Cuvée Coffee Opens Coffee-to-Cocktail Flagship in Austin

Howard Bryman | August 20, 2026

Cuvée Coffee at The Code in South Austin, Texas. All images courtesy of Cuvée Coffee.

Austin, Texas-area specialty coffee mainstay Cuvée Coffee has opened a new flagship all-day cafe and bar in the lobby of The Code, a hotel and residential building in South Austin.

Open to the public, the 2,000-square-foot ground-floor space combines cafe seating and lounge areas overlooking the property’s pool. Cuvée celebrated the opening with a neighborhood open house Aug. 15-16.

Behind the bar, separate stations for draft beer, coffee and cocktails give each program dedicated equipment and workspace while allowing them to operate as one cohesive service area, Cuvée Coffee Founder and CEO Mike McKim told Daily Coffee News.

“We didn’t have direct input into the interior design of The Code, but we were certainly inspired by it,” McKim recently told Daily Coffee News. “Our job was to think about how Cuvée could come to life within that environment.”

Wood, marble and brass finishes meet deep greens and burgundies throughout the vintage-inspired space. Two-person tables sit within wood-paneled booths topped by individual arches. Cuvée also plans a pass-through ordering window for pool guests.

“We’re coming into a really special part of South Austin, with great restaurants, bars and independent businesses around us, but even more importantly, a real residential community right in our backyard,” McKim said. “That combination — the ability to offer the fullest Cuvée experience while becoming part of people’s everyday lives — is really what makes The Code feel like our flagship.”

Within the space, guests are offered an expanded range of Cuvée’s pick-me-ups and tipples, including classic espresso-based drinks and creative nitro cold brew drinks.

The Code’s food menu starts with bagels and pastries before expanding to sandwiches, wraps, melts and tacos later in the day. The all-day format mirrors Cuvée’s Natiivo location near downtown Austin, which opened in early 2023, although the two spaces have distinctly different designs.

“We don’t think every Cuvée should look exactly the same or function exactly the same way,” McKim said. “Natiivo and The Code are very different spaces in very different parts of Austin, and each location naturally develops its own relationship with the people and place around it.”

Mike and Rashelle McKim started Cuvée in 1998, focusing on sourcing high-quality coffees and introducing concepts such as “direct trade” to Austin’s coffee scene. After debuting retail service through an extended pop-up inside an Austin butcher shop, Cuvée opened its first standalone coffee bar on East Sixth Street in 2014. That location closed in May 2024 amid rising rent, while the Natiivo bar had opened the previous year.

Cuvée Coffee Production Manager Rachel Miller leads production at the company’s Spicewood roastery, centered on a 60-kilogram Giesen machine, installed as part of an expansion in 2017. The facility supplies both cafes, wholesale and online customers and the company’s RTD cold brew business.

Alongside growth in kegged cold brew, Cuvée has expanded its online store into home coffee equipment, including espresso machines and grinders selected by the company.

“Taken together, I think those things reflect how our vision for Cuvée has expanded,” McKim said. “Coffee will always be at the center of who we are, but there are a lot more ways for us to share what we do than there were when we started.”

With two all-day cafe bars now operating inside mixed-use Austin properties, McKim said Cuvée is exploring similar partnerships for future locations.

“We’ve developed a model that goes beyond simply opening another Cuvée coffee shop,” McKim said. “We know how to build and operate a complete craft beverage program around coffee, beer and cocktails while still making it feel approachable and rooted in hospitality.”