Sphynx Teahouse Will Bring A Cat Cafe and Vegan Fare to the Third Ward

Next year, Houston will welcome Sphynx Teahouse, a new cat cafe that will serve up both community and vegan fare in the Third Ward.

Co-owners Ashleigh Boyd and Lauren Sevilla tell Eater that their forthcoming shop is still several months away and they haven’t secured a location just yet, but the duo expects to begin construction on a space by the end of the year. “We know we will definitely be located in Third Ward, and we won’t consider any other neighborhood,” Sevilla said. “We love Third Ward and want to use our business to help end the neighborhood’s food desert and spur economic growth for our Black & Latinx community, as well as our Third Ward business partners.”

Houstonians can currently find Boyd and Sevilla serving up teas and vegan cuisine at weekly pop-ups across the city. Next month, they’ll launch a crowdfunding campaign that will raise money to pay for a permanent space after months of figuring out what folks in the Third Ward want out of a neighborhood cat cafe.

Right now, Boyd and Sevilla aren’t able to host cat adoption events because they don’t have a permanent location, but eventually Sphynx Teahouse will be home to a separate “cat lounge” where diners can interact with adoptable cats. “All adoptions will go through the shelter, but through our cafe we will be able to facilitate that process,” Boyd says. “Even if every interaction with the cats does not end in an adoption, we’re still providing customers with low-cost animal therapy and socializing shelter cats.”

As far as the food and drink is concerned, diners can scope out the options like the “Clutch CiTea,” an ombre drink that involves red hibiscus tea and yellow rose lemonade, at Sphynx’s current pop-ups. Also on the menu are vegan dishes like the Bernie Mac, a vegan macaroni and cheese that’s topped with barbecue jackfruit and garlic breadcrumbs. When the full-service cafe debuts, options like tortas milanesa, hot and blooming teas, and pozole will be on offer.

At present, Sphynx Teahouse expects to make its debut about a year from now, in March or April of 2019. In the meantime, keep up with this forthcoming cat cafe on Instagram, where a pop-up schedule is posted weekly.