He says that they serve coffee beans from Village Coffee Roastery, in Scottsdale. They also serve loose teas and lunch.

Photo from the White Sage Facebook page.

White Sage Espresso
2639 N 16th St.
Phoenix, AZ 85006
Phone: (602) 266-0411
Facebook: facebook.com/WhiteSageEspresso

Bunna Coffee & Tea Market now is in a 1,536-square-foot-space with seating for 54 people inside and 16 people on the patio. Surrounded by small businesses, the shop serves the densely populated neighborhoods of Gilbert and east Mesa.

Read more at AZCentral.

“I like cappuccino, actually. But even a bad cup of coffee is better than no coffee at all.”
– David Lynch

“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”
– T. S. Eliot

“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“It is surely easier to confess a murder over a cup of coffee than in front of a jury.”
– Friedrich Durrenmatt

Mike said the new location is under wraps, but gave a few hints: Swimming Holes, Corkscrews, Carhartts and Hiking Boots.

They’re having a grand opening party (open to the public) on April 24th at Grove Coffee.

Currently, Provision is working specifically with people living in Quiche, in the Village La Perla in Guatamala, but they hope to develop the non-profit to help more communities.

If you want to order the most unconventional, unexpected drink at an espresso bar, ask for an espresso. Not many do. Americans might drink espresso drinks, but we rarely drink straight espresso[...]

Is that really true? Doesn’t anybody just order a shot of espresso any more? I do.

After speaking with Steve Kraus, owner of Press Coffee, they cited their recent success with their Scottsdale Quarter location, and their upcoming location at Sky Harbor as reasons for closing CityNorth – that they wish to focus on new opportunities. The CityNorth location failed to pick up the growth they expected (probably due to the CityNorth complex’s slower than expected growth – it’s only half built after 4 years).

Additionally, they’ve recently opened a new and expanded coffee roastery / showroom on Broadway in Phoenix, to service their expanding wholesale coffee-roasting business. They have one roaster and they say a second roaster will be operational soon.

Their new location at Sky Harbor Airport is scheduled to open in late May, in Terminal 4 between Gates B6 – 14. Very exciting, and that location at the airport will be serving wine, food, and of course coffee.

They serve coffee from Adventure Coffee Roasting, based in Tucson as well.

Brewd Coffee Lounge
39 N. 6th Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85701
(520) 623-2336
Twitter @brewd1
Facebook: facebook.com/brewdtucson

Tiffany Dew published this message on the coffee shops public page on Facebook which drove speculation on Twitter:

“This message is to let you all know that Tiffany and her incredible vision for Citizen Espresso Bar and our community is no longer.

As of last week, Tiffany was threatened and forced to leave her own coffee bar for the last time by her investor = mother.

The amazing morning team assembled has also been terminated and so has the in house baker and baked goods. Your new Citizen owner / operator will now be souring [sic] you fine Costco and Fry’s baked goods a portion of the week.

Tiffany and I want to thank all of you for your support in what we truly felt was an amazing opportunity, vision, and concept for the community… and we were just getting started.

There is much to this disgusting story — but for now know our hearts are broken by someone we trusted and approached to partner in the creation of Citizen.

Love, Tiffany and Mitzie”

The message was later deleted (along with the Facebook page). The Phoenix New Times has the full scoop on the story (part 1, and part 2), including additional details from Tiffany’s mom who it appears is the owner of Citizen Espresso Bar. One person noticed all of the artwork was missing.

Citizen Espresso Bar
4700 N Central Ave
Phoenix, AZ 85012
Phone: (602) 265-5652

The two main attractions are the SCAA’s 24th Annual Exposition and Symposium and the United States Barista Championship.

Who’s going? It sounds like a lot of fun – lots of people to meet and see.

