Author: Brian Talley

The city of Austin, Texas, is an ideal home for those who love coffee. Whether you’re looking for a quick pick-me-up in the middle of a busy day, or a relaxing place to share a cup of coffee with friends, Austin has so many unique coffee shops that it’s impossible not to find just what you’re looking for. Take a look at some of the best spots in the city to find a fresh cup of joe.

Dominican Joe’s
On a given day, you’ll find Dominican Joe’s filled with friends chatting over a cup of coffee, UT students studying, and freelancers hard at work. This locally owned coffee shop is a busy place during the daylight hours – if you’re looking for a quiet atmosphere, consider visiting in the evening. A portion of every sale at Dominican Joe’s is donated to educational and economic development in the Dominican Republic.
Location: 515 South Congress Avenue

The Lift Café
Another great locally owned shop, The Lift Café offers 100% natural smoothies, and a wide array of coffee and lunch selections. They have both indoor and outdoor seating, making it ideal for friends looking for a relaxing spot to share a cup of coffee.
Location: 215 South Lamar Blvd.

Café Medici
Café Medici is an upscale espresso and coffee bar with two locations in Austin. The campus location is a hot study spot for UT students – it has a large upstairs area with plenty of seating and a quiet environment. The Café Medici on West Lynn draws the Clarksville crowd and is a great choice for those wishing to chat over a cup of coffee.
Location: 1101 West Lynn and 2222 Guadalupe

Little City
Little City boasts a unique atmosphere and charm, and some of the freshest coffee in the city. Indoor seating is available, but their outdoor seating puts you in the midst of downtown’s hustle and bustle. Light sandwiches and salads are served from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, making it a great place to grab a quick lunch. However, don’t count on staying here for an entire day – Little City doesn’t offer public restrooms.
Location: 916 Congress Avenue

Jo’s
Location: 1300 South Congress & 242 West 2nd Street
Jo’s is the perfect spot for a sunny summer day. This coffee shop has two locations in Austin. The more popular original location is situated on South Congress amongst the quaint shops, and offers plenty of outdoor seating with both iced and hot drinks. Out and about with your pet? No problem – there’s plenty of room for them to relax too.

Cafe Mundi
Perhaps one of the most unique coffee places in Austin, Café Mundi sits amongst railroad tracks and an outdoor garden in East Austin. It’s minutes from downtown and offers excellent lunch options, local art exhibits, and occasional live music.
Location: 704 East 5th Street

Halcyon Coffee Bar
Halcyon is a coffee shop by day and a bar and lounge at night – and one of the most relaxing coffee shops in Austin. During the day, grab a pick-me-up with their wide selection of coffee drinks. At night, relax on the many sofas and roast s’mores with your friends. In the warmer months, the front patio doors open for the perfect open-air atmosphere.
Location: 218 W. 4th Street

Progress Coffee
Location: 500 San Marcos Street
Just east of I-35 in East Austin, Progress Coffee serves up organic, fair-trade coffee and many lunch options created from local, organic ingredients. Their menu changes by the season, so you’re sure to find something new each time you visit. It’s proximity to downtown and comfortable, sophisticated atmosphere makes it a great place to relax and share a cup of coffee with friends.

For more information about places to go in Austin, or for a free Austin home search, contact a top Austin real estate agent.

About the Author:

This article was written on behalf of Brian Talley of Regent Property Group LLC, providing an updated list of Austin homes for sale. Brian provides Austin tx real estate services to those buying or selling an Austin home and is a top Austin REALTOR®.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Austin’s Best Coffee Shops

Donate a pint of blood, get a pound of coffee

The American Red Cross Northeast Division and Dunkin’ Donuts are giving away coffee in exchange for blood. Sound like a good trade-off? This promo is valid from January 1st through January 31st, 2010 in selected areas only including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and parts of New York.

More Coffee with The Mayor

We’ve covered community coffee sessions with mayors and police chiefs before, here’s another one. Mayor Jeffrey Lamarand of Taylor has announced that “Coffee with the Mayor” — a series of monthly meetings for his constituents. The meetings will be done every second Tuesday.

Start your own coffeehouse

AsiaOne writes about Samantha Quek and Ernest Tan, two final-year Business Studies students at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Business & Accountancy, who also run their own cafe on campus. Smooch Cafe @ 72 sells up to 80 cups of coffee a day. Their motivation for opening up their own cafe? They wanted cheaper coffee for themselves. Samantha said: ‘It was frustrating having to pay close to $7 each time we wanted a cup of coffee, when we could probably recreate the flavours we wanted at home.’

