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Work-Life-Coffee Balance: The 5 Best Cafes to Work at in Houston

Work-Life-Coffee Balance The 5 Best Cafes to Work at in Houston
  • Fast Wi-Fi: Working remotely requires a great Wi-Fi connection to make sure that you can finish your deliverables on time - thus, the ideal cafe to work in Houston should have lightning-fast internet to match their amazing coffees!
  • Great coffee: Speaking of coffee, anyone who has worked from home knows just how important coffee is to make sure work goes well! That’s why we’re looking for cafes to work in Houston with great coffee to help us work better!
  • Calming space: A great, calming space can get you in the mood to work faster than any coffee could - and the best cafe to work in Houston should have a space that’s equal to, or even better, than the one you have for your home office!
  • Energizing food choices: Other than coffee, what should a cafe need to have? If you said food, then you’re right! This means that the best cafe to work in Houston should have great food to help you replenish your energy
  • Opens/closes early/late: Since most of us who work from home start either really early or incredibly late, the perfect cafe to work in Houston should open and close at a reasonable time!

1. Boomtown Coffee

Boomtown Coffee Logo

Website: Boomtown Coffee

Address: 242 W. 19th St. Houston, TX 77008

Contact info: (713) 862-7018

Operating hours:  Monday – Sunday: 7:00 AM – 7:00 PM

Google Reviews Score4.5/5
Yelp Reviews Score4.1/5
Facebook Reviews Score4.2/5
Total Reviews4.3/5
Score Consistency4.3/5

Pros

  • Coffee bags are great gifts
  • Great price point on coffee
  • Beautiful space
  • Okay Wi-Fi

Cons

  • Not enough filling food options

With two branches in Houston (one in the Heights and one in the Downtown area), Boomtown Coffee offers beautiful spaces and wonderful tasting coffees!

If you really want a bang-for-your-buck, undiluted coffee experience, you should try their Iced Americano. It’s not too watered down and you can still taste the coffee, which is rare on this side of town.

Their space is well thought-out, too, especially their Heights branch. It can help you concentrate and get some work done. 

But what Boomtown Coffee lacks is that they don’t have much food options. They have great tacos though, and we recommend the Chorizo and Egg, but none of them are as filling as expected.

But hey – their coffees are still great, and you can get their coffee bean mix to have in your home, too! We didn’t quite catch what their Espressos are made out of, but we did get the Spindletop House Blend!

2. Retrospect Coffee Bar

Retrospect Coffee Bar Logo

Website: Retrospect Coffee Bar 

Address: 3709 La Branch St Houston, TX 77004

Contact info: (713) 993-6600 

Operating hours:  Monday – Sunday: 7:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Google Reviews Score4.6/5
Yelp Reviews Score4.2/5
Facebook Reviews Score4.3/5
Total Reviews4.4/5
Score Consistency4.4/5

Pros

  • Different vibes can put you in work mode
  • The morning menu is served all-day
  • Toasted paninis are well-made
  • Homemade frozen custards

Cons

  • Early closing time
  • The menu isn’t available on their website

Repurposed from an abandoned 1920s gas station, Retrospect Cafe Bar offers a unique vibe. The atmosphere and the overall aesthetic of the place is enough to motivate you to work! 

Now, we do have to start with a warning – you won’t see any of their menu items up on their website. You will have to visit their brick and mortar – which is totally worth it! 

For us, you should try out their Donald Judd Toasted Paninis and pair them with their homemade Vanilla Custard. The panini’s melted Swiss goes well with the rosemary ham, and the frozen custard’s sweetness evens out the panini’s saltiness.

The biggest downside is that Retrospect Cafe Bar closes at 3 PM. So it isn’t exactly the place to work all-day. But hey, you can get their breakfast menu for the entire day and it’s a wonderful place to have a cup of coffee and meet with friends!

