Epoch Coffee House

My second home for studying/productivity has become Epoch Coffee House, followed shortly by the LRC computer lab on the 3rd floor of the ENS building. Epoch's is a representative cross-section of Austin's young population--young at heart anyway. UT undergrad students, bohemians, the occasional indie tech worker, ACC students, graduate students at UT, and probably a whole lot more--the music is loud, the coffee house is 24/7, and the space is generally abundant if you count the outside patio. Right now, it's less than comfortable outside in the forty-something night weather, but I can't complain since I generally find room inside. Free wi-fi and decent food/drink top off the features, though I wish the prices were a bit lower. They can afford it with this volume of customers, however--it's generally packed in the late hours that I'm around here for. I mean, I took the last available parking spot I could find (thank God) when I drove in tonight.

Here at Epoch, everyone is young (figuratively, metaphorically, and literally) and able to handle caffeine and sleep deprivation in copious amounts. There's a four-sided chess board available for play, as well as other board games if you have nothing better to do (we students look on enviously at your free time). People surf Craigslist, MySpace (why??), Facebook, and other hip sites while listening to their mp3 players or computer-stored music. Conversation is easily masked by the ambient tracks, which are controlled by the computer in the back office behind the bar's kitchen area. Sometimes late at night, the servers really blow it with the DJing, starting and stopping tracks in the middle of songs, and sometimes they play some really stupid stuff (misogynistic hip-hop?), but on the whole, they stick to eclectic mixes that aren't too bad, really. I don't have any headphones, so I can't really do anything about it.

Once, I ordered the mango smoothie here, and the lady behind the counter (I've never seen a non-cute lady server here) handed me a glass of mango concentrate--awesomeness! Is that a smoothie? Probably twice the value of what I paid for it, and sweeter than I should have gotten. I think the slightly more expensive pizza made up for that, however.

I really come here for the company and atmosphere though. Friends come here to work too, and the public environment forces me to do work as well. That's about all anyone could ask for from a study nook.