B is for Bittersweet Galaxy

Crunchy gravel beneath your feet. Plants in every direction. Filtered sunlight through the leaves of the trees. And, a life-saving breeze to caress your bare skin. Welcome to Bittersweet Galaxy Coffee. The food truck (or would it be coffee truck?) is nestled in the Pink Flamingo nursery off of McNeil. Their logo is a heart shaped Saturn with sparkling stars around it. The food truck is blue and purple and with the plant pot heads of ancient greek gods and goddesses that sit on a table in front of it, you know immediately these people are into vaporwave. They even provide free rainbow neon bubble wands for adults and children alike, but let’s be real, adults more-so. 

Galaxy. It’s a vibe.

The plants are happy here despite the sun spelling death on everything outside the nursery. The steady hum of the traffic fades into the buzz of your thoughts, and it’s only the occasional loud passing truck or deep muffler of the endless traffic on McNeil that breaks the serenity of the atmosphere. Sometimes you can smell the taco truck nearby, and sometimes you can smell the Thai food at the food truck behind you, but always, there’s an earthiness in the air that only nurseries and gardens tend to pull off and it leaves a tranquility you weren’t expecting to settle over you. Despite the world outside the chain link fence that surrounds the nursery grounds, you can still hear the rustle of fallen leaves as they’re kicked up across the gravel by the wind and the occasional acorn drop down to the rocks below. Bittersweet Galaxy Coffee forces you outside, and it’s not till you’re taking in the atmosphere around you that you realize that’s exactly what you needed. 

The menu has the standard favorites, but it’s the specials that catch your immediate attention with names like Eternal Moon and Cats on Mars, you wonder if they’re anime fans, too. They have coffee specials and lemonade and tea specials, so there’s something for everyone, and with the unique flavors of lavender, ube, and passionfruit, everything on the menu begins to feel out of this world. Butterfly pea tea is on the menu, and you know exactly what that means: a swirl of citrus and blues, pinks, and purples emerge from a bottle of night sky. They thought about their menu through and through. On top of their permanent specials, they have Astrology specials and Seasonal Flavors. You’ve never heard of a Speculoos, so of course, you have to order it.

The barista is sweet and kind and when you ask about it, she compares it to a graham cracker, and you’ve never drank a graham cracker before so it’s time for something new. 

It’s an iced latte that’s perfect to combat the heat. You taste the coffee and caramel first. The cookie, or graham cracker taste, comes later. You’ve never had anything to match it. You’ve had a caramel latte before, but it’s not that sweet. You’ve had cookie flavored things, but again, not that sweet. It’s a drink described as “similar to gingerbread” on their menu, and you think maybe there was a cookie you’d eaten in the past that was like it, but the drink itself just isn’t one thing which is satisfying. You didn’t travel all the way to the Bittersweet Galaxy for something you could get anywhere. A quick Google search tells you that you’d at least have to travel from Austin to Germany.

For nearly three years the truck sat across the the pink house with a few wooden picnic tables outside to relax on. It’s expanded since then and is now so comfortable a space, you have no doubt you could spend a whole morning amusing yourself with the specials and free bubble wand usage. (There’s a trick to them, you know? It’s a skill.) A quick conversation with the barista and you’ve learned that the owners are friends with the nursery owners, because of course they are. They feel like a package deal with their vibrant colors and vapor wave vibes. Good dogs. Pride flags. Happy plants. What’s not to love?

Most people take their coffee to go, and aside from you, there is a single couple, both on their phones, that trade Tiktoks with one another over shared laughter before they leave, too, leaving you alone in the space. 

Which is just as well. You can go barefoot sitting at the table and watch the squirrels chase each other, the lazy Rottweiler sniff the ground, and the ants scurry without aim over the gravel because there’s really nothing left here for them to find.

You’re there long enough to shut the place down, and the barista, ever kind and friendly, hands you a Zucchini Kill baked good on the way out. It’s the one you’d asked about. It’s really too sweet. Even at her proclamation that it was “going to have to be thrown out anyway”, she didn’t have to. The vegan moon pie is chocolatey and crumbly and delicious, but it’s ever sweeter from the sentiment behind it. 

You’ve finished your drink and moon pie lunch, and now you’re alone. What’s there left to do but practice your bubble wand techniques?

You remove the long bubble wand from its tube and you’re transported to a galaxy far more sweet than bitter but right here in Austin all the same.

I’ve been visiting Pink Flamingo Plant Co. for years, and it has always been a welcoming, beautiful nursery and venue with kind owners who want to provide a special space in the community. It was a delight to feel that same safe sweetness at Bittersweet Galaxy. Thank you for the sweet treat!