Beneath the canopy of East Austin’s hidden urban woods, a different kind of music tradition is quietly taking root. Away from sticky venue floors and blinding stage lights, The Secret Show brings neighbors, cyclists, and music lovers together for an intimate, outdoor concert hidden deep off the beaten path. Whether you trek in on foot or ride through the trees with the cycling pack, the journey is half the adventure—and the reward is a magical, starlit evening of live tunes surrounded by community.

Ditch the artificial syrups and standard oat milk. Made with real pumpkin puree, warm spices, and creamy house-made pumpkin seed milk, our 100% plant-based PSL is rich, earthy, and naturally loaded with magnesium, zinc, and healthy fats.

Especially outside of the Austin bubble, there’s this idea that vegans are constantly judging everyone else's plate. But for the vast majority of us, it’s not that deep. Vegans are just people who are genuinely heartbroken by animal cruelty. We can’t bring ourselves to buy animal products because it quite literally gives us nightmares. Our choice isn't a performance meant to make you feel bad; it's just our way of navigating the world. It’s not about you—it’s about them.

When we get deeply stressed and caught in a chronic cycle of fight-or-flight, it changes how we treat people. We can become short-tempered, cold, or entirely lose our sense of humor—and you’re faced with a fundamental choice: Are you going to ask everyone else to change their behavior to protect you, or are you going to adjust your own life to protect them? To me, things like exercise, nature, and self-care are the quiet, private work we do behind the scenes so we can show up as our best selves publicly. It’s about mutual respect for the collective team.

I honestly think people put way too high a bar on what it means to be a 'friend.' We tend to hold out for deep confidants before we use the word. But my philosophy is a little simpler: If I’ve memorized your name, you’re a friend. Whether it’s a group bike ride, an open mic, or a drawing meetup, these moments offer us a common joy that naturally takes priority over our differences. By lowering that bar, my world is constantly full of friends. And honestly, yours can be too.

An especially rainy summer has our East Austin neighborhood practically dripping with wild Mustang grapes. They are climbing up fence lines and wrapping around telephone poles in the full Texas sun. Raw, they are incredibly tart and mouth-puckering—but cooked down into a syrup, they transform into pure culinary magic. It hits that perfect, nostalgic balance of sweet and tart, remarkably similar to a grape Jolly Rancher. I am so incredibly excited for people to literally taste the neighborhood!

A lot of small business owners will tell you that 'Keep Austin Weird' died a long time ago because massive, national investment firms are buying up the city. But I don't believe we have to just throw our hands up and accept it. Real, meaningful change is entirely within reach—if the City of Austin is willing to step up and act as a competitor to these outside firms by creating affordable, city-backed commercial centers for local retail. Austin became the city we love because of the passionate, independent spaces built from scratch. If we want to keep that spirit alive, we have to protect the ground it grows on.

I want my staff to feel a genuine sense of ownership in the shop, but I also want to shield them from the terrifying financial risks that come with actually owning a business. That’s why we treat our baristas like real financial partners: for every quarter that we hit our profit goal of 1% growth, every single employee gets a 1% raise. On top of that, we distribute 4.67% of our total profits right back to the team annually. In a hyper-competitive city, our equity is what subsidizes our values, and keeping our ecosystem local allows us to pour love into every single cup.

Opening a coffee shop that caters to creative people has been my dream ever since I moved to Austin back in 2002. But for years, I searched for a commercial space and kept hitting a brick wall. The market was brutal, and I watched local business owners drowning in rent. To make Dear Diary a reality, I had to take a massive leap of faith: I sold my house in South Austin and used the equity to buy our little space on Chicon Street. It was terrifying, but because we aren't throwing money into a bottomless pit of commercial rent every month, we have the financial breathing room to protect our eco-friendly values.

A typical independent coffee shop goes through about 40 to 60 gallons of milk every single week. From day one, I knew Dear Diary wouldn’t be contributing to that. We abstain from animal milk entirely, and we never charge you extra for plant-based alternatives. To be transparent, this is an incredibly expensive choice—plant milk costs us four times as much as dairy, and we lose those easy margins. But to me, the financial math doesn't matter compared to the ethical math. No amount of profit would ever make me feel okay with selling cow’s milk.

Las aplicaciones para aprender idiomas son útiles, pero nada reemplaza una conversación real. Sentarse a tomar un café, charlar y reírse con otra persona es la verdadera forma de dominar un idioma. Nuestro Language Club semanal está diseñado para ser totalmente relajado, acogedor y solidario. No necesitas hablar con fluidez; de hecho, ¡ser principiante es parte de la diversión! Ven a practicar tu inglés, ayuda a alguien con su español y construyamos un vecindario más conectado todos los viernes a las 6:00 PM.

Language apps are great, but nothing replaces the real thing. Sitting down over an oat milk latte and laughing through a conversation with a real human being is how language actually sticks. Our weekly Language Club is designed to be entirely low-pressure, supportive, and welcoming. You don’t need to be fluent—in fact, being a beginner is half the fun! Come practice your Spanish, help someone with their English, and build a more connected neighborhood with us every Friday at 6:00 PM.

An especially rainy summer has our East Austin neighborhood practically dripping with wild Mustang grapes. They are climbing up fence lines and wrapping around telephone poles in the full Texas sun. Raw, they are incredibly tart and mouth-puckering—but cooked down into a syrup, they transform into pure culinary magic. It hits that perfect, nostalgic balance of sweet and tart, remarkably similar to a grape Jolly Rancher. We are so incredibly excited for you to stop by the shop and literally taste the neighborhood!

If you’ve stepped outside lately, you know that Austin’s summer air has officially transitioned from 'humid' to 'hot soup.' When it’s this brutal out, a crisp, iced drink isn't just a morning ritual—it's survival. And because navigating a Texas summer is hard enough, we refuse to make it harder on your wallet. While most places slap you with a penalty charge just for choosing a sustainable alternative, we have a strict zero-milk-tax policy. Your refreshing, ice-cold plant-milk latte will never cost you a penny extra to beat the heat.