Java Jive On 5th

Lovely little coffee shop in the Hilton — super convenient for hotel guests.
Serves Starbucks coffee — but you can’t use your Starbucks card.
Staff is very nice.
Indoor and outdoor seating.
Child friendly — they ran and got us a high chair from the other restaurant in the hotel and filled our silly cup for us!

This was the coffee shop in my hotel. Everyone in other reviews was so excited by the ice cream shop but as there is no Blue Bell ice cream to be had at the moment… it was just a barren wasteland.
The space is light and bright with super tall windows looking out onto the street (and some outdoor seating) and I head the wifi was good but I didn’t use it.
The breakfast «tacos» were more burrito-​ish but tasty and I’m glad there was a non-​meat option. Prices were a bit high but y’know hotel coffee shop. The iced tea as solid and didn’t taste like coffee or burnt. The giant cookie was giant and I liked the fresh fruit options in the morning.
All that BUT the lines during the morning rush were ridiculous and while the staff hustled, they really needed more warm bodies to take care of the ridiculous beverages with 15 words.
New idea: coffee shops get 2 lines, one for folks who can order their beverage in 5 words or less and then another for everyone else.

Asked for an iced coffee with 2 pumps of cinnamon dolce and the lady put 1 pump of classic, which makes zero sense (bad listening skills). When I tasted my corrected drink, it was not good at all. Very watered down and I paid $ 3.54 for this crappy coffee because they didn’t sub the flavoring, making me pay an extra 50 cents. My aunt ordered a tall chai, that looks like a «short» cup at a regular starbucks, and it was extremely watered down and flat out bad. I do not recommend ordering any type of coffee from this «coffee shop». As a current starbucks employee, I am disappointed they use the slogan «we proudly serve starbucks» it should be «we badly serve starbucks».

Blue Bell ice cream, yum yum!
I lived outside Houston for a few years growing up and loved Blue Bell ice cream back then. Having moved to the west coast, I was no longer able to indulge after I moved.
Fortunately, Java Jive (located inside the Hilton) has Blue Bell. And they serve it as long as they’re open. This meant I had ice cream for breakfast, and that’s OK.
I must say, I probably did look a little peculiar with all of the SXSW suits ordering their lattes and mochas, and I ordered ice cream. *shrugs*
Strawberry was delightful. Real chunks of strawberry and darn tasty.

I was so delighted that this friendly coffee shop was in my hotel. I sleep best after drinking a foamy hot vanilla latte and theirs was spectacular. They use Starbucks Coffee here which was cool by me. They’re a pretty chill company with excellent benefits for the employees and pioneered the coffee shop wave back when.
The staff was also delightful with friendly service and great personalities. I even got a free news one night. Score!
I adored not only the coffee but also the treats. Almond as well as lemon pastries that were so satisfying! And the ice cream was Blue Bell and decadent with flavor and cold delight.
It was a great way to begin a day or end one. Or, in my case, both.

Java Jive serves Starbucks Coffee, but it is not Starbucks. Do not get the two confused. They sell the Starbucks seasonal Christmas drinks but refused to place a sticker on the «earn a free drink» card from Starbucks because they are not Starbucks. I ordered the peppermint mocha and couldn’t taste the peppermint or the mocha. It tasted watered down like it was made with fat free milk (didn’t ask for.) I also ordered a chocolate filled croissant to find it was Nutella filled. Would have been fine except I was expecting a dark chocolate filled European pastry, not the cheap Americanized version. Highly disappointed.

Very spacious and inside the Hilton across from the convention center serves Starbucks stuff. Extremely nice environment adjoining Hilton’s spacious lobby.

I’ve only been here one time, but that was enough. From the $ 4 bottle of orange juice to the unusable wifi, this place was not impressive. Essentially, it’s a Starbucks in a hotel, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but as an Austinite I’ve come to expect more out of a coffee shop.
Pros:
1. Seems clean
2. Cops hang out here, so I guess you’re safe?
3. That’s it.

Friendly, convenient, and great selections! This little gem is in the Hilton just across from the Convention center. It was a refreshing change to all the starbucks locations. We visited twice – once at breakfast and once for an evening snack. They have Blue Bell ice cream. And for those of us out-​of-​towners, Blue Bell freshly scooped is a rare treat that was very appreciated. Zach took care of us both times and he was such a nice kid. Went out of his way to explain how the menu worked and even though he had tucked away all the ice cream for the night, didn’t even make a fuss when we asked if he could pull it back out. The breakfast selections were different and quite tasty and the coffee wasn’t burned like at Starbucks. Definitely appreciate that!
Nice café with cool interior and huge glass windows make this a fun spot for people watching as well. I would definitely go back on a future visit to Austin.

