Rediscovering Austin: The Coffee Shop Guide

Austin is changing at a breakneck pace. To keep in touch with this city I fell in love with 20+ years ago, I decided to explore & familiarize myself with the Austin of today and get some work done via visiting its myriad coffee shops. Austin has an amazingly vibrant coffee shop culture with enormous variety. Get out there and explore!

What I Value. To pick places to go and select my favorites, these are the values I applied:

• Authenticity: It is what it is. It isn’t themed or a chain.
• Originality: It brings something new to the conversation.
• Specificity: It excels within its niche.

Whether the place has gorgeous decor and table service or jams Finnish death metal and refuses to serve anything but black espresso, I think both are great. What I value most is a spot with a consistent vision and a commitment to excel at embodying it.

Guide Organization. The first section groups coffee shops by city area and shout-outs on the more stand-out locations. Use the city area links to get to the detailed reviews. The second section list the places visited with a single photo to give you a quick feel before diving into the full reviews.

Coffee Shops and Favorites by Area

• Overall Favorites: Medici South Lamar, Simona’s, Madrone, Patika
• South Lamar & South 1st: Caffe Medici, Carpenter Cafe, Merit, Maraibou, Patika, Proud Mary, Easy Tiger, and Once Over
• South Congress: Freddo ATX, Simona’s, Prim & Proper, Mañana, Jo’s
• Downtown: Better Half, Codependent, Merit Downtown, Intelligentsia
• West Austin & Westlake: Lola Savanna, Summer Moon
• Central Austin: Barrett’s, Genuine Joe’s Coffeehouse, Kick Butt Coffee, The Cauldron, Russell’s on Balcones, Russell’s on Anderson, Epoch North Loop, Epoch Village, Fat Cat’s, Merit Triangle, Brentwood Social, Flightpath, Monkey Nest, Cherrywood, and Starbucks at 2222
• Eastside: Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar, Greater Goods, Cuvee
• South & Southwest: Madrone Coffee, Golden Hour and Cannon

Special Shout Outs

• Most Innovative Coffee: Proud Mary (South Lamar) for their deluxe pour-overs. Entirely unique and a new coffee experience in Austin. Baristas from around the city flock there to geek out on coffee.
• Best New Concept: Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar. The eponymous spot is a brilliant combination of bookstore and wine bar (that happens to also serve coffee) situated in a historical building with a wide variety of great seating.
• Quietest Place to Work: Flight Path. Don’t break protocol of silent focus or you will be subjected to the ire of many.
• Fanciest Coffee Shop Experience: Codependent next to the Jenga building (The Independent) for their impressive modern interior design as well as their designated laptop & non-laptop sections. Close second: Simona’s for the sophisticated decor and impressive upstairs library.
• Best Date Spots: Simona’s on South Congress after dinner to talk, drop into Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar (Eastside) for an afternoon outing and then walk to dinner nearby, or enjoy sitting outside sharing a drink and plate Better Half on 5th after walking Ladybird Lake.
• Best Place to Go with Kids: Brentwood Social House wins this hands down. They have a playground, kids book room, and excellent quiche.
• Best Cinnamon Roll: Russell’s Bakery had the best pastries I’ve had in Austin. Absolutely first rate.
• Best Vegan Desserts: Fat Cats Bakery and Coffee.

Great wall art from Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar on the Eastside

SOUTH LAMAR & S. 1 STREET

You can find the full reviews here: South Lamar & South 1st Austin Coffee Spots. The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

South Lamar is my go-to spot in the city. There are easily three coffee spots that I could call home. I lived in the area for over a decade so it feels very comfortable to me. Also, since that’s the spot I chose, it probably resonated with me at the time and today. Organized by street north to south.

Favorites

• Caffe Medici Roasters
• Proud Mary
• Patika

Visited Spots

• Carpenter Cafe
• Caffe Medici Roasters (South Lamar)
• Merit (South Lamar)
• Patika
• Proud Mary
• Easy Tiger
• Radio Coffee & Beer
• Maaribu
• Once Over

Carpenter Hotel Cafe

Caffe Medici Roasters - South Lamar

Good interior design with different colors and textures than most coffee shops.

Merit — South Lamar

Located in a Texas historical building with nice, shaded outdoor seating

Patika South Lamar

Plenty of table seating with a nice little nook in the front while waiting for your order

Proud Mary

I sat in the single working guys section looking at the tables.

Easy Tiger

Really nice lower level seating area. They retained the bench seating but it is a bit classier than the downtown location. Feels Parisian.

Maaribu Coffee and Retail

No photos yet.

Radio Coffee & Beer

No photos yet.

Once Over

SOUTH CONGRESS

You can find the full reviews here: South Congress Coffee Spots. The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

About South Congress Coffee Spots

South Congress is the up-and-coming section that best personifies the “casual but nice” New Austin approach. Lots of people watching of all kinds. Organized north to south.

