Third Place Cup Coffee Company

Back in 2006, a pastor named Ben Cloud and his wife Mandy opened a coffee shop in Queen Creek. Not as a side project. As a vision. The idea was to create a genuine third place. A social space outside of home and work where real community could happen over a cup of coffee. Nearly two decades later, Third Place Cup Coffee Company is still running and that staying power tells you everything you need to know before you even walk in.

Third Place Cup has since moved into this newer Vineyard Farmhouse building on Germann Rd. with a clean white farmhouse exterior, black framed windows and barn sconces out front. Fair warning: it is a bit of a hidden gem and first timers have been known to wander around the property before finding the entrance. That is part of the charm. When you enter the short gravel drive way, it is the main building. See the pictures before you go and it will make it easier to spot.

Inside, exposed wooden trusses run across high ceilings and generous windows flood the room with natural light. One side has rows of padded chairs facing a small stage. The other side is the coffee shop with polished concrete floors, a long live edge wooden high top and a La Marzocco Linea behind the barista counter. For a community coffee shop of this size to run a Linea is a real commitment to the craft and worth noting.

This place is a co-op in the truest sense. Multiple churches meet here on Sundays. The coffee shop runs the rest of the week, largely powered by volunteers. Somehow the two coexist without any awkwardness. It just feels like a place where people gather and that is exactly the point.

The beans come from Bergies Coffee Roastery out of Gilbert. The espresso during my visit was a Papua New Guinea (PNG) Morobe Province bean. It is organic and dark roasted. Dark roasts are not usually my thing but this one had something going on underneath. Wine-like acidity, black currant and herbal hints pushed through even under the roast. PNG Morobe beans tend to sit between the bright acidity of African coffees and the heavier body of Indonesian varieties and you can feel that in the cup. A lighter medium roast would let that profile truly speak but what is here is still good. Pour over (slow bar) via Chemex is on the menu too, though with the dark PNG as the only bean option I passed on that one.

Organic coffee, local honey and goat milk from a neighbor down the road round out the offering. The fresh baked items are worth your attention too. Muffins arrive still warm from the pan. And if you visit at the right time of year, the farm produces peaches, apricots, lemons, pomegranates, figs and grapes from the vineyard on the property. Come for the coffee and leave with fruit. That is not a sentence I get to write very often!

The staff is genuinely warm. And the whole place has an ease to it that is hard to manufacture and impossible to fake. Go out there and support them!