1. Stumptown “Hair Bender” espresso dusted sea scallops
2. Salad of local, seasonal greens with green (unroasted) Ethiopian coffee vinaigrette
3. French pressed brodo with pork stuffed agnolotti
4. Mr. Espresso “French Roast” marinated filet
5. Cortado pot de crème

April 30th at Liberty Market.

If you’re interested in additional details, I suggest checking out the Liberty Market web site and contacting them.

At Liberty Market, we offer Community Dinners each month to showcase the culinary talent of our brigade and to create a festive environment for enjoyment of food and conversation. This month’s Community Dinner is “Perked Up Dinner” and here are the details:

Liberty Market’s “Perked Up Dinner” Community Dinner

This month’s community dinner is inspired by one of our favorite beverages: Coffee! Liberty Market takes coffee very seriously as evidenced by our acclaimed espresso bar, the E61 Bar featuring our 1965 FAEMA espresso machine and classic coffee drinks. Each course of the dinner contains coffee or is a twist on coffee culture.

The cost is $45 per person for the 5 course meal and $55 including beer pairing or $65 including wine pairing.

Monday, April 30, at 6:30pm.

Seating limited to 40 guests. Sign up is at Liberty Market in the E61 Espresso Bar.

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

Free coffee tasting at Lost Dutchman Coffee Roastery from 1:30-4:00 pm.

Cortez Coffee Company is hosting their grand opening for their coffee market from 8 am – 7 pm.

They’re opening on April 14th with an event this Saturday, April 14th. Click here for driving directions.

Hours are 8 am – 7 pm daily, Monday through Saturday.

They have a barista for the evenings that is a DJ, and this Saturday will be featuring guest baristas. Each Saturday, they are offering coffee classes (green, roasting or coffee brewing), and you can call for reservations.

Cortez Coffee Company sent along the following information:

Coffee nerds beware! After almost 2 decades of roasting coffee for some of the best local coffee shops, Tempe-based coffee roaster Cortez Coffee is finally opening its doors to the public with the debut of their new coffeebar and coffee market. This Saturday, April 14th, will be the grand opening of the new face of the Cortez Coffee Company, by flaunting their unhealthy obsession for all things coffee.

Come down to the shop to sample one or a dozen of the 19+ single origin coffee selections Cortez roasts on a daily basis, check out the frankenstein’d espresso machine at the front bar offering the most ground breaking unlisted menu of coffee drinks in the Phoenix area, heck… the world even!

If you’re drinkin’ what they’re pourin’ make sure to pick up a bag of whole bean coffee to go, or if you’re feeling the urge to cross over to the darkside of coffee, take home a bag of green coffee and a home roaster to start roasting your own joe.

The market will offer a huge selection of whole bean roasted coffee and for the first time in the history of awesome shopping experiences, a green coffee market with small batch roasting stations for you to create and roast your own coffee blends while you’re enjoying a cup of coffee by some of the most creative baristas in town.

Ron also sent a general invite to their weekly round table for coffee fans, and professionals. The event has been widely aclaimed by those who have attended.

To top it off, this roastery offers something that has only been accessible to the members of the legendary Friday night coffee rountable: access to cupping sessions of new coffee offerings, espresso machine pro-shop to purchase and service espresso home units, and roastery tours and classes to the curious few and the future infatuated.

Come see what the creative geniuses at Cortez Coffee are cooking up in their laboratory.

Cortez Coffee Market
1030 East Vista del Cerro
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: (480) 968 8333

The featured coffees are:

• A very special Colombian (name to be announced)
• A Sumatran (Blue Batak from the Lake Tawar region)
• Hacienda La Minita (a Tarazzu from Costa Rica)

The coffee will be available to sample free and there will be coffee available for purchase; both roasted and also in green coffee form for those that like to roast their own.

Coffees will be brewed by a local master chef, who is an expert in specialty coffee brewing techniques. I hear that Biscotti will also be served. Click here for driving directions.

