a little bit about me & Turtle Creek Coffee

There was a 3 1/2 year period in my life when I worked for a small, local, non-profit coffee shop called The Wired Bean. We saw so many changes and developments - in just 3 years I worked for 3 different managers. It had a great location and a horrible location; it was in the bottom of an old cotton mill and set on the mill pond, yet it was in Lexington, SC which is the hardest place on earth for a cafe to thrive. I have learned literally SO MUCH about small business from the Wired Bean. I began that job bitterly refusing to be like everyone else and open a cafe (I just needed a job and knew a girl who worked there), but at some point in that 3 1/2 years the struggle of a small business, the hardship, the community that develops around places like that, and the potential for it to blossom (given the right location, or timing) converted me. So now I am an HRTM major hoping to one day own a small bakery or pastry shop (with an espresso machine, traditional drinks only. And brewed coffee comes free with your purchase when you sit down to eat in the shop).

The last year we had an incredible manager who moved from St. Louis, where consumers' taste for coffee abounds. He switched our coffee and found a local roaster in Columbia, untrained us on bad techniques we had developed and trained us to make consistently high quality drinks - I loved being a barista that year, and now, almost a year later, I am craving to get behind an espresso machine again. For that, I am considering going up to Charlotte for one of Counter Culture's workshops.

But for you, I would like to pass along the best coffee from Columbia (sorry, Immac). It takes some effort to get your paws on Mick's beans because he generally just sells to restaurants in South Carolina. However, he has recently started selling his whole beans at the All-Local Farmers Market on Saturday mornings at 711 Whaley Street, donating part of his profit to the farmers market. Get past the hokey website. Turtle Creek Coffee is some of the best coffee to brew (and beans to smell in the bag) I have ever had. His espresso was wonderful, though I can't enjoy that anymore, but my favorite of his coffees is the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, next in line, Kenya Tembo. Mick visits the farmers that supply his beans in order to make sure they are continuing to operate and employ ethically and wholesomely; he has such a taste for coffee and will talk to you for hours about coffee, beans, origins, roasting, conferences, competitions, cuppings, etc. if you dare ask.