What Your Morning Coffee Is Actually Doing To You | Patrick & Ashley Sullivan
episodePreviously titled “The Truth About Coffee + Alex Clark’s Fave Arizona Spots To Eat | Patrick & Ashley Sullivan” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 5, 2026
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What do coffee shops not want customers to know about their beans?
What do coffee shops not want customers to know about their beans?
The darker the roast, the more likely mold was in the beans originally.
Did your coffee shop almost get shut down for making raw milk lattes? It was nerve-wracking. Who do you think is the most toxic coffee brand?
Who sells the most coffee?
This coffee shop nearly got shut down for serving raw milk lattes, and Big Food does not want this conversation happening. Today, I'm sitting down with Patrick Sullivan Jr.
Did your coffee shop almost get shut down for making raw milk lattes?
and Ashley LaRoe Sullivan, owners of Firefly Organic Coffee Shop and Market in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the executive producers of the new feature documentary that I am in, Breaking Big Food, How the American Food System Went Rotten and How It's Being Revived, now streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Did you know I'm in a documentary? Okay, I feel like that's kind of cool. In this episode, we also list out all our favorite clean food options in the Phoenix area. I get asked this question every day, where should I eat when I'm in Phoenix? So get out a pen and paper or your notes app and write it down. Please welcome the makers of Breaking Big Food, Patrick and Ashley Sullivan to Culture Apothecary.
Did your coffee shop almost get shut down for making raw milk lattes? Well, um... This close. It was nerve wracking when we found out that someone had written a letter to the state saying that we were serving raw milk and it was illegal in the state of Arizona to serve raw milk. We didn't know that. We thought as long as we weren't preparing anything with the milk, we were only doing ice drinks. So literally pouring the milk into the cup and that is it. We weren't doing hot drinks where we were steaming it using a steam wand or anything. So we thought that would be fine. Apparently someone tattled on us and we found out that is actually not okay in the state of Arizona. We can sell the cartons, but we cannot open them and prepare anything.
The Firefly is on SRP MIC land. So it's actually not controlled or governed by the state of Arizona. It's controlled by the tribe. And so the health inspector that we have, shout out to Naomi, she's really awesome. Naomi and Christopher, they came in and they're like, hey, we got this complaint. Firefly is the only place on the reservation that is doing anything with raw milk. So this is completely new for us. But we looked into the like legislation and the legalities and we think they're right. You're not allowed to pour the raw milk into the drinks. And so I said, well, if we can sell raw milk, which you're saying is legal, can the customer pour the raw milk into the glass? And they were like, well, no.
Yeah, I mean, they could pour Jack Daniels in it for all we care after that. And I was like, okay, deal.
There we go. And now you can get Jack Daniels lattes. No, I'm kidding. That's amazing. You know, so that just tells me we need to change the laws because in California, in Los Angeles, there's several raw milk coffee shops, I believe. Yes, I've seen that. It's legal to buy raw milk in store in the state of Arizona, but we need to change the law so that we can also serve raw milk in drinks and stuff, don't we? Amen.
Yes.
Okay.
It'd be great.
I'd like to take on that challenge. I think we could do it. Could you handle that for us? Yeah. In the meantime, you can order a naked latte at Firefly where we put everything but the milk, give you the cup, and you kind of DIY and pour your own raw milk in, which people kind of like that anyway. My best friend lives in Kentucky, and she's got a favorite coffee shop that she loves to go to, and they definitely don't have raw milk in stores in Kentucky yet. She does that. She goes to the coffee shop. She brings from home her raw milk and they make it all up. And then she pours her own milk in. And then she goes about her day running errands or whatever. So there's a lot of people across America, I think, that are doing that.
What is your health journey that really led you to jump into this clean food movement in Arizona?
Well, in 2014, I felt a lump in my throat and come to find out about a month later, it was cancer.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What do coffee shops not want customers to know about their beans?
0:00–0:50
2
Did your coffee shop almost get shut down for making raw milk lattes?
0:50–16:03
3
What is your health journey that led you to the clean food movement?
16:03–24:19
4
What inspired you to create an organic coffee shop?
24:19–28:08
5
What is the problem with 98% of coffee consumed by Americans?
28:08–29:42
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Culture Apothecary with Alex Clark
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