Houndstooth Coffee — Restaurant in Austin

I had the Coffee Julep and it was amazing. It’s easy to be productive here if you’re looking for a spot to get work.

However, I couldn’t rate it above 3 stars. This was my first time visiting Austin and I had been walking all morning in the heat to get here from my hotel so when I entered the cafe I was a bit out of it and likely dehydrated. I asked if there was a water station and I had thought the barista I initially asked was pointing to somewhere in the back of the room but I later realized I didn’t correctly catch where she was pointing at.

After grabbing my drink, I sat back down then later got up to politely ask about where the water cooler was again to another barista. She started to describe cups and a fridge but I didn’t see any of what she was describing in the back of the cafe. Then another woman on line pointed to the the silver tin on top of a mini fridge right behind me. I felt silly for not noticing it sooner like anyone would so I turned around to apologize to the barista for the mistake and her face was full of judgement. It was such a quick moment but after grabbing my cup of water and sitting back down to work, I found myself upset at the experience because I thought I would be met with some patience as that’s required to work in the service industry.

Regardless, the other two baristas were professional and kind but I couldn’t sit at the cafe for very long after...

My Central Perk in Austin!

I love independent coffee shops that serve good coffee and tea. Whenever I'm in an unfamiliar city, I like to do a Yelp search for coffeeshops. When I was in Austin, one of the first hits was Houndstooth Coffee. I came here on a Wednesday morning around 9am. There was a bit of a line but nothing too bad. I can only imagine what it's like first thing in the morning though.

The barista was very friendly, asking each person their plans for the day. I took a seat at the coffee bar after ordering a genmaicha tea. The barista measured out the perfect amount of tea leaves before steeping, timing the whole orchestrated event perfectly.

My tea came in their signature cup and a teapot steeped with more tea. Whatever tea supplier they use is truly fantastic. My genmaicha was wonderful. It was the ideal, relaxing morning after a busy couple of days running an event.

Houndstooth serves espresso beverages, tea, and even beer and wine. They've got brewed coffees like Japanese iced coffee, cold brew, and the traditional drip. They serve Tweed coffee, a roaster from Dallas. Houndstooth also like experiment with coffee brews and create concoctions like coffee julep.

This is a great place for good coffee and/or tea, friendly service, and free Wi-Fi. I'm planning on dropping by anytime...

12:15P on Wed, Aug 13.

I've given up on this location. Been coming here since 2019. I'm just tired of the attitude from staff. Half the staff are borderline rude although the staff have changed over the years and to be fair I don't want to lump in everyone with the rude label. There's a recent review from a customer who was not so politely told the line is elsewhere. I was at this location a week ago when the same thing happened to another customer. I remember at the time I thought the way the staff interacted with the customer was not very friendly.

Today I was given the standard contemptuous treatment when I didn't meet their holier than thou criteria when I asked a simple question about what the staff meant by "our singles [espressos] come in doubles". That was the full statement btw - "Our singles come in doubles". OK. I'm not sure what he meant. Did the single come in a double cup? Was I going to get a half-price espress if I chose a single? Was I always getting a double? Why is this the first time someone is pointing this out?

There's a longer explanation here that I won't go into. I gave my standard $2 tip and neither the barista nor the cachier thanked me for my business. Suffice to say I guess they get enough business that they...