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Java Jive: First business going smoothie

New owners decorate coffee house with border flavor

It’s 8 a.m. on a Monday morning in Ahwatukee and the rush is on. Rush for caffeine: straight up, with milk, without milk, double latte, triple latte, house coffee with a shot of sugar-free hazelnut or regular almond flavoring. And during the warmer months, fruit smoothies are a part of the morning line-up.

“It’s breakfast for me,” says Deborah Nightingale, a mother just returned from two school drop-offs before heading to her home photography studio with her peach smoothie.

This is a typical morning at Java Jive, a family-owned and operated coffeehouse purchased this summer by hermana y hermano Lizette and Ray Fonseca.

The coffeehouse, at Desert Foothills and Chandler boulevards, has been a familiar caffeine oasis for more than a decade. With the new owners, it has evolved into a south-of-the-border-inspired place to sit and sip. The mood comes from Mexico-made accent pieces from their father’s boutique furniture business in Tubac.

For many Java Jive regulars, the smiling young owners running the shop are cause for a double take.

“They were so young-looking, I first thought they were new employees,” said James Och, a personal banker at JPMorgan Chase and Co., who has been picking up his morning coffee at Java Jive every workday morning for a year.

“Yes, we are young and some people are surprised to find out we own the shop,” admits Lizette, 26, two years older than her brother. “But we come from a business background. Everybody in our family owns their own business.”

Ray recounts how the two began working on the family’s dairy farm as preschoolers, up at five in the morning. He says getting up at those hours to work was good training for running a coffee shop. Born in Mexico and schooled in the United States, Lizette majored in accounting at the University of Arizona and Ray continues his political science major at Mesa Community College.

Their search for a business in which to invest their time and money brought them to Ahwatukee and “everything fell into place.”

“We looked a lot of different types of businesses, but I used to hang out at coffeehouses at college, and I know it can be a very comfortable and cozy place to be when it’s done right,” says Lizette.

And Java Jive is more than just a coffee hang-out, there’s food, too, such as breakfast burritos with chorizo. There’s the usual bagel and croissant fare, and eye-and-palate-tempting pastries delivered fresh daily from a Scottsdale specialty bakery. Lunch time is also evolving into a busy period with Boar’s Head lunch meat sandwiches the main attraction.

“Customer service is very important to us. We’ve been very fortunate in meeting so many wonderful people and we want to keep their business and make new friends,” says Lizette with her ever-present smile.

Java Jive

1241 e. Chandler Blvd at Desert Foothills.

Open Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. - 8 p.m., Satuday 6 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Sunday 6 a.m. - 2 p. m.

For more information, (480) 460-0644