3. Slowpokes

Slowpokes Logo

Website: Slowpokes Houston

Address: 1203 W 34th St. Suite D., Houston, TX 77018

Contact info: 832-742-5949

Operating hours:  Monday – Thursday: 7 AM – 9 PM

Friday: 7 AM – 10 PM 

Saturday: 8 AM – 10 PM

Sunday: 8 AM – 9 PM

Google Reviews Score4.6/5
Yelp Reviews Score4.3/5
Facebook Reviews Score4.6/5
Total Reviews4.4/5
Score Consistency4.4/5

Pros

  • Great breakfast menu
  • Amazing price point on the menu 
  • Nationwide shipping on coffee bags
  • Coffee is roasted in-house

Cons

  • Coffee roast can be a bit slow

Work-from-home slowpokes, watch out! Slowpokes might be your next go-to cafe!

We really have to hand it out to Slowpoke’s beautiful vibe. Whether you take your work inside where you can chill and work in silence or outside if you want to hear the ambient street noise, Slowpoke’s overall vibe can get you in the working mood in a heartbeat.

Their coffees are great, too! If you want something to get you out of your “slowpoke” vibe, then the Nitro Cold Brew should be your pick. But if you want something calming, then the Lavender Chai Latte should be your go-to.

Slowpoke also roasts their coffee in-house, which means that the service for the coffee can take awhile. And we did feel bad that we had to ruin the beautiful latte art by drinking it – but the flavor is outstanding and it makes the wait well worth it.

But if you don’t want to wait, you can grab their specialty blend beans online. The Ethiopian Yirgachaffe has an incredible flavor, and it’s priced well for that quality of coffee beans – and you can get them shipped anywhere within the country!

4. Tout Suite

Tout Suite Logo

Website: Tout Suite

Address: 2001 Commerce Street Houston, TX 77002

Contact info: (713) 364-1990

Operating hours:  Monday – Friday: 8:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Saturday – Sunday: 9:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Google Reviews Score4.3/5
Yelp Reviews Score3.6/5
Facebook Reviews Score3.8/5
Total Reviews4/5
Score Consistency4/5

Pros

  • Amazing coffee blends
  • Great breakfast menu options
  • Beautiful interior
  • Well-curated special events

Cons

  • Special events can distract you from work

What stood out the most about Tout Suite for us is their menu. Unlike other cafes to work at in Houston, they offer a wide variety of food and coffee options that can really help replenish your energy while working!

If you get there before 11 AM, you should get their Breakfast Hash with 2 large eggs. The eggs pair incredibly well with the bacon and chorizos! Pair the Breakfast Hash with their Red Eye Iced, and you’ll thank us later. 

And if you find Tout Suite’s prices to be a bit expensive, then you can wait for their discounts on their menu items. As of the time of writing, they currently have Macaron Mondays, where you can buy 3 and get 1 free!

Though these events are nice, the place can get a bit noisy when there is an ongoing one. And though it’s nice to get your food at a discount, it can distract you from what you’re working on at the moment.

5. Agora

Agora Logo

Website: Agora

Address: 1712 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77098

Contact info: [email protected]

Operating hours: Monday – Sunday: 9:00 AM – 2:00 AM

Google Reviews Score4.5/5
Yelp Reviews Score4/5
Facebook Reviews Score4.2/5
Total Reviews4.3/5
Score Consistency4.3/5

Pros

  • Beautiful open space
  • Fast Wi-Fi
  • Open ‘til 2 AM
  • Great coffee and pastries
  • Vegan Items are available

Cons

  • No filling food options

Unlike other cafes to work at in Houston, Agora provides a welcome space for night owls and late workers alike by opening at 9 AM and closing late at 2 AM. 

Their late closing hours make them the perfect space for group work and finishing late-night work projects. Agora’s Wi-Fi is fast and the atmosphere can really help you concentrate.

Their tasty coffees help you stay awake for that, too! There are lots of choices to pick from, but our pick would have to be the Cortado, paired with their Almond Croissant. 

However, if you want something filling then you’re better off going somewhere else since they just offer pastries.

And speaking of Agora’s pastries, they also have vegan options which isn’t half as bad as we thought it would be. The Vegan Cinnamon Rolls can really help you scratch your cinnamon itch, while still being guilt-free!

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