You know what a joey is, right? No, it’s not your brother-in-law. Joey is the term used for young marsupials. Young wallaroos, wallabies, koalas, and even opossums are called joey. Usually we think of a baby kangaroo when we hear about a joey. In this case, though, we’re referring to a cup of Australian brew coffee.
A couple of weeks ago, I was meeting a friend for coffee. We both live in East Mesa, so finding a place in our neck of the woods was important. Neither of us wanted to meet at a large coffee chain or restaurant. Although I’ve lived in this area for almost 30 years, I could not recall seeing any nice mom and pop coffee or tea shops nearby, at least not in the last few years.
An internet search quickly brought up a coffee shop I had not heard of – Cup of Joey. Checking in with my friend, I discovered she had not heard of it either. With the adventurous spirit of new discovery, we set a time early the next week to meet at Cup of Joey.
The atmosphere at Cup of Joey is friendly, with each visitor to the shop welcomed in. Father and daughter team Steve and Amy Collins greeted us with a smile and good conversation. The coffee and tea offerings are generous, and the choices of baked goods were decadent and tempting. I couldn’t resist ordering the very large banana cinnamon roll. Fortunately, my friend’s significant other shared it with me. My friend has much greater willpower than I do, I’m afraid.
I chose to have a simple Earl Grey tea that day. It was fresh, hot, and exactly what I needed. My friends each had one of Cup of Joey’s specialty coffees. From my friend's comment to Amy and Steve that it was “the best cup of coffee” she ever had I would say the coffee was spot on. Signature brews include the Bendigo, a chocolate and candied orange latte, the Toowoomba, a pumpkin pie and caramel latte, and the Uluru, a white chocolate, coconut, and raspberry latte.
Steve, Amy, and the family hail from Australia, and they bring stories and their coffee brewing techniques with them. Amy, entrepreneur and anthropologist, founded Cup of Joey seven years ago with a truck that still goes into the community to bring their coffees, baked goods, and friendly conversation. They expanded in mid-2022 with the storefront in East Mesa. You can find the truck location schedule on the Cup of Joey website.
Cup of Joey serves handcrafted drinks customized by skilled baristas. The baked goods are all baked from scratch using their great-grandmother’s recipes. They take pride in using only high-quality ingredients with no preservatives, and their coffee is locally roasted for freshness.
Cup of Joey offers weekly themed trivia nights, which includes “a beverage and some shenanigans!” These trivia nights are on Thursdays. This week’s trivia night on February 2 is themed around Harry Potter, and costumes are encouraged. Tickets are required, and are $15 per person. You can purchase your tickets online.
Like many shops these days, Cup of Joey offers a rewards program, called “roowards.” It's free to join. Points don’t expire, so if you can’t get back right away, it’s okay. I haven’t been back yet, but there is no doubt I will be, so I’ve signed up for my roowards.
The family supports the local community through fundraising and donations. In particular, they have ongoing partnerships with the Zaharis Elementary PTO and Las Sendas Elementary PTO. Both schools are in Mesa. Cup of Joey recently donated items to A New Leaf in support of victims of domestic violence.
Cup of Joey is also offering a new Math enrichment program on Monday afternoons at the Joey store. The MathHub will help 3rd and 4th grade students to achieve growth in their math level. It will be a four week program commitment. If you're interested or have questions you can send an email to Kerri at kerri@downunderfoods.com. They will respond with information and pricing.
Cup of Joey is located at 1021 North Ellsworth Road, in the Highlands Village shopping center on the southwest corner of Ellsworth and Brown Roads in Mesa. Their hours are Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 6:30 am to 2:00 pm, Thursday and Friday 6:30 am to 5:00 pm, Saturday 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, and Sunday 8:00 am – 12:00 pm.
Check out their Linktree for more information and follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can even learn a bit of Aussie slang over there, they say.
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