Recently went down the rabbit hole of making my own espresso at home. I’ve been buying beans at Costco based on some quick forum reads, yeah yeah they turn stock pretty quickly, so it’s fairly fresh.
I’m really looking for a good mom and pop place or two to try out fresh roasted beans for making my espresso. I’m honestly not even sure where to start looking but confident I won’t find it in one of the big box stores.
Welcome friend.
I have been down the rabbit hole and it goes deep. For local beans I would start with Moxie. Arguable the best roaster in the valley right now. Depending on your location you could go with Peixoto, Press and Pair cupworks as a decent sub. If you are willing to venture out a bit more out Presta down in Tucson is doing some good things too.
Keep in mind for espresso you don’t want to fresh to off gas it properly. Otherwise you have too much crema and it changes the taste and mouth feel.
When ready let’s talk about water chemistry, and mixing roast types for espresso. :)
This is a fantastic list. I’ll add Pair Cupworks in Mesa also
You sound like an expert!
I do have a quick question for ya. Considering we have pretty hard water here, should I run different water through my machine than faucet? I don’t have a water softener, and the water I put in my machine is currently just filtered through a brita filter.
Thanks for your time!
By no means an expert, just a hobbyist. You are correct our water is pretty hard here. For that reason if you are adding tap water be sure to descale your machine and group head fairly regularly. Brita filters won’t to much for removing harder minerals. They are mostly to remove chlorine for taste. That said take all of this with a big health spoon full of depends. It depends on what tastes good to you. If you enjoy your current setup then go with it. It’s kind like adding seasoning to food. We all have different likes and dislikes.
If you are like me and want to tinker and extract different flavors then things get pretty interesting with water. Vapor distilled water is the easiest way for a consumer to get water without anything in it. That said it doesn’t produce that interesting of a cup of coffee to me. Depending on the mineral make up you add back into it drastically changes the flavor of the coffee. For me it’s a heavy mix of magnesium, bit of calcium and some bicarbonates that really bring out the fruit flavor of the beans. Depending on the coffee though you might want to change up the ratios. Washed beans change against anaerobic beans etc.
For home users getting distilled can add up quick. And if you drink as much coffee as I do can be a lot of trips to the store. That’s where RO systems come into play. They have carbon filters much like your brita. But they also remove sediment. Then you want a good RO membrane. Something like a 99% rejection membrane. From there you can get the minerals you like and start adding them back to the water for taste.
Moxie, although an award-winning roaster, is great but also CRAZY EXPENSIVE! I love PRESS roasters and I buy big (vacuum and freeze) a large order. They roast your order, and ship the same or next day. Wonderful roast, not like Cartel's burnt to ashes beans. I get one god shot after another from PRESS.
Peixoto
Old Bisbee Roasters! We get new, exciting coffee shipped to our door every six weeks. It’s delicious in the espresso machine.
Same! Excellent coffee.
I think Moxie and WeBe are the best locally.
Roastery of Cave Creek is our favorite and what you’re looking for… tons of options, locally owned, ethically sourced, etc.
I used to make the trek up there to buy beans and refill growlers with their awesome cold brew but now I just buy enough for free shipping
Their beans are used by some of the best resorts in town, there batch to batch quality is excellent.
My favorite!
Fillmore Coffee in downtown Phoenix roasts their own beans.
I’ll add it to the list and check it out, thank you
Yes, Fillmore is excellent.
Yeah, lots of local roasters. I’m in north Tempe and go to Cafetel or Cartel. I’m sure there are others, I just haven’t found them yet.
AT Oasis Coffee & Tea shop
This would be my suggestion as well OP! Great local business and the beans are fabulous
Infusion Coffee and Tea, they've got some neat flavors too. Small batches tho.
Cartel coffee
My go to as well. Blend 48 is my regular and I’ll buy a bag or two of something else to mix it up.
A form of this gets asked fairly often. Here’s the post from a few weeks ago and there are more if you search. Though the top answers are pretty similar.
Place on 7th St & Dunlap roasts his own, navy guy
Lifeboat Coffee?
Yes, thank you, name escaped me
Froth was pretty good. I order my beans though from I Prefer Craft Coffee and Galena Roasters They aren’t local, but they will probably be the only place I’ll order from.
If you’re on the west side, Union Coffee Co on 67th and Thunderbird roasts their beans in house!
Pair Cupworks has won top ten roaster a couple times that they’ve competed. Light roast, though, sounds like you like darker?
Cultivate coffee is my favorite
I bought a couple of bags from the lost Dutchman for my sister in law and she really liked it.
Roastery of Cave Creek!
I have been enjoying webe coffee recently and they just opening their second location
ALCHEMY ROAST!!! It’s my friends business!
He imports his own beans and sells at a lot of the local farmers markets.
Passport in Scottsdale
Seraphina