Looking for a reason to drive up I-27 to Abernathy? Try Sunday, Nov. 1. Saddle Up Coffee Company is taking part in the Abernathy Christmas Open House that afternoon from 1 to 5 p.m., according to the shop’s events page, which invites visitors to get a head start on Christmas shopping and enjoy the shop’s early Christmas decor. Open house specials include a free $5 gift card with the purchase of a $25 gift card, special teacher gifts and new merch, partner Liz Carver says. Holiday drinks are on the way soon, too.
It’s a fitting way to meet a business built around giving people a place to be together.
“We are a community gathering place located on Main Street in Abernathy, in a remodeled historic building,” Carver wrote in her answers to Hub City UnCovered. “Coffee is just the beginning. Community is our purpose.”
Coffee is just the beginning. Community is our purpose.
Liz Carver, Saddle Up Coffee Company
It started with ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if…’
Saddle Up is a partnership between two couples: Jim Bob and Liz Carver, and Richard and Amy King.
According to the shop’s written story, which the owners shared with Hub City UnCovered, the idea came up one evening during their church small group. The talk turned to something the town was missing: a place where people could gather, slow down and enjoy real community together. That led to a familiar phrase: “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” The About page on the shop’s website says that conversation happened in the spring of 2025.
The owners believe that moment “was the Lord planting a seed,” the story says. Then a building on Main Street became available: a space nearly 100 years old and “full of character and history.”
The Plainview Herald, which profiled the shop in June, reported that the building dates to 1927 and has been a grocery store, a clothing store and a pharmacy over the years, based on a history handout from the shop. The Herald also reported that old newspapers found during the work, some from the 1920s, now decorate the shop’s walls and tables. Texas Comptroller records show Saddle Up Coffee Company LLC was formed Aug. 12, 2025. After a few soft openings the week before, May 29 was the shop’s first official full day, Carver says.
The owners don’t pretend it was easy. They call it “the easiest hard thing we’ve ever done.”
‘To serve the Lord by serving people’
The written story spells out the “why” in one line: “To serve the Lord by serving people.” The partners say they want more than great coffee: a place where community happens naturally, “a place where people belong,” and a small way to help restore some of what made Abernathy’s downtown special.
“Main Street used to be the heartbeat of small-town life,” the story reads. “Our hope is that Saddle Up Coffee Company can be one small part of that heartbeat again.”
That downtown has deep roots. Abernathy sits on Interstate 27 about 18 miles north of Lubbock, mostly in Hale County with part of town in Lubbock County, and was founded in 1909 when the Santa Fe Railroad built its line between Plainview and Lubbock, according to the Handbook of Texas.
What’s on the counter
Saddle Up’s coffee comes from Palace Coffee, a West Texas roaster (the Herald notes it’s based in Canyon). The shop makes all of its syrups in house and serves a large variety of baked goods and outsourced pastries, Carver says. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday.
“There’s not another coffee shop like us in the panhandle,” she wrote. She describes “a unique, warm, and welcoming vintage western vibe,” and says the shop is “surprisingly large,” with seating for 50 to 60 across three gathering spaces, including an outdoor patio.
“We are the perfect place to hang out, work, study or meet up with a friend,” Carver wrote. The website also lists catering and after-hours rentals of the space, with details available by email.
‘The PEOPLE!’
Asked what she’s proudest of so far, Carver pointed to the support from customers and friends “far and wide,” and to how well the community has received the shop. Local guide Lubbock in the Loop has also recommended Saddle Up as worth the short drive from Lubbock.
Her favorite part is easy to guess. “The best part of Saddle Up? The PEOPLE!” she wrote. “We are so thankful for our local, panhandle, Texas, American and International customers and friends who have stopped by! That has been such a surprise and so awesome.”
What’s next
After the Nov. 1 open house and the holiday drinks, Carver says special events such as game night and live music are planned for the future. Saddle Up also has an app in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
And she closed with a thank-you: “To God who gave us the vision, our excellent team of baristas and employees who exceed our expectations every day and our awesome customers who make it all possible.”
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