Cartel Roasting Co

I really enjoyed this coffee shop. The ambiance is different and the decorations are fun. I was blown away by the vegan pop tart, it's really hard to make good pastry dough without eggs and butter and they did a bang-up job. I ordered one of their specialty coffees, the iconic tonic, and was surprised by how well espresso, grapefruit juice, and tonic water go together.

Basically the food and drinks here are incredibly creative and blew me away with their innovation.

Excellent coffee and staff. The oat milk tastes better here then other coffee shops. Turns out it’s made there so it’s fresh.

If there was one thing or rather two things I’d like to see change:
1. Offer booze. Beer. Hard kombucha.
2. Take over some of the parking lot for a patio

Spot looks great. Solid design. Speaking solely on the coffee it’s subpar. It’s your typical new age trendy coffee shop. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Penelope pizza was decent but was 18 bucks for a 12 inch pizza (only size they have). Cartel was over five bucks for a pour over coffee which wasn't great and over 4 bucks for an iced green tea which was pretty small. I asked about a refill and was told it would be 3 dollars for the tea and no refills on the coffee.

In short this place was way too expensive for what you get, and while it was good, it wasn't great. I won't be back but I'm giving it 3 stars because taste was good.

Great place to pop in and grab some coffee, sit and read, or even get a little work done. Nice atmosphere. Friendly staff. Great coffee. Plenty of space. What else could you want?

Five stars for sure. Great taste and texture of the mocha and a latte. The atmosphere is a classic coffee shop. Highly recommend and we will be back.

Downtown Tucson isn’t the best of downtowns compared to other cities if its size but it still has lots to offer. Most of my time here I’ve ventured exclusively to establishments on Congress never thinking of changing it up and maybe trying out new places on Broadway. I finally decided to try it and chose Cartel Coffee Lab. I love coffee so it made sense to go here. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in as I discovered the nice atmosphere of this coffee shop. I loved the layout and the decor. I’m sensitive more than the average person as to how I’m greeted at the counter so I always approach with caution. I was happy when the girl at the counter greeted me with a nice enthusiastic hello and smile 😊. I ordered the mocha and it was great. 👍 A couple of issues I had was I found the price was a little high for the size of the drink. I ordered a small for nearly $5 and I left a $1 tip so it was an expensive coffee for the size. The other gripe I had was the employee that made my coffee didn’t smile once the entire time I was there. I thanked her a couple of times with a smile but nothing in return. Again that’s just me being overly sensitive. I know she was focused on making the drinks but a little smile wouldn’t hurt. I will definitely return though just for the ambience alone. 👍☺️✌️

Chai was 8/10 but the scone was 1/10 & the barista refused to heat my scone, which would have made the super dry "strawberry" oat scone better. Which btw had literally 0 oat flakes 2 single pieces of strawberry & very little flavor + a huge amount of unhulled hemp seed. Worse than a Starbucks scone sadly. We won't be back to Cartel coffee again. Its unfortunate bc 5 years ago it was one of the best shops in town, in my opinion. I was really offput by the barista customer interactions aside from my own as well. 4/10 is probably being generous, but my babes' coffee was likable (6/10 mocha), so we'll go with that.

Great drink, excellent wifi and power outlet access, spacious and stylist with extensive hours. The perfect place for a good coffee while getting some work done!

I've enjoyed Cartel for the past 4 years and location to location (I'm currently at the downtown Tucson location), bean to bean, brew to brew, I've never been disappointed. Most locations are also a great place to have a meeting. One important note - at most places, most coffee shops, you're tempted to get fancy and go for the more expensive brew - don't start there, the basic drip is fantastic even though today I did a poor over (don't judge me for being bougie).

Yes the fancy beans are wonderful, you won't want to go back and try the basics - you should and if you try the 'Carmen Washed' (my favorite) you'll find a fruity and wonderfully light brew.