Fair Trade Cafe

Fair Trade Cafe in Downtown Phoenix, AZ is a Latina owned coffee shop and community space in the heart of the Roosevelt Row Arts District. The full menu is listed below.

I first heard about Fair Trade Cafe when the owner Stephanie Vasquez appeared on Arizona Family (Channel 3). She was talking about everything being made fresh with no preservatives and I was already sold before the segment ended. Add the fact that it sits in one of my favorite parts of Phoenix and a visit was inevitable.

Stephanie opened this place in 2007. That kind of staying power in Downtown Phoenix means something. The shop operates around a "coffee with a conscience" philosophy. The coffee is shade grown, organic and fair trade sourced. The food is made in house. The mission is genuine and you can feel it in the room.

And what a room it is. High ceilings, rotating local art on the walls and a vibe that feels decorated with actual culture rather than a designer's idea of culture. Every month a different local artist gets the walls. The work is available for purchase too. It is a quiet but meaningful way to support the local art scene and it gives the space a personality that changes with the city around it.

There are two places to sit outdoors. The front area faces the street/train and has more foot traffic and energy. The back patio is tucked into an alcove behind the building and feels almost hidden. I split my time between both and the back patio was the better find. Shaded and calm. A small escape from the Phoenix sun.

Now, the coffee. The beans come directly from Cayetano Coffee, a family farm in Mexico that grows single origin beans and does not blend them. They sun dry the beans for three weeks, which is the kind of process that usually signals natural processing and all the fruity complexity that comes with it. So I had high hopes going in. I ordered the latte in the small size (worth noting that both sizes get the same number of shots) and was let down. The roast was so dark that it essentially erased everything the farm worked to build into those beans. Think of it like ordering a great steak and getting it well done. The raw material is there. The execution is not. My advice is to skip the espresso drinks entirely (unless you are a fan of dark/strong coffee).

Go for the matcha instead. I also had the Matcha Madness Flight which comes with three different matcha drinks. This was the right call. The flight includes a Maple Sea Salt matcha latte topped with sea salt cold foam, an Earl Grey matcha latte and an Ube matcha latte topped with house made ube whipped cream. All three were genuinely good but the Ube was the standout. Rich, distinct and not cloying. This is where Fair Trade Cafe shines and it is not particularly close.

I also tried the lemon bar. It is house made like all the desserts here, but it was too sweet for me to finish. That was a little unfortunate.

Service was slow but fine. Be prepared to wait five or more minutes for your drink especially in busy time. Free parking is available in the garage attached to the building from the back side. Fair Trade Cafe is a cool place to hang out in the Roosevelt Row Arts District.