The wrong assumption that underpins superautomatic espresso machines is that the critical variables in espresso coffee making can be standardized and controlled. They can go close, but superautomatic espresso machines cannot control some of the finer nuances that are necessary for quality espresso coffee making. Control and adjustment of these nuances typically requires the expert ‘eye’ and judgement of a skilled barista.

View the full answer on Quora.

Echo Coffee
2902 North 68th St.
Suite 135
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Phone: (480) 422-4081
Twitter: @EchoCoffeeAZ

Thanks to Dana Desonie for emailing to let me know about Café de Doña Ella. From the web site:

Café de Doña Ella is an effort to bring you the best quality coffee, from the Highlands of El Salvador. It is farmed and processed by Manuel Alberto Santana-Bendix, a resident of Flagstaff who also owns his family’s small coffee farm in El Salvador (Finca Grano de Oro). On the farm he grows the Borbón (Bourbon) variety of Coffea arabica, arguably the best variety of coffee trees.

In 2004, his coffee was one of the winners in a Cup of Excellence. You can purchase his coffee in Flagstaff. To learn more, visit his web site at cafededonaella.com.

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

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.

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.

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

View the listing on Kickstarter.

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

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

Week #50 – Coffee

Source: 52 Infographics in 52 Weeks

I am wondering if you have ever had posts or articles or advise columns on “how to become a barista.” etc. I would LOVE to work in a coffee house, but lack the experience. I am wondering if there are any resources for learning/training/breaking into the industry.

I can’t think of any articles written on this site that specifically address this topic, and so figured it would be a great question to pose to the community. What tips do you have?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon of extra finely ground coffee (powder consistency)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom, or 1 cardamom pod
• sugar (optional)

Preparation:

1. Bring water and sugar to a boil in ibrik. If you do not have an ibrik, a small saucepan will work.
2. Remove from heat and add coffee and cardamom.
3. Return saucepan to heat and allow to come to a boil. Remove from heat when coffee foams.
4. Again, return to heat, allowing to foam and remove from heat.
5. Pour into cup, and allow to sit for a few minutes for the grounds to settle to the bottom of the cup. Cardamom pod may be served in cup for added flavor.

Stumbled across this recently and liked it. This would look really great as a poster.

What do you think? Have you seen one in the wild? They retail for around $210 and are available online.

The game follows the trend of others (Scattergories, for example) where you choose a category and you have to think of similar words and write them down. The person with the most unique words (within 45 seconds) wins that round.

The game comes with a ton of category cards, and they’re double sided. They had a lot of pop-culture, and U.S. themed topics. My wife and I played and had a good time with it.

The game is for sale from Pressman Toy and was released earlier in 2011.

Emily with some off her favorite things. Coffee! From Press Coffee Roasters.

The episode shows the Starbucks roasting plant (1.5 million lbs of coffee per week!), and cuppings and roasting at Alterra in Wisconsin. The also show coffee growers, and more.

If you’re looking for a job, or people in AZ that are coffee professionals, go ahead and join! There’s a discussion component to it, too. So feel free to begin a topic, if you want.

Daniel Suh is working with Ron Cortez on this venture, and it looks like a winner. They will be serving Cafe Cortez coffee — Ron’s coffee roasting company.

On October 31st the are having their grand opening. They promised some special offers for customers that day. Then, on November 1st they begin normal hours (6am to 7pm), seven days a week.

Ron Cortez, owner, shows us his new toddy bottles.

Coffee beans in the hopper.

Coffee Wizard looks like a great place, and I look forward to my next visit.

Coffee Wizard
1845 E. University Drive
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: (602) 418-4350 ‎
Twitter: @azcoffeewizard

The move comes, Funk said, because his business with Whole Foods Market and AJ’s Fine Foods has been growing, as well as his restaurant customer base. Firecreek is moving to a much larger facility, and Funk says he will announce the details soon.

Source: The Arizona Republic.

Here is how they describe it:

XPress lids works in the same fashion as a French press. The XPress lid allows the drinker to experience the flavor and aroma of quality coffees because it allows the coffee grounds remain in direct contact with the brewing water and the grinds are filtered from the water using a mesh filter.

So I gave them a go, and they actually work really well. It’s rather fun to be driving down the road, and push the plunger at a stop light… drinking a French press in your car.

The XPress before I have pushed the plunger. The plunger reminded me of a golf ball tee.

The pitch is like this: Sell your customers a bag of coffee, and offer to make a French press to-go with some of the beans.

My coffee (before pushing the plunger). Once you push down the plunger, you want to keep the lid on because it secures the filter at the bottom of the cup. It was really important to push the plunger down evenly, otherwise coffee grinds can sneak around the edge… which happened only once.

To learn more you can contact Bob Koffee (bob.koffee@mysmartcup.com) at SmartCup.

Hat tip: Echo Coffee