Looking for barista with training preferably, if no experience knowledge and interest in the industry is important. Employee will need to think on feet and be able to work in a traditional coffee shop as well as non-traditional climate. Ability to work amongst musicians is important. Prior Experience, resume, cover sheet, and references are required.

Compensation/Hours: Start at 10 hours per week, with potential to go 40 if your work is good.

Contact Email: loficoffee@gmail.com

Location: Lo Fi Coffee, 105 W. Main St Mesa, AZ 85201, http://www.loficoffee.com

Equipment: Super Automatic Nuova Simonelli, Mazzer Grinders, Fetco Grinders, Minor baking required.

The job description:

Part time work of 10 hours/week to start with. Looking for an extremely coffee oriented person for our business that knows how to work on and update web sites using standard HTML code. Secondary duties (to start with) will be to roast coffee on various equipment including Ambex and Probat roasters as well as equipment maintenance.

Some roasting experience is helpful, but not required as we are willing to train the right type of individual. Green coffee sourcing and cupping experience also helpful, but not required (will train). Please email contact information to info1@lostdutchmancoffee.com.

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?

32 SHEA is an urban, hip cafe located in North Phoenix. We’re looking for an EXPERIENCED PART-TIME BARISTA to join our team long term. MUST be able to handle the demands of a fast-paced cafe with a drive-thru.

Shifts include early mornings, weekends and possibly lunch.

Obvious requirements include, being punctuational, personal/friendly, a morning person, self-manageable and just a great employee!

Please send resume to: info@32shea.com

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.

Cartel Coffee Lab from Cartel Coffee Lab on Vimeo.

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