Cartel Roasting Flagship Location

If third wave coffee ever needed a cathedral, this would be it.

From the sidewalk, the Ash Ave flagship looks almost modest. Walk inside and it opens into a full blown warehouse, polished concrete, exposed brick and ceilings tall enough to swallow most of the noise in the room.

There are three distinct rooms and each one has its own personality. The front room carries the load with steel tables, wood bench seating along the wall and a spider shaped chandelier hanging overhead like an industrial art piece. Further back, the room quiets down and pulls away from the crowd. It is the kind of spot where you can relax and watch the baristas working the La Marzocco from a comfortable distance. Off to the side sits a smaller room with a hidden nook and a bar style table built for the person who wants to disappear with a book for an hour.

Right by ASU, the shop naturally fills up once class gets going. It gets busier during midterms and finals, then eases back down whenever the school calendar takes a break. Nothing dramatic. Just the natural rhythm of a coffee shop living next to a university.

As always, I get curious about the story behind a shop so I went digging a bit... Turns out this exact address is where Cartel started back in 2008. Jason and Amy Silberschlag built the whole thing from right here! According to an interview with Clive Coffee, Amy did not even drink coffee. What pulled her in was not the coffee itself but the way it gathered such different people into the same room. The human connection.

Back then almost nobody in Arizona talked about green coffee transparency or lighter roasts. Cartel did well ahead of the local third wave curve.

Cartel still carries itself like a single origin purist even though the espresso side leans on one dependable blend. Blend 48 is the backbone. 75% washed Colombia, 25% natural Brazil. It is medium-light in the roast and is pulled through a La Marzocco paired with Mazzer Robur grinders. If single origin is what you are after, the pour over bar is where you need to be. On my last visit, the slow bar carried Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, Kenya Kiangoi and Colombia Laboyano. There was also a chemical free decaf for anyone skipping caffeine altogether.

I went with a hot latte. They offer one size only and that is how it should be. I would rather have one size done right than three sizes done average. Whole milk brought out a smooth and rich cup. Dark chocolate led the way followed by a touch of agave sweetness and a soft citrus note hiding underneath (courtesy of the washed Huila beans in the blend). The Brazil part rounds it all out keeping the fruit in check and the body full.

Growth always asks a company to trade a little soul for consistency. More locations mean more standardized routines and less room for the micro lot relationships and seasonal rotations that built a name like this one. Whether Cartel can keep expanding without losing the micro-roaster soul that started right here in Tempe is still an open question.

Time will tell. But walk into any Cartel right now and you already know what you are getting before you order. Great coffee, no exceptions.