K-Cups : balancing profitability and environmental responsibility

Boston.com writes about the success of the Keurig single-cup brewing system, and the environmental impact of their disposable plastic K-Cups. Keurig has sold a whopping 1.6 billion non-recycleable K-Cups, enough to fill several landfills. The company plans to start testing paper K-Cups this year, but only for tea. If you want your coffee quick and convenient, yet environmentally responsible, you may have to wait a while before looking at K-Cups.

The Best Coffee On The Interstate?

Pilot Travel Centers makes that claim, through their Facebook Fan page and Twitter feed. The Facebook site includes a coupon for a free beverage and lets coffee fans select their favorite among Pilot offerings like Costa Rica, Sumatra and Energy.

Coffee In The Community

The New York Times profiles Hot Chocolate Sparrow, a coffeehouse in Orleans (Massachusetts). The thriving local business employs 40 year-round workers and 50 in the summer. Just how good is business these days? On a good day, the Sparrow opens at 6:30 a.m., and serves 600 coffees and fills 160 candy orders until 9 p.m.

Coffee chats are a popular way to engage with the community. Dave Mingus, Mayor of East Peoria (Illinois) has been holding his weekly coffee chats at Eysal’s Coffee Roasters. Starting a year ago, the coffee meetings are held every Wednesday morning.

Meeting more people and cultivating those relationships formed through the event will continue to be a priority for the mayor, who would like to see the Wednesday discussions expand at other locations.

[ via Chicago Tribune ]

Coffee Innovation

Wishing you had a third hand to carry your shot of coffee? Check out this neat Do It Yourself trick to make a magnetized coffee sleeve. Blogger AP from New York City came up with this simple yet useful idea.

[ via LifeHacker ]

The modern military may be a large bureaucratic machine that overspends on everything, but the grunts, the boots on the ground, are a pretty inventive bunch. Faced with equipment and supply shortages, soldiers can pretty much work around anything to get what they need. Like, for example, using C4 plastic explosives to heat up a cup of coffee. Now that’s something that you should really not try at home, folks.

Idaho

Designated drivers on New Year’s Eve can get one free cup of coffee, latte or other 16 oz. beverage from Dutch Bros. Coffee at seven locations in the Treasure Valley. The free coffee offer is good from 6 p.m. To 10 p.m. on Thursday.

The locations are:
Boise: 2272 S. Vista Ave.; 2630 S. Broadway Ave.; 7401 W. Victory Road.
Garden City: 5177 W. Chinden Blvd.
Meridian: 2170 E. Overland Road; 1701 W. Franklin Road.
Nampa/Caldwell: 5103 Cleveland Blvd.

New Jersey

Turnpike Authority and its vendors are giving away free coffee to late-night travelers on the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. The agency is continuing a more than 50-year tradition of offering free coffee, tea and milk at most rest stops from 9 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 7 a.m. New Year’s Day.

[ via NorthJersey.com ]

South Florida

Cumberland Farms convenience stores will be offering free Farmhouse Blend coffee from 5 p.m. on Dec. 31 until 5 a.m. on January 1.

Pennsylvania

Sheetz will offer free coffee from 4 p.m. New Year’s Eve to 4 p.m. New Year’s Day. They are in 2 locations – 900 Gordon Nagle Trail, Pottsville, and 270 Route 61, Schuylkill Haven.

High Spirits Menu from Cafe Coffee Day

Cafe Coffee Day is India’s largest coffee chain. They are developing a High Spirits Menu, which includes “coffee beer”. Coffee beer is non-alcoholic but has the same colour, froth, texture, fizz and taste of regular beer. Cafe Coffee Day is also developing a slew of other coffee-based spirits and non-alcoholic products.

Dying for coffee

What would you do if you just got stabbed with a 5-inch knife in the chest? A 52-year-old man walked into Bray’s Hamburgers in Hazel, ordered a coffee and said he was waiting for an ambulance to come. He’d just called 911 at 10pm on Sunday, after being stabbed. He’s expected to recover. The knife was suspected to be a steak knife, but we don’t have details on what type of coffee he ordered.

Cheap Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee

Looking for some bargain coffee this holiday season? Dunkin’ Donuts is offering an online special of a pound of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee for only $5.00, not including shipping costs, at www.DunkinDonuts.com through December 29. Participating Dunkin’ Donuts outlets are also offering four one-pound bags of Dunkin’ Donuts coffee (ground or whole bean) for the $19.99. You won’t get fantastic gourmet coffee at DD, but at least you get them at bargain prices.