If you’re looking for the best espresso coffee shops in Austin, Texas and love cycling, you have come to the right place. Austin is know for it’s fantastic food and music, and it is also known for some amazing cycling / espresso coffee adventures.
If you love to cycle and drink espresso, you’re in luck. There are several places to hang out including:
- Mellow Johnny’s Juan Pelota Cafe (Downtown Austin)
- Flat Track Coffee (East Side, Austin)
- Rapha’s Club House (6th Street, Austin)
- The Meteor Cafe (South Congress)
Juan Pelota Cafe
Mellow Johnnys, home of Lance Armstrong has an amazing cafe inside called Juan Pelota Cafe (One Ball), located inside Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop. It has a fantastic vibe with a ton of cycling gear for those that love to cycle. On most weekdays and definitely on weekends Mellow Johnnys puts on group rides, so you’re bound to see loads of cyclists.
Juan Pelota Cafe uses a very cool La Marzocco espresso machine to make some amazing batches of espresso. La Marzocca is a hugely popular espresso machine maker for commercial cafes.
Juan Pelota main attraction is the Baby Blue La Marzocco GB5 3 espresso machine. It is totally Italian and all together awesome. Given the great history of cycling and Europe, it makes perfect sense to have this beautiful espresso machine featured here.
Juan Pelota or rather Mellow Johnny’s sells some nice swag for cycling and if you’re lucky you might even find Lance hanging out.
Flat Track Coffee
Flat Track Coffee is another favorite of ours. The vibe is totally east side, meaning a little hipster mixed with lots of tattoos and just a fantastic spot to people watch. The baristas are great and the bike mechanics are top notch should you need a repair.
The Flat Track Braristas do their thing using the the https://keesvanderwesten.com/ Mirage Espresso Machine
Flat Track has their own brand of coffee in both decaf and caffeinated https://flattrackcoffee.com/collections/coffee and totally worth it.
Palomino Coffee
If a more relaxed atmosphere is what you are after, you should also check out Palomeno Coffee, which is also located in Austin. They actually roast the Flat Track coffee. It has an amazing New Mexico vibe.
Rapha’s Austin Club House
It’s a well-known fact that coffee and cycling have gone hand in hand for as long as we can remember, making Rapha’s collaboration with Italian label Rocket Espresso all the more special.
Yes Rapha has a store front here in Austin, but they call it a club house. While they don’t have the setup of a true cafe, they actually do sell Rapha Coffee beans and hand out free espresso on their specially made Italian Rocket Espresso machine.
Rocket Espresso machines are made in Milano, Italy. Rapha in partnership with Rocket, but this Rocket machine exclusively for the Rapha Club Houses.
The Rocket Espresso Story from Rocket Espresso Milano on Vimeo.
The Meteor Cafe
Meteor Cafe is part espresso, part wine, part cycling and part bakery. While you currently can’t get your bike serviced right at the cafe, you can 2 doors down. The space feels very industrial with cool windows and the perfect amount of atmosphere.
Their pastries are amazing and the coffee is great. We weren’t as impress with the margarita pizza they have. The dough was good, but the overall taste wasn’t what we had hoped for considering they make lots of pizzas.
Bottom Line
Next time you’re out and about in Austin, check out the above locations for cycling gear and espresso. Enjoy the coffee and enjoy the ride!
For more sneak peaks at local coffee shops around Austin, check us out on our King of Kings Coffee instagram page.
