Unable to find coffee as good as that her family grows in Brazil – the world’s leading coffee supplier – Julia Peixoto Peters used to sneak bags into this country.
Now she’s come up with much easier way to get her daily fix: She and her husband, Jeff, just opened Peixoto Coffee in downtown Chandler.
The small shop specializes in high-quality arabica beans her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather have been harvesting for more than a century.
The Peters import the green (unroasted) beans from the Peixoto (pronounced “pay-SHOW-toe”) family farm and roast them on-site in their 1,400-square-foot space on Arizona Avenue just south of Boston Street (map).
“Originally we planned to just sell the beans to a roaster,” Peixoto Peters says. “Then we decided we’d roast the beans ourselves and sell them. But then we figured why not just serve coffee as well?”
By cutting out the middle man, she says, “we’re able to sell a higher-quality product for a comparable price (to other coffee shops).”
Born and raised in Brazil, Peixoto Peters came to the United States to get her master’s degree in international trade law at the University of Arizona.
“I stepped off the plane and looked around and thought, ‘So this is Tucson?'” she remembers. “It didn’t look like much.”
But she became an Arizonan. For the past 12 years, she’s worked as a lawyer for shipping giant DHL, which continues to be her “day job.”
When the Chandler couple decided to open Peixoto Coffee, they focused on the downtown area less than two miles from their home.
“We really like all the independent businesses here,” she says. “We’ve always spent a lot of time here.”
In October, they signed a lease to take over a former laser hair removal business.
They stripped the wallboard to expose the old brick, built their own bar, and painted an eclectic mish-mash of furniture to create what Peixoto Peters calls “a rural farmhouse” feel.
Jeff Peters, an aerospace engineer from Michigan who has been roasting his own coffee for years, built the roaster, which can roast up to 40 pounds of beans in 12-15 minutes.
“Lucky for me,” Peixoto Peters says. “Growing up, our family sent green beans to a cooperative, which sold them to the distributors. So I have no experience roasting coffee.”
Because the cooperative has always mixed her family’s beans with those from surrounding farms, her father has never tasted coffee made solely from his beans.
Peixoto Peters is looking forward to rectifying this when he comes to visit in April or May. She’s also planning a “Meet the Farmer” event where customers can meet her father.
(Her grandfather, unfortunately, passed away just last year.)
The weathered-wood bar is equipped with state-of-the-art grinders, drip machines, and espresso machines, but Peixoto Peters’ preference is “pour over” coffee.
Using the old-fashioned technique (pictured above), a barista slowly pours 200-degree water over a paper funnel of beans.
Proponents insist the pour-over method, which takes 4-5 minutes, creates a purer-tasting cup of coffee.
Besides her family’s Brazilian beans, Peixoto Peters wants to introduce customers to those from other countries as well. She currently has beans from Costa Rica and Ethiopa.
What she refuses to offer are many of the add-ons popular at American coffeehouses.
“I will use milk (for lattes, macchiatos, etc.) but that’s it,” she says. “No hazelnut syrup, no whipped cream.”
For noshing, her small kitchen makes pão de queijo – small balls of cheesy bread, three served in a cup – that are a traditional snack with coffee in Brazil.
Working with local vendors, she also sells empanadas made by AZ Food Crafters and pastries from Pistol Whipped and gluten-free Pure Goodies.
Peixoto Coffee will hold a grand opening celebration from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, with a 4:30 ribbon-cutting, live music, and food from AZ Food Crafters.
Peixoto Peters’ plans include hosting a variety of classes, and maybe even trying to talk downtown neighbor SanTan Brewing into collaborating on a coffee stout.
The shop is open 7 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Peixoto coffee is sold retail for $15.95 for a full one-pound bag.
