Medici Roasting

When Michael and Alison opened their first café on West Lynn in 2006, they set out to build a neighborhood gathering place rooted in specialty coffee. The two University of Texas graduates turned a shared love of coffee and Austin into a Clarksville institution that locals came to call the neighborhood's living room. Medici would go on to claim an outsized role in Austin's coffee story, describing itself as the city's original specialty coffee shop.

The West Lynn shop remains central to Medici's identity, but the brand now spans the city — West Campus, South Lamar, The Domain, Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and a flagship roasting café at Springdale General in East Austin. The Springdale location is where Medici's production side lives: a spacious café attached to the company's in-house roasting facility, set within a multi-use development of creative studios, local artists, and small businesses. Medici describes the environment as one where dedication to craft is contagious.

At Springdale, the coffee program is the centerpiece. Medici roasts its own specialty coffee on-site, and reviews suggest the approach leans toward careful sourcing and precision extraction. Pourover has drawn particular attention from visitors, with single-origin offerings described in vivid, fruit-forward terms. The matcha latte has earned a following of its own, and the combination of high ceilings, natural light, ample indoor seating, and outdoor space has made Springdale a go-to for work sessions and leisurely visits alike.

Nearly twenty years after that first West Lynn opening, Medici operates as something relatively rare in any coffee city: a roaster with genuine neighborhood presence across multiple communities. From students near UT to creatives in East Austin, the brand's throughline stays consistent — specialty coffee made in Austin, for Austin. For travelers who want to taste the city's coffee heritage alongside its current craft, Medici's Springdale roasting café delivers both in one stop.