I visited the new Lola Coffee which opened on Friday. The new location is on 3rd Ave and Roosevelt in Phoenix and is the 2nd location opened by Daniel Wayne. The grand opening party was very festive. I think there were 50 to 60 people there. They were serving cake, cookies, muffins, and wine and espresso drinks.
The shape of this shop is much like the first, essentially a big square room with high ceilings. The interior has hard floors and large windows with views overlooking Roosevelt. The new location doubles as a coffee roastery (separated in its own glassed in room toward the back).
Just like the first Lola, this one includes a lot of comfortable chairs for lounging. It includes some large tables for working and the wireless internet is up and running, too.
I have yet to learn about the history of the Gold Spot building. Signs on the building indicate it is a “historic” building, but I don’t know what that means. If anybody can share the story of this building I’d love to hear it.
Also moving in next door is a Pita Jungle, and an Ace Hardware.
Parking: There is free parking in the back as well as in the garage behind the building. If that is full, metered parking is available on the street.
Fresh roasted coffee makes an excellent gift this Christmas season, for yourself, friends, or clients. It’s also a great time to support your local coffee roasters! Here is a list. I’m placing my order today!
Lola Coffee at The Gold Spot Building opens on Friday. They’re having a grand opening party from 7pm to 10pm. I just stopped in to check it out, since I had heard it was open. There were 3 staff members there cleaning and putting everything together. They were also roasting coffee.
It looks like a great place, but I think parking will be difficult. I had to park on the street which was metered. To get there, just navigate to 3rd Avenue and Roosevelt Street, Phoenix.
I took photos at the event and Tom Maegdlin wrote an after-action-report which he submitted to Barista Magazine. Fast forward to today and Arizona has been featured!
It was then that I realized how successful the event had become. It was not just about baristas showing off their chops or drinking absurd amounts of beer; it was about the often forgotten concept that coffee means so much to people that they devote a percentage of their day to you. They could go anywhere. Coffee isn’t exactly hard to come by, but because of the care you put into their drink, they come back to you everyday. It is kind of humbling. – Tom Maegdlin
Maria and Chris Higgins have opened a coffee shop and ice cream parlor in Payson, AZ called Scoops Ice Cream and Espresso. Maria wrote to tell me about their new shop:
We do have a great passion for terrific coffee and are working to be all that coffee lovers are after. We are in the Sawmill Crossing Plaza on the South end of Payson at the corner of Main Street and Hwy 87. We use Cortez Espresso for our drinks and Dean’s Beans for our brewed drip coffee.
A member of the Arizona Coffee forum, going by the username kginpaz posted this review:
After a couple of shops closing down in the past year, we have one that opened up last week. It’s called “Scoops,” and was an existing ice cream parlor which has changed locations and added the coffee shop feature. The owners, a great couple, Chris & Maria Higgins, spent a lot of time researching and learning about how to produce quality coffee products and it is paying off with customers enjoying the new location and word of mouth rapidly spreading the good news.
Customer service is awesome and I recommend giving the coffee a try next time you’re in Payson!
So the next time you are in Payson, give it a try!
Downtown Phoenix now has another great coffee experience waiting to be devoured. The new Cartel Coffee Lab opens today in Phoenix. The new location is on 1st St. and Washington St., next to a Burger King.
Jason Silberschlag invited me to check out the grand opening festivities last night. They threw a great party — the coffee drinks were flowing, and there was a lot of great food to eat, and we even had some champagne — and at the end we had an impromptu latte art throwdown (pictures will be posted later).
Cartel Coffee Lab is opening it’s 2nd location this upcoming week. The new location is on 1st St. and Washington St., next to a Burger King in the downtown Phoenix area.
The Clover machine has reportedly been moved to the downtown location.
Jason Silberschlag, owner, tells me the opening is tentatively planned for Tuesday.
Update: Definitely will be opening on Tuesday. For those of you curious, the downtown Phoenix location will be open M-F 6am to 2pm (closed weekends). Hours expand later.
Village Coffee is only about 10 minutes from my home and I stopped in a few times in November. Village Coffee is the oldest coffee shop in the metro Phoenix area (opened in 1996 by Craig Sellmen).
I appreciate Village Coffee for what it is: A coffee roastery (and one of the few in Scottsdale, I think) that has a sweet interior vibe, excellent food, and decent coffee. On weekends I’ve been working on a side project and lately I’ve been working on my laptop for hours on end. I’ve found the wireless internet at Village Coffee to be quite steady. So if that’s what you’re looking for I’d suggest it.
Back to the coffee… I say decent because I don’t like the way they froth milk (I’m really picky about it, and demand nice microfoam).
The web site for the SWRBC was just launched and has a few facts. We still don’t know a venue or an agenda for the event.
Date: March 19-21, 2010 Host: Cartel Coffee Lab
Jason Silberschlag of Cartel Coffee Lab is now the regional representative for the BGA for the Southwest. Thanks to Chris Babbie for pointing that out.
In October of this year 
Downtown Phoenix now has another great coffee experience waiting to be devoured. The new 
