Houndstooth Coffee

We had a great breakfast here of lattes and breakfast tacos (a la carte from Tacodeli). Also got a great recommendation from one of the baristas for a brewery to check out, which really made my dad. Five stars for sure! My only disappointment was that I didn’t get one of the mugs with Texas on the outside. Oh well.

Very friendly baristas. I had the cold brew, and it was a little weaker than my usual taste, but still greater. The self service station for sugar or milk was very small and only served 1 person at a time. There was not even room to put my coffee down. The station also only has raw sugar, which is great to add to coffee, but does not dissolve at all for colder mixes. Nevertheless, the baristas were very great and refilled the half and half container as soon as they spotted me. She even went looking for me after she refilled it since I returned to my table. I was lucky enough to come before the rush, but the line can be 10 – 15 people long as quite the wait it seems. It was a great atmosphere to work though, and fun to enjoy while maintaining productivity.

This is a nice spot right in downtown Austin. We were looking for a place to grab a quick cup and relax a bit while we planned out our day. This hit the spot.
I grabbed a nicely executed pour-​over and spent a few minutes chatting with the barista. He was incredibly friendly and well informed. I always enjoy talking coffee with other coffee geeks. I feel like I always learn something.
Prices were right in line with what you’d expect for high end coffee and I would certainly stop back here the next time I am in town.

Ginger in the Snow was delicious. It is their seasonal drink and will only have it for a few more weeks. It tasted like a crème Brulee espresso. It wasn’t too sweet which I was worried about.
Tacodeli is available and I highly recommend the mashed potatoes, cheese and egg mini burrito.

The baristas here are super knowledgeable about coffee. If I had time to drink-​in I would have tried the interesting sounding ginger espresso drink of the day with decaf espresso, but that was a drink-​in exclusive and I needed to go to a meeting. I also asked about their teas but they’re mostly high caffeine. So I went with a decaf latte.
I can respect that some coffee houses want to have only natural sweeteners. All that they had out was raw sugar. But, I really need to avoid adding sugar for health reasons, so I would have preferred to have my sweeteners of choice available (Splenda or Stevia). Since I had no choice I used the sugar and it took a whole lot of raw sugar to sweeten the latte to even a fraction of the sweetness I usually enjoy. I try not to think of how much sugar that was. But, it tasted good.
If I lived nearby and could keep a box of splenda on my desk, I’d be happy to get coffee from here again and sweeten it myself. Unfortunately since I’m only here on business, I’m better off sticking to the generally inferior Starbucks so I can have coffee w/​o tons of sugar and have it be at the sweetness that I like.

We were on the hunt, the hunt for smoked, charred meat from the pits of the masters of Austin, but first we need ‘feine in our veins so that we would have the energy for our trek. We found Houndstooth and well, fate had our cards played right as our Barista’s name was…
Austin!!! C’mon now, that’s pretty amazing! As Austin noticed Roland L’s GGET cap, he nervously extracted our espressos expertly. Our Java was quite amazing, smooth and delicious. Why only 4 stars, well, our second trip by a different barista scored a lot lower, more like a 3.5.
Goes to show you that if you are in Austin at a coffee shop and get your drinks pulled by a guy named Austin, that equates to some special times!

This was the best coffee I had during my short visit to Austin. I had their more expensive expresso option, so maybe that is why. I really like the design of the place too. The only real drawback that I can think of is that it is inside a stale office building downtown.

Barista totally skipped over me for my order. I politely inserted myself that I was ahead of the person behind me. Rather than apologizing, she claimed the line got jumbled. There was no question there was a clear line and I was next in line. Rude!

It was ok. Taste was different and a little nutty for my flavor. The atmosphere was a little stale and needs to be broken in a bit. But overall it was pretty good. Better than average, but not 4.5−5 star place just yet. In due time. Definitely better local places to go to.

One of the best coffee brews in Austin. Even though there are a few more coffee places that can be compared with Houndstooth, I’d say the taste of base coffee beans is the best here. I’ve had their Cortado and Latte. Really good, flavorful and consistent. I’d highly recommend this place. Cheers!

Came here each day we were in Austin. Great service and love their chai tea!

I found this place off Unilocal since I was visiting from Dallas and I love it. I asked one of the baristas about coffee sustainability for a class project and he was super informative and willing to give me the information I needed. Super friendly staff and awesome atmosphere! I’d visit this place again next time I’m in Austin.

