Epoch Coffee - Village — Restaurant in Austin

I’m updating this review one year later (leaving the original one there because I enjoyed writing it).

I returned here after a year. 5 stars! It was the same experience - but the cashier was so pleasant and down to earth. I told her the story while she was taking my order. She said that if that happened, she’d take the drink back and remake it. Once she delivered it, she waited for me to sip it and asked how it was. So good I had to update the review.

From the ashes, Epoch has risen once again.

Original review: I used to come here all the time pre-COVID during my lunch break, and it was chill. Saturday afternoon, however, I was feeling like a pick-me-up, so I stopped by my favorite place in the area, Epoch coffee. Usually I order a hot soymilk latte, but today it was very hot so I ordered an iced almondmilk latte. With tip it came out to $6.25 .. okay, typical expensive coffee. What I got was an extremely sugary drink. My girlfriend ordered an Americano with almondmilk, and it was also very sugary. We couldn't drink more than a sip due to the overwhelming sweetness. As is customary in some parts of America, we asked for the shop to please remake it with a sugar-free milk. The feminine man at the cash register had quite an attitude, and argued with us about how it's always been this way, and that this is what we ordered. When I told him that I used to order this all the time and it didn't taste like coffee added to a cup full of sugar, he replied that "we've always made it this way." Finally, he seemed convinced that there was an asymmetry of information (when we say "almondmilk" we DON'T mean "almondmilk with 10g of sugar", but he does), and he goes to the barkeep to tell them to remake it without a sugar milk. Excellent. He comes back to the cash box and asks "how are you going to pay for it?" To be clear, he wanted us to pay again for a drink that they were remaking. No bar in NYC that charges $20 for a shooter would charge again for a remake, yet here was this small man, whom I had tipped, trying to charge us again. I told him that I was hoping that it would be remade as part of the prior transaction, but he says "no, you have to pay again because we did nothing wrong." At this point, the manchild's attitude, as well as the disgustingly sweet beverage lingering on our tongues had soured our experience. He clearly felt the same way, and offered to simply refund our order and (implicitly) 'may we never see each other again.' My girlfriend and I agreed, glad to be made whole by receiving the refund to our card, and we went to Starbucks across the street, where I paid $5 for the same drink. All in all it was a bad experience, but I chalked it up to Covid, the heat, and chance. These things happen, and I don't leave reviews over minutiae like this. However, today I was looking over my card transactions, and I see that he did NOT issue the refund as he said he was going to do. I was momentarily shocked, but then replaying the scene in my head, unsurprised. That's what prompted me to leave this 1-star review - fraud. Based on my pre-COVID experiences, Epoch coffee is not to blame, but this employee, who manned (loosely-speaking) the cash register on 8/22 in the afternoon behaved in a manner that would impress only my communist ancestors, who "communialized" gold, silver, and automobiles from the rural peoples of Tajikstan to enrich themselves in the name of Lenin. I'm happy to amend my review if he is fired, contingent upon a subsequent positive experience. Perhaps I will return after COVID, otherwise good luck out there. To anyone reading this, I recommend staying away during COVID season, as the main selling point of the coffee shop is the chill interior, which is currently off-limits...

Epoch Coffee offers great coffee, atmosphere, and service. Wide selection of teas and coffee options that you would expect to see at any quality coffee shop nowadays.

They also offer delicious empanadas, Tacodeli breakfast tacos until 11am, and baked goods.

Beyond the excellent food and drink choices, Epoch offers a wonderful atmosphere with spacious interior and exterior seating, large tables to spread out by yourself or with a group, bar seating, and a communal lounge area with a selection of books and board games.

Unlike some reviewers, I have never had an issue finding seating for myself at this location.

Epoch Coffee also supports the Austin community. They have a bulletin board outside of the bathrooms featuring local artists and events. Today, they had flyers with information on what you can do to stop the execution of Rodney Reed, an inmate who has been on death row in Texas despite shaky evidence since 1998.

Every time I come here there is a new set of local artist artwork on the walls.

Nothing like a coffee shop that supports the local community. Epoch Coffee provides everything I look for in a coffee shop: deliciousness, quality service, and a community-driven purpose. Check them out if you need a caffeine fix and...

Epoch Coffee offers a wide spectrum of coffee, both exotic and quotidian. They're just across the parking lot from the Village Alamo Drafthouse, so they're a perfect place to take up the slack in the schedule if I arrive too early for the movie or, on a rainy day, a good place to dry out after a soggy journey. I was pleasantly surprised that their basic coffee was only $2.50, unlike at massive corporate chains where a plain cup of Joe runs $5. They also have the gamut of latte, cappuccino, cold brew coffees, and there's a remarkably detailed preparation process called a V60 Pourover, which is a painstaking process calculated to bring out the nuances of find coffee on the discerning palate. They have a varying assortment of tasty pastries, but they didn't have the éclair I craved so badly yesterday. The man behind the counter was gracious and made me feel as though I had the wisdom of Solomon and the educated tastes of Anthony Bourdain. After those contemplative moments sipping my coffee, I accelerated across the parking lot for...