Notable Edibles Fall 2017
Bloomin’ Bean Coffee Bar
With the recent opening of Bloomin’ Bean Coffee Bar, coffee shop culture has found a permanent home in Blythewood, SC. Located at 412 McNulty St., Bloomin’ Bean is right next door to Gloriosa Florist, both owned by Carla Lomas. These neighboring businesses create a feast for the senses and a respite from the everyday grind. Delivering cozy vibes along with hand-pulled espresso drinks and pour-overs, Bloomin’ Bean features Blythewood’s own locally roasted Iron Brew Coffee. Family-owned and operated, Iron Brew imports 100% Arabica raw coffee beans from the Cerrado region of Brazil. Committed to direct trade, they buy coffee straight from the source, paying the farmer a higher wage and ensuring a better-quality bean.
Named Iron Brew for the cast-iron drum roaster that locks in the flavor of their coffee, this Certified SC product is available at retail outlets around the Carolinas as well as just up the road at Bloomin’ Bean.
Black Water Barrels
Named for the slow, gentle black waters of the Edisto River, Black Water Barrels crafts old-style cooperage-form barrels for bourbon, cider, wine and whiskey in Bamberg, South Carolina. This homegrown company meets the needs of distillers all over the country by using American white oak from the Appalachian Mountains for their 30-, 53- and 60-gallon barrels. The structure of the wood from a white oak tree is perfect for enhancing the flavor of whatever spirits it holds. Through charring and sanding techniques, the barrel further develops the flavor of its contents, with lighter char levels developing more fruit and spice notes, and darker char levels extracting more vanilla flavors and color into the spirit.
Copper Horse + Indah Coffee
Local Copper Horse Distilling has paired up with Columbia’s own Indah Coffee to create a line of small-batch distiller-select coffees. In development for more than a year, the coffee beans come in three distinct flavors: bourbon-barrel-aged, ruminfused and gin-infused. As Copper Horse founder Richard Baker explains, a green coffee bean is highly impressionable to whatever it is exposed to. When the infused beans are then roasted, the alcohol vaporizes but the flavor of the spirits remains, offering the taste and aroma without the alcohol. Of course, there’s nothing keeping you from pouring it with one of Copper Horse’s cream liqueurs to create this season’s pitch-perfect coffee cocktail.
