A few days ago, my ever-watchful eye detected a new coffee house in Phoenix at about 10th Street and Camelback – a sign marked “Coffee Bar” caught my attention. I wasn’t able to drop in for a look-see at the time. But I filed it away for another time.
An Unusual Twist
That time was today. Sarah and I found Dolce Espresso Video Coffee Bar at 1025 E. Camelback. According to the barista, it’s been open about two months. But they recently changed its sign, which seems to draw more people in. It’s a nice space with several video monitors. That’s part of Dolce’s schtick: Its owners have decided to play music videos for their customers. Lightweight pop and dance music seems to be their preference. If you’re not into that sort of thing, or if you’re a reader/student/worker, you might not like it.
On weekdays, they’re open from 5 a.m. to midnight on weekdays, and they stay open the entire weekend. Besides the coffee, they also do a lot of quick-hit sorts of foods, plus desserts. Good for those of you who like to go clubbing. And with the videos, you might feel like you haven’t left the clubs.
Coffee Verdict – Pretty Meh
I really don’t think Dolce is really aiming for the hard-core coffee drinkers. My cappuccino provides evidence for the prosecution: It was hotter than a Russian nuclear reactor, and the microfoam was a sad, overly bubbled sight that looked way too soapy for its own good. I read 20 pages [...]
cappuccino
New Coffee Bar in Phoenix Offers Hits and Misses
Some News on Local Phoenix Coffee
As you might know if you’ve been reading here awhile, I like quality coffee. I have a few little bits I’ve observed over the past few days. It’s obvious that downtown Phoenix is growing a solid coffee scene, but it’s spreading to other places, too. Enjoy!
That’s no space station … It’s a coffee bean!
Press Coffee introduced its new Dethstaar bean. The name reflects its African origin (as you can read in Roaster Tom’s post about it) and tidily protects Press from any legal unpleasantness. I still think Press needs to promote this by having a weekend where they’ll give a free shot to anyone dressed as Darth Vader, and a gift certificate to the silliest spin on a Darth Vader costume … I’ll pair my mask with my loudest western shirt and cowboy hat and call myself Garth Vader.
Tips and Profits Go to Haiti
My esteem for the excellent Sola Coffee Bar continues to rise. Not only is the staff skilled and exceptionally friendly, but they’re also generous. When I dropped in this weekend, they were donating tips and profits to relief efforts in Haiti. I hope that the goodwill they’re generating by being awesome gets rewarded.
Commitment to the Cappuccino
My buddy John at Conspire creates a top-quality cappuccino. Even better, he’s passing his knowledge on well. I saw a perfect example of that in Shane, one of his apprentices (continuing my Darth Vader theme here!). When he first started working there, his cap was pretty average. Better than the big box [...]
Mixing Coffee and Travel
I think it’s really fun to find quality microbrews while traveling. I get a chance to try something tasty, and I often get a chance to mingle with locals (in the case of my recent visit to the Lost Abbey/Port Brewing tasting room, I even met a friendly black cat). It’s also not super-hard to find good microbrewers and brew pubs.
For me, it’s way harder to find good coffee shops unless I’m someplace like Portland or Seattle. I was 0 for 2 on cappuccino during my recent visit to San Diego. I won’t name the establishments here … mostly because the second barista really tried hard to produce a good drink. She took her time, and the micro-foam was spot-on. Unfortunately, the coffee itself was way too hot and had a much more bitter edge than I prefer. For the solid effort, I can’t leave her and her establishment hanging out to dry.
If you travel to Arizona, of course, Arizona-coffee.com will not steer you wrong. But I need to start doing better research when I travel. Does anyone out there have any resources for finding great barista people all across the nation?
In Australia, New Zealand and Costa Rica, I’m pretty golden. It’s easy to find great coffee there. From what I understand, AUS and NZ have mandatory barista training that’s pretty extensive. Australia is pretty awesome because it also grows its own beans in Queensland. In New Zealand, it’s impossible to roll into even the smallest town and not find a pretty classy cafe. [...]
