What is Juan Pelota Café?
Juan Pelota Café is all about coffee. We’ve been making a name for ourselves by pulling some of the most transcendent espresso in Austin. We also feature pour-over coffee, an unbelievably smooth iced toddy, and an evolving line of blends. Our coffees are named after cycling heroes of yesteryear, vicious alpine climbs, and even our own mechanics. Juan Pelota also offers loose-leaf teas, real-fruit smoothies and breakfast tacos
If you’re in training, we have healthy breakfast options like muesli, oatmeal with yoghurt and berries, hot granola, and sprouted whole wheat toast. If the only thing you’re in training for is our next social ride, our pastry case is always stocked with flaky scones, soft cookies and butter croissants from our neighbors at Walton’s Fancy & Staple
Juan Pelota is also part of Austin’s famously rich social and cultural tapestry. We host coffee tastings, special events, and organize fun and friendly group rides to nearby coffee shops, pubs, and local points of interest. Try to keep up with us! Read our blog, Pelotaville, or follow us on twitter.
Hours
Monday through Friday: 7am-7pm
Saturday: 7am-6pm
Sunday: 8am-4pm
The Coffee
Juan Pelota’s signature coffees are roasted in nearby East Austin by Texas Coffee Traders, whose thirty years of experience and truly international reach are evident in every cup. Our blends are available exclusively in our shop and on our online store. Unless noted, all Juan Pelota signature coffees are 100% Arabica beans, organic, Fair-Trade Certified™, shade-grown, bird-friendly, and sold within ten days of roasting.
Our Signature Blends
The ‘Kitz
Our strongest daily brew is aptly named after a mountain: Kitzbüheler Horn in the Tyrolean Alps, a vicious 10km ascent with a maximum grade of 22.5% toward a 2,000m summit. In some places the road is only a meter wide. To make matters worse, Kitzbüheler is often used as the finish line for 180km tours from Salzburg. To get to the top you’ll need the cleanest, strongest fuel—a blend of organic Bolivian Arabica beans tumbled through a Viennese roast as light as the air at the top of the peak.
Major Taylor
Inspired in equal parts by the bolder roasts popular in the Pacific Northwest, and by one of history’s greatest cyclists—not to mention the first African-American to win a world championship in any sport—Major Taylor is testament to good habits and clean living. Prepare to be inspired.
Roubaix
Like the Paris-Roubaix—a brutal one-day road race from Compiègne to the Belgian frontier—this roast presents the darker side of French. Famous for hard terrain, Paris-Roubaix is often called ‘a Sunday in Hell,’ due to an unforgiving course and its annual appointment in the Easter rainy season, when the course’s dirt roads and cobblestones are consumed by devastating mud. As an hommage, we offer this intense blend of fruity yet loamy Sumatrans to suggest the dark earth after a heavy rain. Simply volcanic.
Ghisallo Espresso
Traditionally, the final monument of the European professional cycling calendar is la classica delle foglie morte: the race of the falling leaves. The most famous obstacle in the Giro di Lombardia is the Madonna, a tiny church housing a shrine to Madonna del Ghisallo, who in 1949 Pope Pius XII declared the patroness of travelers and cyclists. In her chapel, holy relics intermingle with mangled bicycles and old race photos, and at Juan Pelota, her espresso is a secret blend of natural North Africans and Brazilian estate coffee. We’ve lightened the roast up a touch, giving these now-famous beans an even thicker, frothier head, and one of the smoothes finishes this side of Bergamo.
Kiwi Blend
Named for the Mellow Johnny’s mechanic hailing from the Waikato Region of New Zealand’s North Island, our Kiwi Blend fittingly draws beans from all over the planet. The result is a complex, highly drinkable blend with a distinct Moka Java component tempered by Central Americans and notes of Ethiopia.
Fixie Dust
An agile mixture of South and Central Americans, the Fixie Dust is strong, simple, and sensible. Barely even roasted, these beans are just kissed by flame, preserving a broad flavor spectrum, flavorful notes and a slightly ruddy hue.
Mellow Belly Decaf
Decaf drinkers aren’t second-class citizens. Since they drink coffee solely for the sensual experience, they deserve as much body and flavor and decadence as the next guy. So we offer our custom Mellow Belly Blend, a rich, 100% organic, water processed Mexican-Peruvian suitable for both brewed coffee and espresso. Every bit as indulgent as our higher octanes (but without the palpitations).
