Arizona Coffee

What a year! My wife had a baby girl (Emily), and we travelled all over the state visiting coffee shops. Visited Bisbee, Tucson, Flagstaff, and lots of other cities (still need to write about several of those stops).

Arizona Coffee has 6,676 followers on Twitter (up from 5,800 last year). Facebook is still a fraction of what is on Twitter, but I like the photo album aspect on Facebook. We have 527 fans on Facebook (up from 337 a year ago).

So without further ado, here’s the best posts from this year:

January

• The green paint is gone at Scottsdale Quarter — Press Coffee Roasters had just opened their 2nd store, and we visited and took some pictures
• Best menu board design? — Sparked an interesting discussion about menu board design

February

• A Visit to Dutch Bros. — My interview with the owner of the AZ locations of this franchise

March

• Arizona Traveler: Los Angeles — A handy list (in the comments) of some coffee shops to visit in LA

April

• Vinyl Rush, a coffee bar and cafe opens in Mesa — Photos submitted by a reader
• Copper Star Coffee celebrates five years — A Phoenix gem… how has it been 5 years already?

May

• A Visit to Carmel’s Coffee — A new coffee shop on Camelback Rd.
• Brian Clemens is your Southwest Regional Representative — Includes an interview (copied from another site) with Brian

June

• An encounter with a customer
• Intelligentsia’s Venice Beach — A visit to a coffee house in LA

July

• A Door with Character — The upcoming Mulch Coffee location

August

• Baby Arizona Coffee — My new baby girl, now 4 months old
• Do you check-in? — A discussion about location social networks, a whopping 48% of you ‘check in’
• The inventive coffee shop — Reinventing your coffee shop

September

• Lux Central: My first visit and some camera phone photos — Some thoughts on Lux Central
• Daniel Suh knows latte art — Thoughts after the SWLAC
• Latte Art from SWLAC — The definitive latte art contest for Arizona

October

• Who is your favorite barista? — 92 comments (some people thought it was a contest)
• Coffee Wizard in Tempe — Brand new coffee shop on University
• Results from Urban Beans Latte Throwdown — A really fun event
• Poll: How often do you make coffee at home? — 73% of Arizona Coffee readers make coffee at home every day
• Arizona Cold Brew — In which I ponder why nobody sells iced toddy by the gallon

November

• Mulch Coffee at the Old Town Farmers Market serves a smooth iced coffee — A Scottsdale gem opens

December

• Interesting Home-Espresso Machine on Kickstarter — I am seriously considering ordering one of these, but they won’t ship until December 2012

In case you are curious, you can browse my “Best of” posts from previous years: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

I’d like to give a warm shout out to all of my sponsors this year, especially:

• The Coffee Bump
• Ground Control Coffee
• Cortez Coffee Company
• Firecreek Coffee Company
• Coffee Bean Corral
• The Roastery of Cave Creek
• Service Associates
• Canyon Oats
• The Drawing Board Signs

Have a Happy New Year! — Chris Tingom

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas! Here’s a little Christmas tree I made awhile back:

Here’s a funny clip from the movie Elf, in which Buddy the Elf discovers the worlds best coffee.

I saw this clever little flowchart the other day and had to share it. What to do if you find a coffee pot at work.

I have to admit, this sounds simply cool, but I don’t know why.

Stumptown rolled out an on-tap version of their Stumptown Cold Brew. It’s pulled from an actual beer tap, with a wooden tap handle, and served tall in a pint glass with ice.

Also, Sprudge notes that Stumptown is experimenting with a slow-bar concept… something I recall Cartel is planning to implement as well.

Seriously?

Last week after this tweet, the folks at Biscotea and Bis*coffee offered to send me a sampler package so I could try their product. I accepted, and must say they are quite delicious.

I haven’t had a chance to take photos of the actual biscotti product, but they look exactly like in the packaging photo. They’re a dry biscotti, so they’re not moist. My favorite so far is the espresso-flavor. It’s not overpowering in any way. You can purchase them at Sprouts in Phoenix, but I am unaware of any coffee shops that sell them. The product name is genius… biscotea / biscoffee. So smart.

Carmel’s Coffee in Phoenix is hiring, and they sent along the following: Baristas Wanted! Indy Coffee house in heart of arcadia seeking experienced baristas. We serve up Lux Coffee along with breakfast and lunch. Need great attitude and energy. Must be available weekends approx 20 hrs + a week. Contact Patrick with resume and references. Phone: 480-251-8888.

Let’s play guess the location. Anybody know which coffee shop has these lights?

This morning I saw this great little home-espresso machine on Kickstarter. For only $200 you can get a pretty decent machine. I’m wondering what you all think about it?

View the listing on Kickstarter.

DCILY has also done a short write-up about it, that is interesting. They also answered questions.

Austin Baker, from Mesa, shared this great screen grab from an episode of Friends (circa 1998). The shot shows a Chemex in use.

An innovative coffee picking bucket design.

Check out the iPad register at Cartel… you can see it in the video on the Cartel web site.

Christmas is a perfect time to pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie. And coffee beans make a great gift idea. I know my coffee buying goes up significantly in December… I purchase coffee for friends and family.

Here is a list of coffee roasters in Arizona that would love your business this year.

Phoenix Area

• Café Cortez Coffee Company
• Cave Creek Coffee Company
• Coffee Reserve Brands
• Echo Espresso
• Espressions Coffee Roastery
• Ground Control
• Highland Coffee Roaster
• Lost Dutchman Coffee Roasters
• Magic Beanz Gourmet Coffee
• Matador Coffee Roasting Company
• Momentto Coffee Company
• Passport Coffee
• Press Coffee Roasters
• Riviera Coffee Company
• RoasterX
• Village Coffee Roastery
• Cave Creek Coffee Roastery
• Firecreek Coffee Roastery
• Cartel Coffee Lab
• Xanadu Coffee Co.
• Xtreme Bean Coffee Company

Tucson and Southern Arizona

• Bisbee Coffee Company
• Adventure Coffee Roasting
• Arbuckle Coffee Roasters
• Caffe Luce
• Capulin Coffee
• Gadsden Coffees
• Old Bisbee Roasters
• Raging Sage Coffee
• Cafe Aqui

Northern Arizona

• Joshua Tree Coffee Company
• Late for the Train
• Macy’s
• Prescott Coffee Roasters
• Sedona Coffee Roasters
• Single Speed Coffee Roaster

Ran across this infographic this morning, and wanted to share it.

Week #50 – Coffee

Source: 52 Infographics in 52 Weeks