So, I’m walking down the street and in the distance I see a place named Java Jive. I got rather happy and was looking forward do a café late to kick my morning off.
I walked in thinking I was entering a local coffee shop and as soon as I got inside Java Jive I noticed the Starbucks signs everywhere. 5 dollars later I had a Starbucks Double Café Late.
Starbucks is somewhat tasty but my disappoint at this place for not being the local coffee shop it seemed to be from a distance cant be measured. I don’t understand why they don’t just call it Starbucks if that is what is going on inside here.
I’d maybe give Starbucks another star or maybe even two but honestly I feel like the huge sign out front that said Java Jive instead of Starbucks lied to me and left me a bit disappointed the moment I walked in.

They close at 10:30 but announced to everyone at 10:15 while i was in line on Friday 3÷14÷14 that they had closed the espresso machine early. It wasn’t broken – they just wanted to close early. Who does that? I don’t care if you want to leave early – you serve all of the customers until the advertised closing time.

This is a coffee shop in the lobby at the Hilton. it is has a nice corner location with big glass windows all around. I got the chocolate hazelnut mousse cake and the hot chocolate. I was looking for a sugar fix and this hit the spot.

Java Jive reminds me of an airport coffee shop… the interior is nice, there are some good employees and some not so good ones, but you can tell that the owner (ship) is just phoning it in everyday.
Being in a Hilton, like being in an airport, guarantees you a pretty high volume of business no matter how pathetic you may be; I think that dynamic more often than not helps insure you’ll get a «meh» quality experience at these type vendors.
Java Jive is a Starbucks vendor and today happened to be the fourth day they couldn’t make a Frappuccino. Whatever, but isn’t that like a powder and ice? If so, they’ve been out of the powder for four days (which is kind of tantamount to McDonalds being out of Coke or fries or something for the better part of a week)…
I thought that was pretty funny and out of curiosity asked the employee there whether they’d be able to make one at some point in the foreseeable future? She said «it’d probably be like a week [more] or so».
Whatever.
Hmm, actually that word fits really well, they should consider it for their tagline:
«Come to Java Jive, or don’t…whatever»

What a nice spot to chill and enjoy some tasty treats and Prosecco! Thanks to Stephanie for the amazing service! We came in rather late last night and she treated us like royalty. Word to Java Jive management… move this lady up on the management ladder… she’s got it going on! Thanks Stephanie!

This place is really convenient if you’re at the ACC or just staying in the Hilton downtown. They offer Starbucks drinks — my drink of choice is always the Chai latte; maybe even better than the regular Starbucks.
They also offer some food too. I heard the breakfast tacos are really good too, but I have yet to try them.
Nice seating area.
I wish they took Starbucks Gold cards here and weren’t too overpriced. Place is overall reasonable for a hotel coffee spot.

Quick and easy place to grab coffee and a pastry if you’re staying at the Hilton.

expensive starbucks coffee… but the staff is fun.

I have to say, kudos to the management of the Hilton to figure out that rather than say «Starbucks» on the outside of the venue, if you have a hippie looking sign like «Java Jive on 5^th» people will realize too late that it’s simply a licensed Starbucks.
Staff was friendly, there’s free wi-​fi if you need to do a bit of work, and the coffee is good.
Location advantage? You’re right by the metrolink station and the O. Henry Museum.

There is a definite correlation between the cost of coffee and its proximity to a hotel or convention center!
The coffee here is «Starbucks,» so it tastes like Starbucks (watered down and lukewarm)…only, you’re going to pay a whole lot more for it because it’s in the lobby of the Hilton!
Oh yeah, I also paid $ 6 for a bottle of water here… yeah…that’s what I said…$ 6 friggin dollars for a bottle of water.
Their one redeeming quality — the ice cream counter in the back of the joint. I had the best ice cream, EVAR… banana cream pie flavor. OMG, so good!

Java Jive is located in the lobby of the Hilton Austin Hotel. Was my sole source of caffeine for the five days I stayed at the hotel. Had a couple of triple shot iced lattes every day — one in the morning after breakfast, and one in the afternoon after lunch.
The one thing I will ding them for is the service. Due to the large numbers of people staying at the hotel and/​or visiting for meetings/​events — the lines get very long at Java Jive. They need to add a couple more espresso machine stations and more staff.
Drinks were strong and good! The ladies working the place — even though they were constantly swamped were always friendly and smiling.