loyal customers.”
I understand that most items will be discounted and so tip heavily and go this week to say goodbye to the coffee shop we all love. I’m sure we’ll see Linda, Wilson, Austin, Carlos, CJ, Brittne, Baltazar, Jessica, Johann — and anyone else I may have missed — again. They’re a great group of people and I wish them all the best. One of the things I’ve learned in life is that change is good. See you on Friday.
Update: Inza Coffee responded to my email and wrote: “Thank you for your support! Thanks for everything! Thank you ARIZONA! Good Bye!”
Update 2: Prices discounted on Friday by 50%.
Inza Coffee
8658 East Shea Blvd
Suite 1 & 2
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
www.inzacoffee.com
Phone: (480) 222-4870
A small group has formed called Phoenix Friday Coffee and the idea is to get together each Friday and have coffee, usually after work.
There is a map that shows where the past coffees and upcoming coffees are planned. Typically the place is chosen on Thursdays, so check back frequently. When I can, I also shout the location of PFC on Twitter. I’m not the organizer of #PFC, as far as I know it’s sort of a group decision based on recommendations.
Or, if you don’t use Twitter just load this link every Friday to see what everyone is saying about #PFC! http://summize.com/search?q=%23PFC
