Chicago-Based Fairgrounds’ First Texas Location is a Coffee Lover’s Dream

Chicago-based Fairgrounds Craft Coffee & Tea has made its Texas debut at Knox District’s Highland Park Place, offering a cozy destination for breakfast and lunch. The caffeine destination serves up local roasters Ascension and Greater Goods coffee, but Fairgrounds also offers a variety of others (like Colectivo, Verve, and Counter Culture) at its brew bar. Coffee connoisseurs can even order a flight of three 8-ounce pours to sample them. It’s a caffeine lover’s dream.

Founded by Michael Schultz, the concept launched in Chicago in 2016 and has since expanded to eight locations across the country. The modern, family-friendly space (there’s a separate kid’s menu) is filled with bright yellows, blues, and warm brown furnishings, along with two swing seats.

The drink menu aims to have something for everyone. Apart from the unique brew bar with seven different U.S. roasts, you can find draft lattes, Vietnamese cold brew, and matcha. A signature espresso drink is the Vosges Chocolate Truffle Mocha (made with Chicago’s Vosges chocolate). The tea menu features 11 kinds of tea, as well as a chai tea latte and turmeric ginger latte. Several drinks come on tap if you need to grab something quick, like the draft latte, cold brew, or kombucha.

Elixirs are a unique, health-minded category on the Fairgrounds Craft Coffee & Tea menu. I tasted almost all of them, but my favorite had to be the Pea Flower Arnold Palmer. Refreshing and light, it even comes with the lemonade on the side (as soon as you pour it together, the drink transforms from blue to purple). Another standout was the Jungle Juice with mango, turmeric, mango tea, saffron, and cayenne pepper.

As for food, don’t miss the Austin’s Finest Breakfast Tacos, a scrambled egg-filled tortilla inside of another tortilla with black beans and cheese, topped with avocado and radish pico. If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, a must-try salad is the “All Shuk” Up Cauli Shawarma salad with roasted cauliflower, red quinoa, hummus, and more. Breakfast sammies also come with scrambled eggs, American cheese, and a sport pepper aioli, which is delightful.

With plenty of space, indoors and outdoors, Fairgrounds Craft Coffee & Tea is a fun new addition to the evolving Knox District.