Favorite

• Simona’s: It is accessible for working and conversations in a really nicely decorated and unusually comfortable spot with plenty of room.

Northern SoCo (Between Allen’s Boots and the Lake)

• Prim & Proper
• Mañana
• Jo’s

Souther SoCo (Between Allen’s Boots and 290)

• Freddo’s ATX
• Simona’s

Prim & Proper

Very cool bar with a retail space to the right.

Mañana

Nice open space with high ceilings

Jo’s

Outdoor seating for working and hanging out

Freddo ATX

Check out this historical building!

Simona’s Coffee + Cocktails

Living room style sofa with full bar — check!

<-Errant foot

DOWNTOWN

You can find the full reviews here: Downtown Austin Coffee Spots. The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

About Downtown Coffee Spots

Prepare yourself for one of the most diverse set of coffee shop experiences in the city! It ranges from the stylish Codependent, to utilitarian Houndstooth, to the feels like home Better Half.

Parking can definitely vary by availability (e.g. Intelligencia has minimal and Better Half has tons) and price so remember to account for that.

Favorites

• Better Half: Really enjoyable spot to be outside with exceptional coffee, beautiful New Austin design, and above-average staff.
• Codependent: It isn’t entirely my cup of tea but it is unique and specific. Essentially, it is very much its own thing and good at what it does. Certainly worth checking out for the experience of it.

Spots Visited

Ordered from east to west.

• Intelligentsia
• Codependent
• Merit
• Better Half

Codependent

Ok, this was a surprise the first time I saw it. Fancy and casual. Very New Austin.

Merit Downtown

Intelligentsia

Tea service on a nice bamboo tray and bowl-like cup. The sugar reminds you where you are.

Better Half

Plenty of comfortable places to sit inside. Very efficient use of space without feeling crowded.

WEST AUSTIN & WESTLAKE

You can find the full reviews here: West Austin & Westlake Coffee Spots The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

About West Austin & Westlake Coffee Spots

It is the spot in the city you are most likely to see tech execs meeting with investors and very well maintained women. Typically lots of people working and plenty of parking.

Spots Visited

Organized east to west.

• Summer Moon
• Lola Savannah

Summer Moon

How ‘bout them lamps and tile! Reminds me of a tapas place in London near Kings Cross.

Lola Savanna Westlake

CENTRAL AUSTIN

You can find the full reviews here: Central Austin Coffee Spots. The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

Central Austin has the most coffee shops and the coffee shops with the most “old Austin” feel to them. It is hard to make a list of favorites but here we go.

The Institutions

• Epoch
• Flight Path
• Genuine Joe’s

Really Good

• Barrett’s
• Russell’s (Balcones Location)

Visited Spots

• Epoch
• Flightpath
• Monkey Nest
• Genuine Joe’s Coffeehouse
• Kick Butt Coffee
• Barrett’s
• Russell’s on Balcones
• Russell’s on Anderson
• Merit Triangle
• Brentwood Social
• Fat Cat’s
• Cherrywood
• The Cauldron
• Starbucks at 2222

Epoch Coffee on North Loop

I like the eclectic and warm seating that looks primarily sourced from Goodwill. Reminds me of college.

Epoch Coffee at the Village

Flightpath

Genuine Joe’s Coffeehouse

Lots of regulars with smiles

Monkey Nest

This is the majority of the seating area. There is another smaller, windowless room in the back with a TV and large collaboration table

Merit at the Triangle

Brentwood Social

You are greeted by this spread upon walking in.

Fat Cat’s

Kick Butt Coffee

Lots of things to see in this little shopping center

Barrett’s Coffee and Roasters

Russell’s on Balcones

Russell’s on Anderson

Cherrywood Coffee

The Magic Spot

The Cauldron

Downstairs indoor seating

Starbucks on 2222

EASTSIDE

You can find the full reviews here: Eastside Coffee Spots. The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

About Austin’s Eastside Coffee Spots

Somewhat like downtown, the density of coffee shops, restaurants, bars, and yoga studios is high. The Eastside is just as purposeful in its designs and breadth of different experiences. That said, if feels like the mirror image of downtown in terms of perspective — it feels like they are trying to connect with something rather than conjure a scene.

Spots Visited

• Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar
• Greater Goods Coffee
• Cuvee

Vintage Bookstore & Wine Bar

Bar serving all kinds of good beverages. I assume this is where you go to buy a book too.

Greater Goods Coffee

Cool coffee ordering and prep island with seating on the left side

Cuvee

SOUTHWEST

You can find the full reviews here: South & Southwest Coffee Spots. The reviews include photos and commentary on location, ambiance, the crowd, work friendly or not, eats & drinks, etc.

Madrone

Alex pours in the beans and let it rip! (While closely monitoring heat)

Golden Hour

Cannon Coffee