The 7th Annual Caffeine Crawl heads to Houston this weekend for a two-day, six-route event. Each route makes five stops and runs about 3 hours in length. A limited number of tickets remain for Friday, February 21 but there are still several routes on Saturday, February 22 available. Start times for the routes range from 9 to 10 a.m.

Designed as an interactive pub-crawl style event, the Caffeine Crawl gives coffeeholics an opportunity to visit with local baristas, roasters and artisan producers. Although the Caffeine Crawl has expanded to over 15 different cities, Houston remains the only one in Texas to host this event — and it usually sells out. That’s just one indicator as to how much Houstonians love good coffee and well-made espresso drinks.

Caffeine Crawl founder, Jason Burton, was first invited to check out the local coffee scene by InterAmerican Coffee, and he not only discovered a thriving industry with talented baristas, but that Houston is a great city for food. “This city knows how to cook and in so many great coffee cities, you can’t get a good meal with a great cup of coffee.” says Burton. “That is not the case here. When I come to Houston, I leave with a belly full of espresso and eats.”

Houston’s size presents a challenge to Burton when it comes to designing the routes. The six routes range in distance from four to eight miles. A few are bike-friendly, but most are designed as a self-driving route with a tour guide to help with the logistics of the day and to make sure the tour sticks to the schedule.

Participating shops include Blacksmith, Boomtown, Cafeza, Coterie, Giant Leap, InterAmerican, Katz, MALK Bev Bar, Morningstar, Retrospect, Siphon, Southside Espresso, Throughgood, and Tout Suite.

New shops participating for the first time this year are Louie Coffee, Tea Sip, Uncle Bean’s, Xela Roasters, and The Yellow Cup Coffee and Tea.

For tickets and more information, visit the Caffeine Crawl website

Jamie Alvear