Best of 2007

It has been a good year on Arizona Coffee. Here are some of my favorite posts and discussions from the year gone by. Also, a big thank you to all of the people who contribute to this blog — both sponsors, writers, and those who submit tips by email.

January

• Cabin Coffee Espresso — Definitely one of the best coffee shops in Arizona and the one serving excellent food. Don’t let the name fool you, this is an upscale cabin look that is sure to delight.
• Barista Jam Photo Wrapup — It is hard to believe that the Barista Jam was held in January. A year goes by quickly and people come and go.

February

• Question: Are Coffee Shops Making Any Money? — This question prompted a fairly good discussion about what it takes to be profitable. A tricky thing to achieve.
• Friday fun: Let’s have a caption contest — Just for fun. We had good participation. If that interests you, check out captionfridays.com.
• Coffee Review Formula — If it really were this easy there would be more review web sites.

March

• Success: 2nd Birthday Party is a Blast — The birthday party was held at Copper Star Coffee and they made a cake for us!
• Summer Drinks – This question prompted a good discussion about what people are drinking during the summertime.
• Do You Tip? – Another big discussion about whether to tip at the coffee house.
• Survey: Best one liners from customers — Lots of goodies in the comments.

April

• If You Were The CEO of Starbucks… — Everybody has ideas for how to improve Starbucks.
• What music do you listen to? — It’s interesting to see how music and coffee mix.
• Ritual — My review of Ritual Coffee in San Francisco.
• Dr Lux — Lux creates the most unique espresso based drink in Arizona (arguably).
• The bee’s knees — An excerpt from a book I read.

May

• Smoking Ban — The smoking ban takes effect across AZ and one local coffee shop offers some commentary to the newspaper.
• Royalty and Trolls — We had some bad behavior on the web site at times, and I used these icons to keep everyone in check.
• Arizona by the Numbers — I should probably do a rehash of this post in 2008 to update the numbers.

June

• Iced Tea — A good discussion surrounding where to get good iced tea.
• Cold-brew — A link to a NY Times article which was followed up with good discussion.
• Buy Arizona Roasted Coffee — The post that started a flame war. The comments are priceless.
• The Simple Sentences Every Barista Hates to Hear — More good comments.
• arizonacoffeemap.com — A companion web site is launched with a Google Map to the coffee shops in AZ.

July

• Music Royalties — This prompted a discussion about music for coffee houses.
• 10 Questions To Ask When Selecting a Coffee Roaster — If you are a coffee shop owner and you are going through a process to select a new roaster, read this post and the comments left by visitors.
• Does Price Matter? — Readers answer the age old question of whether price or quality mattes.
• Ground Control — My visit to Ground Control Coffee on the west side.

August

• Unllimited Coffee — My visit to Unlimited Coffee on Glendale in Phoenix.

September

1. Helvetica Mug — A cool coffee mug for font geeks.
2. Matador Grand Opening Party — Video and photos from the Matador Party in Phoenix this year.

October

• Color Inspiraton from Coffee — Color swatches based on coffee.
• Espressions Coffee Roastery — My tour of the Espressions Coffee Roastery. Lots of fun.
• Princess Coffee — A review of Princess Coffee submitted by an Arizona Coffee reader.

November

• New Owner: Coffee Plantation — Readers pitch in with ideas for the new owner of Coffee Plantation on how it can be improved.
• First time here? — After the Arizona Coffee interview was published in the newspaper, this post presented first time visitors with an overview of the site.

December

• The On/Off Mug — Yet another great coffee mug, this one affected by heat.
• One espresso, please — A neat Illy contraption.

That’s it! Thanks again for another great year! Here’s to 2008! If you are curious, here is the Best of 2006 post.