The Hallows, new coffee shop and cocktail bar opened up for full operation on March 11. The brand was created by 2016 ACU graduate Daniel Sotelo and Sam Wolfe.

Hallows offers a simple selection of coffees during the daytime throughout the week and adult beverages from 5 p.m. until closing time at midnight. They also host live music occasionally with the stage on a balcony overlooking the shop.

Sotelo’s vision for the shop is less of a place to study and more to just relax, although patrons have done both. He said,

“When we created Hallows, we just wanted a place where someone can come in and chill. We wanted a vibe where someone wasn’t overloaded when they walked in.”

Austin McCoy, graduate student in Theology from Amarillo and barista, believes that the Hallows is bringing a vibe seen in coffee shops from big city areas like DFW and Austin. He said,

“I think Hallows is bringing something unique to Abilene, something about coffee we haven’t seen before.”

McCoy believes that Hallows is one of Abilene’s biggest steps towards establishing a big coffee culture like many other big cities and college towns.

The shop has large but few tables, a bar area, and two couches where people can sit in the shop. Unlike other coffee shops, the space is large and open with music that spreads throughout the room.

Although the menu is simple, Hallows favors itself on it’s made-in-house ingredients to make up for it.

“We care so much about what we use in our coffee, the glass we use, the texture,” Sotelo said. “We want people to envision coffee as a craft, just like we do.”

The Hallows’ creative difference is the use of cereal-infused milk in it’s coffee on Wednesdays and Sundays. The milk is made in their iced and hot lattes and is sold in limited quantities.

Cereals that have been used to make this milk are Lucky Charms, Reese’s Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cookie Crisp, and Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries.

Even though the Hallows is a street away from Monks Coffee Shop and opened around the same time as Maslow Coffee Company, Hallows doesn’t competition, but community.

Sotelo believes that with Hallows more people will experience new types of coffee and be just as pleased with Hallows as they are with other known shops.

One of the Hallows creative coffee infusions: cookie crisp milk lattes. (Photo courtesy of The Hallows facebook page)