Wishing everyone the very best this season and in the coming New Year!

From the crew at Rocket Coffee Roasters to you!

A pour from Joe's

Matt's "Ceasar" Blend

I'm involved in a little "roast off" competition that got started on a coffee forum I belong to:

http://www.opencoffee.net/news.php

I think there is at one least pro roaster besides myself that is participating. It's a great way to try other's coffee/espresso roasts. My entry was the "Open Blend" a dark espresso roast. I have been working with a local espresso bar to develop a blend for milk based drinks only. You know, the 20 oz latte crowd. Anyway, this "roast-off" is a great way for me to get feedback on new blends from a group of coffee educated folks.

What did the group think about it? Go check it out for yo'self.

Here is a pour of Matt's blend

Espresso? What?

"Cowboy coffee" is loosely defined by many as a "handful of ground coffee dumped into a kettle of boiling water and boiled until the majority of grounds sink to the bottom of the kettle". A whole slew of tricks and tips were invented and lot's of differing methods evolved. All manner of things were added like egg shells (I forgot the reason for that) and different fillers to help keep up supplies in lean times.

It was and still is a terrible way to make coffee but that's how it was done. It may have been tasty and a little comforting to have a cup of "cowboy coffee" on a cold rainy morning back in "the day" but there is no reason to walk into any restaurant or coffeeshop today and be served coffee that is of the same or lesser quality. Yet you still can, in far too many places.

if you like "cowboy coffee" tell me why!

What do you think?...

"why is the quality of coffee and service so lousy in Arizona and the Southwest in general"?

That is a question I hear all too often. How do you think AZ/Southwest stacks up in terms of good coffee and espresso? What is your idea of good coffee?

In the coming days I'm going to try and answer that question. I'll rip off the cover so we can expose the inner workings and find out why things are as they are when it comes to coffee in the Southwest.

Ok, this is it....a view of the coffee and espresso scene through the eyes of a professional coffee roaster. We will take an ongoing, in depth, under the hood look at coffee, not just in the Phoenix, AZ area but globally!

I invite you to join in and participate, add your comments, add something of worth or just sit back and lurk. Welcome!