The Lost Dutchman Coffee Roastery
1920 E 3rd Street
Ste 9
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: (623) 217-1304

A photo of the Probat coffee roaster at the Lost Dutchman Coffee Roastery. I took this photo recently on a tour of their operation, and will be doing a full profile soon.

Update: Victor from Lost Dutchman wrote in to say that the first 10 customers get free t-shirts.

Update: Check out this time lapse video.

Provision Coffee is a non-profit, faith-based, specialty coffee company that maintains direct relationships with farmers in developing countries in an effort to benefit their communities.

They have published a video which explains what they’re doing:

Provision Coffee
3107 S. Gilbert Rd
STE #103 PMB 09
Gilbert, AZ 85295
Phone: (661) 810-9477

Thanks to Jonathan Carroll for the tip.

Songbird Coffee
214 East Roosevelt Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Twitter: @songbirdcoffee
Facebook: facebook.com/SongbirdCoffeeHouse

This site wouldn’t be what it is without the loyal support of my many sponsors! THANK YOU! Sponsorship funds go right into, well, buying coffee and going places. I’m super thrilled with the development of the coffee community in AZ, and am proud to be a small part of it. Thanks to everyone for such a great ride! Here’s to the next seven years!

When did you first discover Arizona Coffee? Answer in the comments, or the poll below.

Back in February Cartel posted a photo of the construction on Facebook. They’ve expanded the location and from the announcement, it looks like they are doing something with bicycles. Maybe a bicycle rack. Sounds cool!

Regional Barista Competition:

Jared Truby, Verve Coffee Roasters, Santa Cruz, CA
Charles Babinski, Intelligentsia Coffee, Venice, CA
Lizzy Sampson, Verve Coffee Roasters, Santa Cruz, CA
Kevin Bohlin, Ritual Coffee Roasters, San Francisco, CA
Percy Ramirez, Intelligentsia Coffee, Pasadena, CA
Alfonso Portela, Chocolate Fish Coffee Company, Sacramento, CA

Brewers Cup:

John Martin, Intelligentsia Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
Alexandra LittleJohn, Cafecito Organico, Costa Mesa, CA
Andrew Villa, Bellano Coffee, Santa Clara, CA
Amber Johnson, Fix Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
Mike Mierzejewski, Single Origin Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
Ant Walach, Sightglass Coffee, San Francisco, CA

More videos, and info can be found on the event page.

Annually, at Liberty Market we do a blind tasting of espresso from local and national roasters to determine which espresso we want to feature in our E61 Bar. This year we selected Portland roaster Stumptown Coffee to be our purveyor. As far as we know, Liberty Market has the only espresso bar in town using Stumptown. The blend we selected was Stumptown’s “Hair Bender”. The selection team included Chef Traina, our two lead baristas, and myself. The coffees (9 this year) were tasted in a completely blind competition with each person evaluating the overall character of the coffee both as straight espresso and with steamed milk added. Each person’s scores and opinions were kept private. When all of the scoring was completed, the results were tallied. We then took the top three and did the testing all over again. These scores were used to determine the winning coffee.

As of March 1, we introduced Stumptown’s “Hair Bender” as our espresso used for straight espresso, macchiatos, and cappuccinos. Drinks which contain more steamed milk or are of Cuban origin use a somewhat darker roast roasted by Mr. Espresso of Oakland, California. We do offer the option of “Hair Bender” in any drink. Shortly, we will also be offering seasonal Stumptown coffees prepared using a french press. All of the coffees we serve are also sold at Liberty Market in retail bags.

The E61 Bar is unlike any espresso bar in the Valley. It is centered around our vintage 1965 Faema E-61 espresso machine which is positioned on the back bar allowing patrons to watch exactly how their drinks are made. The focus is on classic Italian preparations augmented with some Cuban coffee influences, such as the signature Cortadito and Cortado. Patrons are seated at a handcrafted zinc bar where they can interact with the baristas and learn more about coffee and the art of preparation. We also have a liquor license which allows us to produce authentic Irish Coffee (patterned after the original from the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco) and Caffe Corretto, a staple of espresso bars throughout Italy.

