The Coach Coffee Shop

The Coach Coffee Shop is a designer cafe located next to the Coach store at Tanger Outlets in Glendale.

I admit I am not much of a mall guy. but if I have to pick, I rather be in an outdoor open air mall over an enclosed one. That makes this a pretty easy coffee stop if you are already shopping at Tanger Outlets.

The location is also surprisingly convenient if you are coming specifically for the cafe. It sits in the middle on the east side of the property with direct access to mall entrance. You can park in the shaded garage on the east side and walk straight to the coffee counter without navigating the rest of the mall. That makes a quick coffee run much easier.

There is something important to understand about The Coach Coffee Shop. This is a hybrid brand experience and coffee counter rather than an independent local coffee house. While azcoffeeshops.com focuses primarily on local gems and artisan roasters, reader interest earned this luxury brand cafe a spot on the site. Consider this a special feature rather than a change in my core mission for the site.

The Coach Coffee Shop has a polished modern design that feels more like a New York diner crossed with a luxury boutique. Large glass windows bring in plenty of natural light. Clean lines and polished concrete floors give the space a sleek contemporary feel.

The cafe connects directly to the Coach retail floor through a wide open layout. Wood framing separates the coffee area from the merchandise without blocking the view. You can order a drink, sit for a while and still feel connected to the store around you.

It is clearly designed to be photographed. The space fits naturally into the world of boutique shopping and social media check ins.

Coach partnered with Portland based Stumptown Coffee Roasters to create an exclusive blend for their Coffee Shop. According to their website, this blend combines coffees from Latin America and Indonesia and was designed to work as both drip coffee and espresso.

You can also buy bags of the same coffee to take home.

The equipment certainly looks the part. Espresso is pulled on a manual La Marzocco Linea machine. The latte also gets a double shot regardless of size. That means ordering a larger latte gives you more milk rather than a balanced cup.

Unfortunately, the coffee itself did not quite live up to the presentation.

I ordered a medium latte. Stumptown describes the blend with tasting notes of milk chocolate, sweet toffee and a bright blood orange finish. I could not pick up those distinct flavors in the latte. Instead, I found the espresso profile fairly plain and lacking the depth I was hoping for.

This is where I think it is worth setting expectations. The Coach Coffee Shop is a luxury retail experience with a specialty coffee program. It is not a dedicated craft coffee shop. The branding and equipment suggest a higher level of coffee focus but my latte did not deliver the complexity I expected.

I also tried the Coach Tiramisu Latte.

The presentation was nice, but the drink was extremely sweet. I could not really taste the coffee underneath it. I am also not sure whether espresso is part of the drink because the sweetness completely dominated what I was tasting. If you are looking for a dessert style drink, that sweetness may be exactly what you want.

The Raspberry Matcha was more interesting.

Before mixing it, the matcha itself had a mellow grassy flavor that felt pretty average. Once everything was mixed together, the drink became more balanced. It is still very sweet though. In my opinion, the sweetness works well if you are treating this as a dessert drink but it also overwhelms the matcha itself.

The Coach Coffee Shop is an interesting addition to the Phoenix coffee scene because it occupies a very different space from the independent cafes I normally cover.

The setting is polished. The design is attractive. The Stumptown partnership is interesting and the coffee program has some legitimate specialty coffee credentials behind it.

For me though, the drinks did not quite match the experience surrounding them. I enjoyed the space more than I enjoyed the coffee.

If you are already shopping at Tanger Outlets, it is an easy place to stop for a drink. If you are specifically searching for an exceptional cup of coffee, I would temper your expectations.