Let’s be honest here, coffee is at its best when it is fun. You can drink all the micro-lot Geshas or Eugenioides you want, but if you’re not enjoying yourself, not having fun, then what even is the point? We need not choose between exceptional coffee and fun coffee, and that is at the heart of what WeBe Coffee Roasters is trying to do.
The Phoenix, Arizona cafe and roastery wants to pair thoughtfully sourced and very good coffee with a little bit of excitement and curiosity. For them, that means creating a clean, open environment that allows coffee drinkers at all stages of geekdom to explore and find their own favorite caffeinated rabbit hole. It sounds lovely and refreshing and just plain fun.
The 2023 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by DONA. The 2023 Build-Outs of Coffee is sponsored by La Marzocco, Pacific Barista Series, Acaia, and Marco Beverage Systems.
As told to Sprudge by TJ Sutton.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
WeBe Coffee Roasters is all about providing good coffee in good humor. We want to invite any casual coffee drinker to delight in our fun brand, approachable atmosphere, and of course delicious specialty coffee.
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
We built out the space over the course of 10 months completely redoing everything from the ground up. We created a clean, open environment accented by pops of color from our fun brand. We have our roaster positioned in the center of the cafe to provoke curiosity from customers and get them asking questions about coffee and ultimately learning more about it.
What’s your approach to coffee?
We believe is sourcing delicious specialty-grade coffee, roasting it using all the technology, experience, and expertise available to us, and then serving that coffee to the consumer with great care. We look to support farmers and especially women-owned and other humanitarian coffee-based projects whenever we can believing that even though we are small, there is value in our efforts!
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
We have a custom Primo 20kg roaster, Ikawa Pro V3 sample roaster, La Marzocco Linea Mini, Eureka Atom Specialty 75 espresso grinder, Mahlkönig EK43 grinder, and Fetco XTS batch brewer.
How is your project considering sustainability?
As I mentioned above in the approach to coffee section, we try to use farms and importers who are environmentally as well as culturally and economically responsible. In the cafe we encourage the use of ceramic and glass drinkware so we can cut down on unnecessary waste of paper and plastic products. We have all LED lighting to reduce energy consumption and support local vendors for our supplies and pastries. We are currently in the process of developing new coffee packaging tht is compostable. As well, we give our used coffee grounds to local composters.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
We opened on the last day of January 2023.
Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?
All of the woodwork and carpentry in the cafe was built by my very talented parents with a little help from me (but mostly them). We have an especially unique front bar and cupping table that I consider works of art.
Thank you!
Photos by Bella Wang
The 2023 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by DONA. The 2023 Build-Outs of Coffee is sponsored by La Marzocco, Pacific Barista Series, Acaia, and Marco Beverage Systems.