If you have never been to Liberty Market, I suggest a visit! It’s located in the heart of Gilbert, AZ and feels warm and inviting inside. Plus, the coffee bar is superb! Read my little review and see photos, here. Or, watch a video about Liberty Market.

Who: Baristas & General Public
What: Latte Art Contest
When: Friday, March 2, at 7:30 pm (baristas should arrive at 6:30 pm)
Where: Press Coffee Roasters at Scottsdale Quarter
Why: Fun!

For full details, read this post for the full scoop.

The SWRBC kicks off in just a few short weeks — who from Arizona is going? I think there were four competitors from Arizona last year.

There is a schedule of events (PDF) up online, and travel information (PDF), too. If you’re interested, you can also see the event on Facebook.

The Southwest Regional Barista Competition (HI, CA, NV, AZ, UT, NM, CO) will be held on March 8-11 in Santa Cruz, CA at Verve Coffee Roasters. More details are available here.

Verve Coffee has a Twitter page that will probably feature news about the event as it happens. They also have additional information on their site.

1. Where does the roaster get their coffee from, and how frequently does the roaster receive new coffees?
2. Does the roaster have an extensive knowledge of coffee?
3. How often does the roaster roast coffees you desire?
4. What coffee shops and restaurants does this roaster serve?
5. Does the roaster indicate on the packaging the date the coffee was roasted?
6. Ask, “If I order my coffee today, when will I receive it, and when was it roasted?”
7. Does the roaster flavor any of their coffee and if so, do they use separate equipment to do that?
8. Does the roaster offer a barista training program?
9. Is the coffee roaster properly incorporated and does the roaster have the proper food permits?
10. Does the roaster allow you to private label coffees for sale in your store?
11. May I have a sample?
12. What are your wholesale rates?
13. I um, “lost” my first sample. May I have another?
14. Do you offer organic, fair-trade, or rainforest alliance coffee?
15. Do you own and operate your own roasting plant?
16. Do you roast all of your coffee?
17. How do you monitor the quality of specialty roasted coffee?
18. Can I tour your plant when you are roasting?
19. What packaging options do you offer?
20. How many samples did they ask to that particular broker before committing to an origin?
21. Do you regularly conduct coffee cuppings?
22. What type of technology is used on the roasting and does it involve further analysis after roasting (like Agtron readings, for example)?
23. Do you have a way to guarantee coffee prices will be stable by hedging on the commodity markets?
24. Do you belong to any coffee trade organizations?
25. Can you teach me how to calibrate a brewer and a grinder so my coffee taste its best?

Unfortunately, many people fall into the trap of only exploring one roaster, instead of shopping as many as possible. Be sure to try several coffee roasters!

“Fair trade certified” and “organic certified” are less important than good buying practices and a good relationship with the farmer. Do your research!

Note: The above post is a revised version of a post I did in 2007. Many of the above questions came directly from the comments in that post – so thank you to all of the contributors.

They are serving coffee roasted by EXO Roast Company, of Tucson. They have a lot more photos you can view on Facebook.

Photos provided by Curtis Zimmerman.

I can’t wait to visit!

Stella Java
395 N Silverbell Rd
St. Mary’s Medical Plaza II
Tucson, AZ 85745
Phone: (520) 777-1496
Twitter: @StellaJava

Riviera Coffee Company is a gourmet coffee roaster that specializes in high quality, roasted to order coffee. The company owner and roast master have a combined 30+ years in the coffee industry and are passionate about sourcing only the finest coffee and products available. They are also a wholesale distributor of several gourmet café products. Riviera also has full service equipment department, offering sales and repair of most major brands of coffee brewing and espresso machines.

Thank you for your support!

Riviera Coffee Company
6700 W Chicago St. #10
Chandler, AZ 85226
Phone: (480) 802-8077
Fax: (480) 802-8088