Val's Workshop

If you are looking for the most unique coffee setup in Flagstaff you have to check out Val's Workshop on San Francisco Street. It is a full service salon and barbershop that also happens to be a coffee lounge. The man behind it is Alberto "Val" Valenzuela, a barber of over 35 years who cut hair in Mexico City, New York City, Beverly Hills and San Diego before Flagstaff captured him on a three day visit. His parents ran restaurants, he swore off that life, and he kept one private ambition: a coffee shop of his own. He opened Val's Workshop in 2017 in a converted laundry room a block from the NAU campus, one client in the room at a time. Around 2020 he moved to the glassy corner of San Francisco and Benton and told his barber clients he was finally building them a waiting room. The waiting room became a full espresso bar.

The Vibe

• The woodworking inside is nice and the vibe is hipster and cozy with tons of natural light from walls of glass.
• Three sections keep everyone happy: the lounge up front, a quiet work area that is good for laptops and study sessions and a game room where chess and card games happen in public.
• You can sip a Vanilla Lavender Iced Latte while watching people get fresh cuts which is unique.
• Staff is friendly across both sides of the house, baristas and barbers alike.

The Coffee Program

• Full service espresso bar with specialty lattes, dirty chais, jasmine tea and iced drinks built to order (they will fill your insulated cup).
• One honest complaint: the shop adds a mandatory 20 percent service fee to coffee orders. I get the instinct, baristas deserve well, but a forced tip is the wrong approach. If the labor cost is real, raise the price of the latte and let the tip jar stay honest. Automatic fees read as a surcharge and they sour the transaction.