Valo Coffee — Restaurant in Prescott

High-end coffee experience for everyone! These guys are doing the hard work to bring high-end coffee excellence to the common person, proving that excellent coffee, prepared meticulously, is amazing (without needing 4 pumps of sugar, whipped cream and carmel drizzel.)

I was on a trip to Prescott and had looked for a good cup of coffee for 3 days. Even if I did find a shop that was willing to serve a pour over or espresso straight up, there were no single origin coffees, and they couldn't tell me anything about the coffee they were serving other than "this is our medium roast." And it was all pretty terrible.

Then, we found Sol, almost accidentally. Not only are all their coffees excellent single origin coffees, they can tell you where they come from, what their flavor profile is, and best, they know how to use them all to craft you a coffee drink that will be flavorful and delicious -- and what you taste will be the coffee, not the sugar.

We talked shop for an hour while I tasted each of their coffees, each with natural flavor profiles ranging from nutty, to stone fruit, to prominant natural cinnomon finish, and another with obvious peach body. All unique and excellent coffees!

What I find most amazing about this shop is that their desire is to make custom blends on the spot for each drink to match the taste preference of each customer. An ambitious goal, but they've done the groundwork and are delivering! Making third wave coffee accessable to everyone, and making it a personal experience.

I wish these people the best success and growth so lots of people can enjoy coffee like this! -- And no, I have no affiliation with Sol, other than I enjoy their craft and I have a 25 year history in coffee, which almost...

Extremely underwhelming lol…People around here don’t know what good coffee is because they’re either boomers who normally brew Folgers at home, or pumpkin spice latte bimbos that are accustomed to Starbucks and Dutch bros… Here is my brutally honest review as a coffee snob who’s sick of overpaying for mediocre coffee: My friend and I were the only people in the cafe. The service was okay, and they didn’t bother asking if we’d visited before or explaining their dismal looking menu. It took 3 whole people nearly 10 minutes to make two lattes. There is only one size, hot or iced. The cafe was in shambles, if zoom in on the photo someone else has posted and you’ll see what I mean about the baron eye sore display cases and shelves—if you’re going to sell average coffee, at least have some ambiance. They swear they’re so uppity about quality/source/preparation of their supposed special espresso and coffee beans, and that’s what irks me because the craftsmanship and taste were anything but extraordinary… I purchased the iced maple latte and my friend got a hot one. Mine tasted watered down, there was no typical robust flavor of espresso coming through— just hints of maple flavor between sips of weakly and poorly brewed coffee. I also got a bagel since it was breakfast time, which was wrapped in plastic Saran and I had to toast it myself— very motel 6 continental breakfast vibes lol.. Not to beat down a small local business, but what they advertise is far from what they deliver. I wouldn’t...

TL;DR: Specialty coffee nerds and hobbyists, this is your place.

I have visited Prescott a number of times and tried many of the coffee shops but had not discovered Valo until now. This place and its people are special. Not only are they roasting and brewing coffees produced by household names (who isn't excited about the latest releases from Diego Bermudez?), they invite the customer into the experience by brewing their single origin offerings on both espresso and pourover. They are constantly experimenting and inviting guests to participate. In my mind, this openness to what coffee could be is what sets a place like Valo apart.

The entire team here is incessantly curious — about how to brew better pourover, how to improve the origin character of cold brew, how to better preserve greens, or how to my experience as a guest special. Spoiler: they excel at this. The way they engage their guests and each other is much more like when your coffee nerd friend invites you into their home to try something they're very excited about. Suffice to say, I will miss hanging out with these wonderful folks!

For the nerds — equipment: 3+ Loring roasters 3+ Weber Workshops EG-1 grinders 2+ Decent espresso machines 4+ Fellow Aiden brewers 3D printed dosing equipment Just about every hobbyist tool...