Keep Austin Wired? Chameleon Cold-Brew is Here to Help

For a city that seems to give off mellow, laid-back vibes, Austin does a great job keeping its citizenry amply juiced on caffeine. This city is loaded with great indie coffee shops. We've mentioned a few here before. Thunderbird, Flight Path, Epoch, Mozart's and Juan Pelota are just our favorites.

Another great coffee spot is Bennu, located over by UT at 2001 E. MLK Blvd. Bennu's open 24/7, so they're really, really helping to keep the town wired. The good French pressed coffee and solid assortment of tasty bits from some familiar local purveyors also help.

But apparently Bennu owner Steve Williams wasn't satisfied having a perpetually available, centrally-located den for caffeine addicts. In his mission to keep us wired around the clock, Williams has teamed up with Chris Campbell to bring us Chameleon Cold-Brew, a delicious bottled cold-brewed coffee. The drink is made by steeping the ground coffee in cold water for several hours. They use 00% organic, fair trade Arabica beans. The result? Rich, earthy coffee with noticeably (in a good way) low acidity. This stuff is insanely drinkable. It comes in a couple of sizes and is bottled concentrated, so one bottle goes further than it looks. I've had it both neat and on the rocks and like both. And it's just as good hot. I'll have to see what sorts of things I could do with Chameleon in the mixed drink and recipe department -- I'm thinking some sort of BBQ sauce right off the bat.

Chameleon launched recently. According to this article from Relish Austin: "The cold-brew coffee ($4-$5 for 16-ounce bottle and about $9 for 32-ounce) is available at Whip In, Fresh Plus Market on West Lynn, Thom’s Market, Hyde Park Grocery, Bennu Coffee, the Corner Market at the Domain and several Royal Blue Grocery stores." Campbell and Williams hope to increase availability soon. There were only two bottles left at Royal Blue the other night, so that's a sign it might be catching on.

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