When my friend Jen mentioned “the coffee guy” in Hyde Park who delivers coffee that he has roasted in his garage by scooter, I knew I had to try it. I love how this guy does his marketing. He showed up in Jen’s backyard offering freshly brewed coffee one day and she’s been ordering ever since.

Robby Jones, "The Coffee Guy" - Photo Credit: Pilot House Coffee

The Coffee Guy is Robby Jones and his company is Pilot House Coffee. He delivers coffee for free with beans roasted that day to the following Austin zip codes in Central, South, North and East Austin.

I ordered my coffee by phone because I couldn’t get the website order form to go through and the woman who helped me was very kind. She said that Robby would be delivering the coffee the next afternoon and if no one was home he’d leave it on the doorknob in a bag. That’s all good normally but I was kicking myself for not asking about delivery to my office because the bag ended up sitting out in the triple digit heat for at least five hours.

Pilot House Coffee Town Lake Blend

I ordered the “Town Lake,” a medium roasted blend of beans from South America and Sumatra. The cost was almost $15 for a pound of coffee but there’s a discount if you sign up for one of the delivery plans. The freshly roasted beans smelled wonderful. Unfortunately, my first cup wasn’t as rich and flavorful as I’d hoped.

All in all, I do think that Pilot House is a fun concept and I hope they do well. I love that they live in the community where they deliver and that the beans are roasted that day. However, I fear another local roaster, Cuvee Coffee, sold at a handful of local coffee shops, already has my heart. The folks at Cuvee are obsessed with quality in every step of the process — from the farms where the berries are grown, to the bags in which they are shipped, to the exact temperatures during roasting, to the daily deliveries of roasted coffee to their barista customers.

Coffee Grinder

I know there are lots of local coffee roasters in Austin that serve a variety of coffee shops — Owl Tree, Texas Coffee Traders, Anderson’s, and Kohana come to mind. What are some of your favorites?

Related Post: Cuvee Coffee Roasting Company Tour

Aug. 26, 2010 UPDATE:  Robby, “The Coffee Guy” sent a thank you note. That is some classy stuff and just good business! Also, I believe he does that for all new customers since I saw it mentioned on their Yelp page by a reviewer also.