Cuvée Coffee

OUR ARTICLE

Is this an advertisement?  Is this a digital manuscript that begs the reader to ask themselves a question while seamlessly suggesting that they try this product?  Is this a paid-for review by Cuvée Coffee to CYTIES asking them (us) to throw them a shout out? Is this really some of the best coffee in East Austin? All of Austin? Texas? North America? The Solar System?

Insert catchy advertisement here about Nitro Cold Brew

Or could this very well just be the real deal: an uncomplicated, innovated, rule-bending (but not breaking) badass coffee shop. We’ll start with the simple descriptions and end with the bad-to-the-bone traits that instantly drew us to this coffee shop imperium.

Cuvée Coffee was created by owner Mike McKim. McKim founded Cuvée in 1998, and after years of spreading his beans around Texas to other coffee shops and restaurants, decided he was ready to give his brand a place to call home. Located on 6th Street in East Austin, Cuvée is Texas-industrial: garage-door walls, wooden fixtures, and a strikingly handsome modbar.

Now for the fun part. Cuvée is most known for a cold can of coffee, labeled in blue with a boy with a black eye. This blue-blocking son of a gun is their infamous “Black and Blue,” a Nitrogen-blasted cold brew that also comes on draft. This drink is a must-try, as Cuvée pioneered the first nitro-generated cold brew.

If inventing their own drink is not enough, Cuvée also makes good use of their modbar. Besides the cold brew, they also have a variety of craft beers and wines on draft. For the time being, their delicious beer must be consumed in-house, as TABC shut down their coveted crowler machine. But no worries — a Texas judge has found the device to be legal, and they are hoping for it to be back in business before you can look up the word “crowler” thinking we’ve misspelled “growler.”

Let’s put it like this: they didn’t pay us, they didn’t even give us free coffee, and yet still, sitting in our office is an open blue bag of their signature Meritage roast. And as we prepare for our next Austin trip, we know exactly where we’ll go the moment we step outside of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.