Arizona Coffee

Tom Maegdlin from Press Coffee is working on a statewide barista competition. Tom sent in this poster along with a few specifics. Tom has arranged for the event to be covered in Barista Magazine this November.

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About a week ago I asked on Twitter if anybody was interested in sending in photos of coffee shops for publication on Arizona Coffee. There are still a good hundred plus coffee shops in AZ that I haven’t been to, and I’m always wanting to see new ones. A few people expressed interest and Tonia Bartz (Blog) has submitted these great shots of the recently updated Solo Cafe.

While I’ve been to Solo plenty of times, I hadn’t seen the new design! They closed over the July 4th weekend for an interior revamp and from these photos it looks great.

Check out that sweet artwork! And look at that bumper sticker! Yeah!

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Psyd, a loyal reader and barista from Tucson had a chance to visit Avenue Coffee the day it opened and sent in this wonderful batch of photos. Along with the photos I’ve included comments Psyd sent me.

Avenue Coffee is owned and operated by Mark and Jennifer Harrell, a husband-and-wife team from Seattle. They were recently featured in the Arizona Daily Star.

Psyd suggests that Avenue Coffee deserves a place on the “Arizona Top 10.”

If you’re in Tucson, be sure to visit! The address is 2502 N Campbell Ave.

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Twitter just released a Twitter 101 for Business web site and included in that is a case study of how Houston, TX based Coffee Groundz uses Twitter to take orders.

The coffee shop has over 6900 followers and takes orders for to-go items through Twitter’s direct message system.

Shawn Valdez from Rhino Caffe in Queen Creek wrote in to let readers know they are hiring.

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The Arizona Republic reports on a new development downtown called CityScape that includes “an office tower, shops, eateries, a hotel and 165 condos.”

Press Coffee is listed as one of the upcoming tenants. This sounds like another great addition to the thriving coffee scene in downtown Phoenix.

I had a lot of fun tonight at Liberty Market. I arrived around 6:30 and stayed for two hours, all while sitting at the E-61 bar. I can’t emphasize enough how cool it is to have a coffee bar where you can sit down and just observe the baristas making drinks. Plus, it’s awesome to be able to order food.

Today is the 45th year that this specific Faema E-61 has been in use, and so Liberty Market was giving away espresso drinks all day.

View all of the photos on my Flickr profile.

Update: Here are some photos from a Espresso 102 class taken by Misty Michelle Photography.

Press Coffee is hiring and sent along the following job posting:

Press Coffee Food Wine is an up and coming coffee & wine bar looking for passionate coffee lovers with explosive personalities and the ability to work hard behind the scenes. (more…)

Many of you may have heard in the news that a U.S. soldier was captured by the Taliban. His name is Pfc. Bowe R. Bergdahl. It turns out that Bergdahl is a barista from Idaho. Psyd, a dedicated barista and reader in Tucson alerted me to this fact in the forum. He wrote that “this is simply a reminder of one who left our ranks for the ranks of those that serve and defend our country.”

On Twitter I came across an interesting discussion that said these 4 items are the secret to success. What do you think?

1. Equipment
2. Training
3. Coffee
4. Location

As posted by Nick Griff.

Kath wrote in to let us know that Fireside Espresso in Payson, AZ, is out of business. She adds: “We are left with nothing but a Starbucks inside of Safeway Help!”

Sedona is often overlooked and I’m happy to share news of a new shop that is planning to open this summer. Posse Grounds will be opening in the Village of Oak Creek, near Sedona.

They loaded some photos of the shop on Flickr (under construction) as well as joined Twitter.

Attention coffee house owners: Here are the 5 social networks I believe you should join, or at the very least observe.

#1: Twitter

Twitter is huge. Your customers are likely talking about you on Twitter and wish you were on Twitter. Millions of people are chatting about everything on Twitter. Try searching for the name of a coffee shop on their search site.

#2: Yelp

Yelp is fast becoming the #1 place for people to write their own reviews of restaurants, businesses, and also coffee shops. Guaranteed your favorite coffee shop is listed and probably reviewed.

#3: Flickr

Flickr is one of the oldest and most popular photo sharing sites on the Internet. I personally upload a bunch of photos of Arizona coffee houses.

#4: Facebook

Every coffee house should have a Fan Page on Facebook where people can become a fan.

#5: Brightkite

Brightkite isn’t as popular, but lots of people are “checking in” at coffee shops and posting photos from their cell phones.

What social networks have I missed? Are you already connected? Share a link to your profile in the comments.

From what I’m reading, it looks like Tucson coffee nerds will soon have another place they can frequent for good coffee. Opening this Monday at 2502 N Campbell, is Avenue Coffee.

They have a Synesso 3 group espresso machine, which frankly says a lot about the quality of this place. There are only a few shops in AZ with Synesso’s. They mentioned that on Twitter.

Speaking of Twitter, they’ve done a fantastic job creating interest in their shop prior to opening on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Brian Clemens from Liberty Market wrote to let me know about a meetup they are hosting on Wednesday, July 22nd from 6p-8p.

The purpose of the event is: “Celebrating the birthday of our Faema e-61 machine, which will be 45 years old.” I understand that Joe has the story of “the e-61s journey here to America and where it originated.”

Also, Brian shared that Liberty Market is “giving away free “for here” Italian style espresso beverages all day 7a-9p (espresso, macchiato, cappuccino).” That sounds like a really great day and a fantastic event to be a part of. I’m going to try to make it myself!

See you all at Liberty Market on Wednesday, July 22nd from 6p-8p

Liberty Market
230 N Gilbert Rd.
Gilbert, AZ 85234
Phone: (480) 892-1900
Twitter: @libertymarket