Cartel Coffee Lab

If you live in Phoenix and haven’t heard of Cartel Coffee Lab, you’ve probably been living under a Starbucks-shaped rock. Or maybe you just don’t drink java. This local coffee roaster is the best known in the café scene, and chances are you’ve sipped their coffee somewhere around town without realizing it, like Jobot Coffee Shop, which brews its own custom roast. But true fans go straight to the source – one of Cartel Coffee Lab’s four locations in Tempe, Scottsdale, Downtown Phoenix, and Tucson – to get their fix of Black Market Espresso. Cartel sources its four-bean blend from a single high-elevation farm in the Sul de Mina region of Brazil, where it goes through a natural pulping process on-site before leaving for its final destination, your cup. Once Cartel gets its hands on the green beans, they’re roasted to create a bold-flavored coffee with citrus and chocolate notes and a dash of sweetness.