Azukar Coffee has a menu of hot and iced specialty lattes, featuring flavors like Agave Mesquite and Mexican cajeta.
Patricia Escarcega
It isn't hard to see why locals love Azukar Coffee, the south Phoenix coffee shop where you can enjoy specialty lattes like Agave Mesquite (made with locally crafted agave and mesquite syrups), Cafe Con Leche, and the Caramelo Mio, a velvety drink made with cajeta, a traditional caramel-like Mexican confection. The drink menu, owner Sandra Flores says, is an extension of the types of drinks and flavors she grew up with. If you're more of a coffee purist, though, the shop also makes a good pour-over coffee cup.
Melissa Campana
AT Oasis is a neighborhood coffee shop, one tucked away in a strip mall on 46th Street and Thomas. Owner Aisha Tedros flies in her coffee beans from a grower in Ethiopia. To taste a house specialty, try the ginger coffee: ginger adds a kick that you don’t usually get unless you’re spiking coffee with something like booze. The ginger coffee can be enjoyed hot or iced. Both versions are delicious. The menu here is small – breakfast options really only include a frittata or an egg sandwich – but they're both done well, and ingredients are fresh. Plus, AT Oasis's prices are easier to swallow than those of trendier spots down the road.
Tony and Pat Rayner.
Jackie Mercandetti
Rayner’s Chocolate & Coffee Shop, a mom-and-pop cafe, bakery, and chocolate shop in Glendale, is the kind of place that inspires love at first sight. There’s free Wi-Fi, tea and coffee aplenty, and service is friendly yet unobtrusive. Rayner’s even has a small market pantry, stocked with classic British import products like clotted cream fudge, Jaffa orange cake, and all kinds of miscellaneous jams and teas. Visit soon — Pat and Tony Rayner, the wife-and-husband team who have owned and operated Rayner’s since 2012, will be closing shop on December 24 to enjoy a well-earned retirement.
The Grand's interior takes design cues from steampunk.
Jackie Mercandetti
The Grand, which debuted as The Grand Central Coffee Company last year, is a cafe, restaurant, bar, and hangout space that's helping to fill the void in downtown Phoenix’s late-night food and drink scene, thanks to a 24-hour kitchen that promises to stay open 365 days a year, and which offers a small but memorable menu of hot snacks and small plates at all hours. During the day, the menu expands to include breakfast and lunch staples. There’s also a formidable craft beer list to explore, along with specialties like kombucha on tap, and of course, there’s a full coffee bar.
