I’m currently sitting at the bar of Caffe´ Medici in Austin, TX. It’s Groundhog day and it’s a beautiful 76 degrees outside. It’s currently snowing in Chicago and I couldn’t be happier to escape the cold. The doors are wide open throwing a warm and fresh breeze through the cafe.

Austin is a unique place with a diversity of people. Lots of families with children situate themselves here. The local UT college campus infests bar scenes with screaming kids drinking away what little money they own. Austin has lots of homeless people because lets face it, it’s warm and comfortable outside and that constitutes easy living. Caffe’ Medici is considered one of the best coffee shops in Austin. They brew single origin coffee from local roaster Cuvee´.

Airpots are all brewed using large french presses and the center bar is home to the two La Marzocco espresso machines. The cappuccino art is on par with Intelligentsia’s work back home in Chicago. The people of Austin are super friendly. Austin is a big city with small town people. Here strangers actually talk to each other at the bar and have nice conversations, not the ones where some crazy guy talks to you and you say as little as possible to avoid further interrogation.

Medici like numerous other cafes offers a small beer and wine selection. People come late at night and get the cozy cafe atmosphere without the pressure of the bar scene. It’s the next best thing to drinking at home. The coffee quality is outstanding but the place is not pretentious and it is not full of hipsters. It’s full of people, both young and old, families with their babies and college kids doing homework. There is a calmness throughout this cafe. It may be the gentle breeze that lofts through or it could just be that people are happy and content in Austin. They can spot outsiders like a sore thumb and at the same time they welcome you with open arms because here in Austin everyone is from elsewhere and they understand that that is ok.