fourth & final in a series of four posts
Let’s wrap up the Phoenix field report. Two cafés left to cover.
WINDOW COFFEE BAR (Melrose)
- from the second you pull up to the Royale complex, which houses this outlet of Window Coffee Bar, you’re awash in 60’s Vegas cool and invited to find your inner rat packer as you relax in a bright metal chair on the astroturfed courtyard
- the café is bright and colorful, and it took a lot of willpower not to take home one of their really cool mugs
- great coffee, teas (I went back for pictures and got a really good iced herbal tea), and pastries – another fine pop tart, this one raspberry and pear
INFUSION COFFEE & TEA CRAFTERS (Tempe)
- about the best balancing act you’ll find of taking coffee very seriously while being friendly, welcoming and entirely accessible
- great patio, and multiple seating areas inside; depending on your taste and/or mood, the decorating is somewhere along the charming/fun/goofy/kitschy/tacky spectrum
- espresso made on a gorgeous La San Marco machine
- owner Patrick O’Malley is an industry legend, and also owns next door neighbors training company International Barista & Coffee Academy and wholesale distributor Espresso Italia
THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY
I was sorry not to visit Futuro, Peixoto Coffee Roasters, and Pair Cupworks. I REALLY wanted to visit Press Coffee’s roastery just to get a look at the place. I’d also like to visit other outlets of some of the ones I sampled, and I’m sure with some digging I could find at least another 10 to try.
photo: Brian’s Coffee Spot
ONE LAST TOURISTY INTERLUDE
This is a great city for public art. You can find it in the highway barriers, in murals, outdoor sculpture, commercial signage, and probably a lot of other places I just didn’t notice.
I hope to visit again. More spring training (7 more stadiums to try), more great food, more cool neighborhoods to discover. There’s gotta be a lot more cafés with cement floors, cool art, and great coffee to be found in this tremendous coffee city, and I’d love another crack at it.