Civil Goat

The scoop

Civil Goat Coffee's Manor Road cafe is a converted-house coffee shop in the Cherrywood neighborhood serving house-roasted coffee and espresso alongside a small food menu of pastries, toasts, salads, and acai bowls. It's part of a small Austin-area mini-chain (also in Cuernavaca/West Lake Hills and on Guadalupe) known for its dog-friendly patios and neighborhood feel.

Houston native Chris O'Brien founded Civil Goat in early 2017 near Bee Cave Road after years of home coffee experimentation led him to buy a commercial-grade roaster and start roasting his own beans, emphasizing an authentic, light-roast style. He named the shop after the legend of an Ethiopian goat herder who discovered coffee's effects when his goats ate wild coffee cherries, and later brought on a real pygmy goat, Butters, as the cafe's mascot. Civil Goat has since grown into a small roaster-cafe group with multiple Austin locations, including the Manor Road shop in Cherrywood/East Austin.