AUSTIN, Texas -- While a lot of businesses adjust to COVID-19, there’s one Texas company dealing with growing pains at the same time. 

What You Need To Know


  • Texas Coffee Traders busy despite ongoing coronavirus pandemic

  • Business sits near what used to be a field

  • Employees and patrons dealing with growth, construction

Beans are serious business at Texas Coffee Traders. Machines pump out roasted coffee for customers while employee Evan Butts gets the next barrel of beans ready.

"I think its one of those things that people refuse to go without," Butts said.

So much so that the coffee orders keep pouring in - even during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. But adjusting to a new normal also means dealing with even more change.

A pot of coffee is made in Austin, Texas, in this image from May 2020. (Todd Boatwright/Spectrum News)

Texas Coffee sits right in the middle of a building boom, where grass and gravel used to be the norm. Beth Beall is one of the company’s owners.

"See that apartment building across the street? That used to be a field when we moved here. We used to have 22 chickens on that field, " Beall said.

But now dogs on leashes walk where people used to panhandle. Construction trucks share the road with bicyclists.

"So, density is here!" exclaimed co-owner R.C. Beall.

That density includes a condo complex that went up just across the street from Texas Coffee. More office space is on the way.

"Inevitable. I don’t know if I’d call it progress," said Butts.

Butts calls the construction a pain, and with more buildings popping up, he started taking a different route to work.

"I come in from the other side, from the east side of town, so I don’t have to look at that intentionally," Butts said.

Surrounding growth hasn’t meant any immediate changes for the company, so in the meantime, Texas Coffee is doing what it does best: making sure customers get their caffeine.

A cup of coffee is poured in Austin, Texas, in this image from May 2020. (Todd Boatwright/Spectrum News)