German Coffee Favorite Chooses Houston to Begin Its North American Takeover — Coffee Fellows Is Here and Growing

Perk up. There’s a new coffee game in Houston. Coffee Fellows — the German-born brand with nearly 300 shops across Europe, Asia and Africa — is digging in stateside. More specifically, Coffee Fellows has made it its mission to launch in the Houston area first, choosing the Bayou City region for its United States debut. The plan is to create and open 25 to 30 coffee shops in the Houston region before Coffee Fellows continues to expand throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Founded in Munich in 1999 by Kathrin Tewes and her husband Stefan Tewes, an Olympic gold medalist (he won a gold medal playing Germany in men’s field hockey at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona), Coffee Fellows began as a labor of love. The duo conjured the idea of crafting a European-style coffee shop while honeymooning in London.

The thought centered around building a cozy and inviting environment where customers could dash in for an espresso ($3.50/$4) or stay awhile and work, meet, or just relax over a flat white ($3.75) or a Chai matcha latte ($4.75 to $5.75). Best yet, they could sip and nibble on some go-withs on environmentally friendly china plates, and for those who prefer alternative milk (think: almond, soy, oat and coconut), Coffee Fellows provides those additions free of charge.

Mindful of sustainability, Coffee Fellows’ takeaway packaging is eco-friendly and the parent company even went as far as planting a forest in Africa in an effort to offset this coffee chain’s carbon footprint.

Step through the doors of Coffee Fellows’ first two shops in North Americ, which opened in Bellaire and Katy, and you’ll find it’s easy to settle into a comfortable upholstered chair, meet up at a communal table, or come with your pup in tow and enjoy their dog-friendly patios. While it’s become standard practice for most coffee shops to offer free Wi-Fi access (and these shops certainly do), Coffee Fellows has also ingratiated itself into the community by hosting events like a Pilates and lattes class, a book swap and even participating in the Bellaire Independence Day parade.

With four additional locations opening in the Houston area in the next few months, Coffee Fellows elected to tap the local coffee roaster Geva to recreate the proprietary European-style coffee bean blend the brand has made famous abroad. In addition to the standard espresso-based drinks, you’ll find decadent frappiatos ($5.25 to $6), smoothies like a spinach, avocado and pineapple green smoothie ($6.50). There are also housemade soft drinks like the pommi ($4.25 to $4.75) made with pomegranate juice, fresh ginger and ginger ale and the Holly ($4.25 to $4.75) stirred up with elderflower, mint, lemon and mineral water.

Did we mention the food offerings? There are a half dozen sandwich selections as well as sweets from cake balls to oatmeal cookies to cheesecake.

Coffee Fellows is located at 4900 Bissonnet Street in Bellaire and 3329 Grand Parkway North in Katy.