by Lars H
On a recent trip to Austin, I learned that there was a flagship HEB grocery store near Lake Austin that has its very own coffee shop. As a native Texan, I already loved HEB and its high end sister grocery store, Central Market. And now they even had a separate coffee shop? I jumped in the car and drove straight there to check it out.
First of all, wow! This flagship HEB has a parking garage. Not just a parking lot. How’s that for urban? But even better, your car is in the shade unless you go all the way to the top.
The HEB coffee shop is located on the exterior of the store down on the ground floor. (And guess what’s upstairs above it! An amazing BBQ joint!)
Naturally they have plain drip coffee, but they also have pretty much everything any other fancy coffee shop has. They had an espresso machine, the ability to make iced coffee versions, and they had all the flavor liquids if you’re into flavor pumps like vanilla, etc. They also had lots of different milk choices including dairy, almond, oat, soy, coconut etc. You can even specify things like whole milk, skim milk, half and half or even heavy cream or whipped cream.
I decided to try a black, hot Americano. I wanted to really experience the coffee flavor to see how the coffee quality was before you sweeten or milk it up and dilute the coffee itself.
I didn’t specify a size and they handed me a big Americano in a plain white cup. No HEB branding on it, which was a little sad for me. The barista pulled the espresso shot from the La Cimbali fully automatic commercial espresso machine and then added the hot water to turn it into an espresso from a hot water tap. It cost $4! So definitely not cheap coffee, if you were expecting it to be.
But here’s the great news. They nailed it with their bean choice. It’s a 100 percent mainstream flavor profile, so you aren’t going to get any sour notes or fruity notes or any of those tastes that say “I’m a fancy coffee shop and I don’t think you should drink regular coffee.” Mainstream is a positive word here. They aimed for a coffee flavor that will appeal to most people and they picked right!
My Americano was exactly the correct temperature. The flavor notes were chocolate and nuts. I could see the beans in the espresso hopper, and they were not oily, which means that they are not overly dark roasted.
The Americano did not taste bitter or burned. It was perfect. It required no sugar or milk.
I recommend that next time you’re around Lake Austin that you visit the HEB coffee shop and try a coffee for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.