Our Story

Princy & Mukesh Patel, Cianfrani Coffee Roasters in Austin, Texas

We have passionately pursued the art of roasting the finest gourmet coffee for nearly 30 years. 

Our journey in the 1980s started as Indian immigrants. Our parents brought our respective families to the U.S. to seek the American dream: Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Who would have ever thought coffee would provide us with all three of these “unalienable rights?”

Our first big step toward achieving that dream started in Palo Alto, California in 1996. We knew there was more to life than our day jobs. Princy worked as an assembler for Seagate Technology and Mukesh was a sputtering tech at HMT. 

We used all of our savings to buy a floundering coffee kiosk at the HP building. We worked 14-hour days to make that business succeed. Within months, we tripled earnings by providing outstanding customer service and exceptional tasting coffee.

But we knew we could do better.

Once again, we put all of our savings into buying our first real coffee shop in San Jose. Within 18 months, we built a successful and thriving business. Our American dream was becoming more of a reality every day.

Then we lost our lease to Starbucks.

And we had to start over from the beginning. 

Over the next few years, we would work long hours to build strong demand for gourmet coffee and a healthy customer base at a location... 

And then lose our lease to the big conglomerate from Seattle.

We would be Starbucked five more times before we decided enough was enough.

We decided the only way to achieve our coffee roasting dream was to buy our own building and warehouse. We did that in October 2012 when we bought Cianfrani Coffee Co. in Georgetown, Texas.

As our business grew, so did our loyal customers...who were more like an extension of our family. When every other coffee shop closed during the holidays, we gave the cafe's alarm code to our regulars. Those who had no families to spend the holidays with could still enjoy coffee shop camaraderie with their friends.

But, by late 2019, we felt the time had come for a change. While we loved spending time at the cafe and talking with our coffee family, our genuine passion was always roasting coffee. 

As word about our artisan coffees began to spread outside Austin, we decided to focus more of our energies on roasting. We sold our cafe in June 2020. 

We are excited to start the next chapter of our journey with the launch of our online store. Friends, old and new, can still enjoy the highest-quality coffee and customer service at www.cianfranicoffeeroasters.com.