Houndstooth is a bit hard to find due to the address, but once you get there, it’s worth it for the well-​made coffee as well as to see hipster Austin in action. The entrance is actually on the corner of 4^th and Congress. Once you walk in, you see a bunch of artist types on laptops, a large and clean interior, and indie music playing on a countertop speaker. They have all sorts of coffee options as well as breakfast food items. They even do Japanese cold brew, though I went with the regular. They also have a bunch of tea options, if you’re into that.

Mmmmmm Houndstooth. What can I say, they have a great selection of coffee beans and you can pretty much choose whatever type of preparation you’d like (pour overs, espressos, you name it). Breakfast tacos are also pretty clutch here.

I really want to have liked this place but the coffee just didn’t fit my taste.
It’s a beautiful and unique café nestled under a bank and office building. You can tell that they take their coffee making seriously because I have never seen anyone weight out the exact amount of coffee, time the exact amount of time the coffee should brew, and then serve it to you. Everything was done with so much detail and precision that I thought I would get the best tasting coffee in the world. What I got was definitely rich but it was also really weird. I ordered the Japanese iced coffee and it was like a mix of green tea with coffee. The taste is definitely deep and multi-​dimensional but there was a weird after taste. I wish they would develop this into some type of iced latte that is sweeter because I think it was taste a lot better. This is definitely a place for those who appreciate their black and dark, rich coffee. I guess for me, it just didn’t hit the spot.

The coffee is great! I had a beautiful and delicious cortado and my friend had a soy latte. Definitely the place for you if you’re a coffee snob! They even list their available espressos so that you can choose your favorite!
They also have pretty and tasty pastries! We chose the fresh strawberry sweet tart and the almond croissant! Yum.
They have a refrigerator of sandwiches as well — made by the Greencart!
Seating inside and out!
So, yes, it’s pricy. I wouldn’t get my coffee here everyday, but it’s an awesome treat!

Unless you’re looking for it, Houndstooth Coffee is hard to find. It’s tucked back off of Congress, inside the Frost Bank Tower. Once inside, you’ll find yourself in a bright shop that does coffee right and pays tribute to its home state with cute Texas cups.
I didn’t linger; I only stayed long enough to scarf down a strong cortado and savory pecan scone post-​run. For a recharge like this, Houndstooth is perfect.

I found this place pretty late in my week-​long trip to Austin, and I ended up visiting several times. I tried the iced coffee, espresso, and pour-​over, and all three were the best I had in Austin.
I’m not sure what brewing method they used for the iced coffee, but it tasted like cold brew — low in acidity. I liked it significantly better than the one I had at Dominican Joe (which is also a competent coffee shop).
The espresso shot was sweet, and a little tart without getting into the silly levels of sourness that so many ‘cool’ coffee shops seem so fond of.
The pour-​over was a delicious Burundi, roasted by North Carolina’s Counter Culture Coffee, and brewed on a Kalita Wave. (The Aeropress madness seems to have mostly bypassed Austin.) This was my favorite of the three drinks.
I did not try the milk drinks, but I did see them make a latte, and the milk appeared to be correctly steamed and poured.
Houndstooth is a multi-​roaster café; in addition to Counter Culture, I saw beans from PT’s Coffee (Kansas), and some Texan roaster whose name escapes me.
In addition to coffee, they have Taco Deli breakfast tacos, the usual coffee shop pastries, and I think I saw loose leaf teas. Prices were maybe a shade higher than similar shops in Seattle, with the espresso shot running closer to $ 3 than $ 2.
Note: this place is nearly invisible if you’re walking down Congress, unless you’re specifically looking for it (which you should be). It’s in the southwest corner of the Frost Tower, with the main entrance on Congress, and a side door on 4^th.

Great almond cappuccino, convenient location downtown, free wifi that works pretty well, and really darling interior design. The staff was helpful and welcoming, and I love the cute designs on the cups.
A great place to work, grab some coffee, and people-​watch downtown.

Hidden in the Frost Tower between Congress Ave. and 5^th St. is perhaps one of the best coffees I have tasted! I personally thought Houndstooth Coffee was comparable to Intelligentsia Coffee I had in Chicago and New York, so I was so happy that I can still get heavenly coffee without going out of my beloved state of Texas.
Whether you are coming here for a study session or a short coffee break, Houndstooth is perfect. The shop gives off a relaxing vibe that is great for hanging out for any length of time. Expect not only great coffee from Houndstooth but also great service in this super chill shop! If you love coffee, you cannot miss the opportunity to grab a cup here!