I just got back from San Antonio and wanted to make sure HBers know to check out Brown Coffee Co. if they are ever in the area. See posts here for more info:

What is wow'ing you?

Good espresso San Antonio - near riverwalk?

Since the culinary scene is so interesting in San Antonio, it shouldn't really surprise me to find good coffee in the city. But I was still pretty wow'ed by the visit. I'm sure their new location near the Pearl complex will be more akin to a traditional cafe. But the current location is without parallel in my experience. I mean the guy pulling my shots on Tuesday (on a 2-group La Marzocco) was the same guy who had roasted the coffee on Monday on a roaster he built himself. I've been to an underground restaurant before where a full-time PhD candidate/weekend chef prepared over the top food (in part using a sous-vide cooker that he'd built himself), and visiting Brown Coffee Co. was somehow akin to that experience. It's so unexpected, under the radar and personal that it's like an underground cafe.

(Plus, Aaron gives great dining recommendations. Foodies should go see him for that advice alone.)

Yep, Aaron's coffee is unreal, and it's available through mail order, though you need to note that they only roast on Mondays.

If I am ever near that area of town I always stop in to grab a few bags of Cottonwood, regardless if I need beans or not.

Yeah been enjoying his coffee for a while now, a friend brought it back from visiting family and then the occasional mail-order.

I have been very tempted to subscribe to his coffee as his prices are very very good. Drip roasts $360 for two bags a month shipped one bag at a time for 12 months or $400 for espresso.

We just celebrated my wife's birthday with an overnight in San Antonio at the Hotel Havana and dinner at Restaurant Gwendolyn. While we were there we stocked up on some whole bean coffee from Brown Coffee Co, and I had a couple delicious shot's at Aaron's second Brown Coffee location, which is conveniently located on Broadway just east of the Pearl complex. The coffee is excellent, as always, and the custom furniture and coffee bar are stylish and hand-built with a modern feel. Here are some pics:

This is a shout out to any of you south Texas home baristi. I'll be in country toward the end of December and I think an HB meet up at Brown Coffee Co would be a lot of fun. Any interest? Now that the Broadway cafe is open I imagine there may be a large enough table compared to the roastery where I know that a small group of coffee fanatics would crowd out other customers.

Flint,

I'm actually out of the country right now but was going to talk to Aaron about having a Sprodown at the roastery. Yes, the roastery is small, but the traffic is lighter.

Let me hit him up to set up a date that works for all of us. I'm talking to a few others that want to do the same as well.

Feel free to PM me to exchange email addresses.

Cheers!
Merle

Thanks for the heads up. We'll be out of state the 24th-27th. If this get together happens before or after our travel dates, I can likely make it down for the event.

i'll go to Brown probably Dec 26th. Looking forward to seeing their Broadway location.

Went to the Broadway location for 2 shots on Sunday and stopped by HQ for a fresh bag of Hachira and another shot today. All of the espresso was excellent and I appreciated that they serve them with a chilled shot of soda water.
I was excited to see that they have an EK43 grinder for pour over and bulk grinding in each location and chatted with them a little about it. They have the regular coffee burrs in them and despite trying repeatedly have never been able to make it work for espresso.
Highly recommended and I'm looking forward to the Hachira.

Ooh. I should order some. I just missed their Ethiopian coffee last year.

[Done. Thanks for the tip.]