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
