Review of The Corner at Phoenix City Scape

The family and I were hanging out at the Diamondback’s Fan Fest this weekend and needed to grab a little something before our next stop. I had seen The Corner many times because I like to park at City Scape (usually less expensive). We decided to stop in to kill some time, feed the baby and of course try the coffee.

My initial perception of the place as a whole is that I love it. It has like 4 different shops in a single shared space. Love it! The only downside we found was that there wasn’t a baby changing table, so my wife had to change her on the bathroom floor (yuck).

For the coffee bar, I saw some higher end Bunn brewers and an auto-Chemex set up. Yes, I know I should not make assumptions about places based on their brewing equipment, but I do. Selling a Chemex is making a statement about the coffee, similarly to serving food on fine china. I talked to the baristas a little bit. Only one really knew much about what they were brewing and he wasn’t quick to dive into the gritty details of brewing.

The coffee I got was a Sumatra roasted by Passport coffee (a local Az roaster). It was $2.09 for a 12oz cup (another statement on the coffee). I also bought a box of day old pastries to munch on (2 croissants and 2 croissants with chocolate in it for $5). The pastries were ready to consume well before the coffee. The croissant was still moist and the chocolate one was pretty awesome. I popped the lid on the coffee and the aroma was rich and made me think of cocoa. The body was full, but right when I was expecting a punch of flavor, it fell flat. The finish had a nice roast flavor at the end. It was a good cup, but didn’t rock my socks off. To be honest, I have not had a Passport coffee yet that has really wowed me. I think it was brewed well though.

Overall, I love the environment. This is a place I could go and work all day. The people were helpful and easy to talk to (maybe not about the technical side of brewing though). No one rushed us after they closed and remembered us when we came and went.

Very cool place, but the coffee was just ok.