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| - If star ratings were indicative of how hipster a place is, then Coffee Cartel Lab on University is a five star. But fortunately, the service, coffee and consumables were excellent too, so it gets a five star from this traveler for the right reasons.
An easy-to-get-to location right off University, with a slightly cramped parking lot, but at least it's free, everything about Coffee Cartel Lab is pretty, well hip. I particularly like the word "cartel" in the name, because it makes me feel like the caffeine I crave is like a Venezuelan drug and the coffee cartels are the only place I can acquire it.
But the interior is a tidal wave of hipster atmosphere, with dim lights, open ceilings, independent art all over the walls, flyers and cards for independent works free to peruse and browse, and pretty much every seat in the house taken up by someone with horn-rimmed glasses, tattoos, ironic t-shirts and skinny jeans, equipped with their iPhones, iPads or laptops, making full use of the wifi. But it's still clean and cozy feeling, overall. Oddly, to a jaded traveler like myself, as critical as I sound towards hipsters, the places they frequent are kind of the places I like to frequent...
Anyway, the mocha I ordered was creamy and just right, and I took great sadistic pleasure in purchasing the very last cookie that was this Frankenstein of chocolate chips, peanut butter AND BACON. The bacon flavor was subtle, but still noticeable, and I took great pleasure of enjoying it in between sips of my mocha while trying not to inadvertently listen to young ASU students trying to give each other resume tips and advice.
Prices were standard faire, and really nothing different than you would expect from a Starbucks, or any other independent coffee shop these days. I know for a fact that my travels would bring me out to Arizona again, and if presented the opportunity, I'd go back to the Cartel again without much problem.
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