Proud Mary Coffee
2043 South Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704
Fancy coffee, excellent food, and a lively café are housed in a modern, stand-alone structure of stone and glass on Austin’s southside. Having immigrated from Melbourne, Australia’s highly competitive coffee culture, Proud Mary brings a bespoke coffee experience to Austin, Texas. Womple on in, drink, eat, soak it all in, and grab some beans to go.
Coffee:
Upon entry, customers walk by the coffee bar which prominently features a showy glass faced freezer that holds a dozen inverted jars of specialty beans. A rail mounted grinder sits below the freezer and glides from one selection of beans to the next. It’s a custom-made system that is designed to transport beans directly from freezer to grinder, and very much, also to impress.
-The Proud Mary practice is to freeze green coffee beans, roast them in their Portland, OR roastery, refreeze the beans and keep them frozen until brewing. Upon ordering a whole milk cortado, I was directed to use their Humbler Blend, their recommended beans for all coffee drinks with milk. I was given the choice of getting my cortado in either a small mug or slightly larger clear glass. I’d normally have chosen the glass, but it comes with a bit more milk and that divergence into the direction of a latte didn’t interest me. Given Proud Mary’s peacock approach to coffee preparation, I was surprised that the cortado presentation was decidedly understated. The flavor and texture of my cortado were very good, with notes of chocolate, fudge, caramel, and date shining through.
I also ordered a specialty, single origin pour over from their “Deluxe” menu, a small selection of coffees costing $10-12. Based on flavor profile, Proud Mary categorizes their beans as either Mild, Curious, Wild, or Deluxe. My barista walked up to the freezer bin slid the rail mounted grinder below the appropriate jar and dispensed a pre-measured amount of frozen beans into the grinder. In my case, the beans were from a decorated, 2021 vintage that placed 4th in the inaugural Indonesian Cup of Excellence competition. When you order a Deluxe bean out of their frozen bean hopper, your barista delivers to you a stainless cup of the freshly ground beans for your aromatic inspection. It was described as having notes of black cherry, grape, cola, and clove. I picked up on the flavors of clove, cola, and bulgar. It was decidedly exotic, but not a cup I’d order a second time.
Barista:
The baristas are busy. While I sat at the espresso bar, the combination of distance and activity did not allow for any intimacy of conversation. She took my order answered my questions and provided some commentary on various coffee beans, but we had to speak loudly to hear one another, making our conversation distinctly audible to other customers at the bar and added to a bustling din throughout the store. It was apparent that the baristas are highly trained professionals. The espresso machine is a custom-made, five head, under counter Synesso system.
Vibe:
The front of the house features a hostess/cashier’s counter with merchandise positioned on the wall opposite the coffee bar. The kitchen sits along one wall in the middle of the store. In addition to outdoor seating on a deck, there is a variety of tabled seating in the middle and far end of the building. Large windows and walls and columns of stacked stone complement wooden tables and a concrete floor. It’s a handsome combination of materials which I found acoustically unforgiving. This is a place that hums with activity and it gets rather noisy. I found a lack of acoustical consideration in materials choices to be at odds with an otherwise and obviously intentional design that screams premium experience. I ordered a miso pasted sourdough toast with two poached eggs and generous shavings of parmesan accented with nori seaweed dust. It was superb. The seating is for a full feature kitchen that serves breakfast and lunch all day. If you want a great meal and great coffee, this is your spot. But don’t think you’re going to get a cup of coffee and sink into an excel spreadsheet or a good book. Having a lazy day at a coffee bar would best be done at another establishment.
Make You Better
Acoustical panels, tapestries, or any other sound absorbing materials would make for a more pleasant audio experience. Bathrooms were adequate, save for the absence of toilet tissue.
For a highly refined coffee experience paired with fine food, and a staff committed to providing an elite experience, Proud Mary is a place to visit when you want treat yourself to something special.
~ Clyde <3