Cartel Roasting Co. — Restaurant in Tempe

There is precious little parking in this area. It's really close to Mill Avenue, which is notorious for not having much in the way of parking. I found some 1 hour parking, but who wants to be at the coffee shop for an hour or less? Sometimes you go and you want to hang out and do stuff while you're having coffee. If you're the type of person who walks to the coffee shop or ride the bike, you won't have to worry about these problems. If you drive, you better watch out! Since I drive to get around the city, I guess I won't be coming back to this coffee shop. I absolutely must be able to park if I'm going to go somewhere, and not have to worry about a silly time limit. At the very least, make it 3 hour parking, not a mere one hour. Who wants to leave almost as soon as they get there?? On to other aspects of the shop. It's very different, which I thought was pretty cool. It's what made me give the place a shot. They have a very, very simple menu. The staff was friendly, and answered my question kindly. It looks like a lot of college students and artsy people come here, too. There's also the free Wi-Fi, and I am grateful for that. They have an interesting item on the menu called a 1 and 1, but I wish it had been explained better what I was supposed to do with it. One of the cups I got was extremely bitter. If you want to try a one and one, the shore to ask more questions. Overall though, I got my dose of caffeine, and it wasn't too bad otherwise. The seats aren't very comfortable, and it has a very Warehouse feel, but some people like that style. I actually appreciate the way it's different from certain National changed. I just wish it wasn't so close to the university that parking was almost nonexistent. Between the service and the taste of the coffee, I wish I was able to come...

Tea-drinkers steer clear from this place.

I'm not super picky, but I'm also not a fan of my tea leaves, in 200+ degree water, being given to me in a class bottle with a shot glass on top. I burn my hand every time I try to pour my tea. Admittedly, this isn't a big deal.

What's really been annoying me lately is that every time I get a tea to go from here, there is no means to filter my tea. "Can I get a filter?" "The lid will filter the leaves out" I've been told this by 2 separate baristas. Meaning, folks who work here are trained to say this. As someone who works in the tea industry, this drives me nuts for 2 reasons.

First - maybe this works for the 8 Treasures tea because it's large leaves and pieces of fruit, but regular tea crumbles. Any time I order a non-herbal blend, I get a mouthful of tiny bits of tea leaves.

Second - this means you have to leave the tea leaves in the whole time you are drinking your beverage. Is it not common knowledge that this is HORRIBLE for tea? Steeping tea leaves for longer than 3 minutes makes the cup go bitter and releases a toxic amount of tennins, which gives the drinker stomach issues. The lid-as-a-filter thing makes it impossible to enjoy the tea being served.

Cartel serves tea from a superior brand, 7 Cups has incredibly high quality tea. But the way they Cartel serves it doesn't do the tea justice. Every other shop that serves tea has a way to filter their leaves out. If the shop doesn't want to produce waste from tea filters, just throw the tea in a French Press. Or offer filters to people who ask for them.

I get that, as a tea-drinker, I'm not the target audience here, but it would be nice if Cartel put a little more thought and research with how they...

I live just down the street from Cartel and I’ve been coming here almost daily for well over a decade. It’s a drag to write this but, my current intention is to take my business elsewhere.

I only drink iced green tea which is now over $5 so I bring my own mug making it $4.60. When I get a refill (which I always do) there is a discounted price (as there should be) making it $2.97 with my mug. They have a new “same visit only” policy where if you step foot off of the property at all your refill is no longer discounted. So if I go get lunch next door (this business shares a parking lot with Cartel, I didn’t even move my car) I am charged full price for the refill. The problem here is not purely a financial one, there’s times when I actually am on the patio the whole time and I have to come in and explain myself to the barista accusing me of leaving to get the discount. Then today one of the employees gets mildly aggressive with me, as he has done before, saying “we’re just doing what our managers tell us”. Let me put this in perspective financially. If I get a tea for $4.60 and a refill for $2.97 every day, that’s $2,763.05 per year. That is a shit ton of money for green tea, and now you’re hassling me about the refill discount when I’m here daily. Get real.

Also, the current employees seem to think it’s a good idea to crank Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Shania Twain etc at 9am in a coffee shop. People are largely here to read and do homework, now they have to listen to what sounds like a Kidz Bop album first thing in the morning. Time to shop around for a new place that values...