But first, coffee

But first, coffee

Mary Margaret Ellison, Staff Writer

There are three coffee shops in the Travelers Rest and Greer area that are sure to satisfy your coffee cravings along with offer good vibes.

TRee House Café & Studio

This local coffee shop is located in the middle of downtown Travelers Rest.

Lindi Harvey, barista explained how the café got its name. “The owner, Kristen, always wanted a treehouse of her own, but she moved around too much as a kid,” Harvey expressed. “She chose the name TRee House because that was the name of her art studio.”

When approaching the coffee shop, there is window art all over the front, so you will not miss it. The window art expresses come inside, grab a coffee and stay awhile.

The inside of the coffee shop has different types of art spread across the café. Most of the artwork is from the owner, and others are from people who have taken art classes from inside the café and studio.

The café has a boho and relaxing vibe that allows the customer to sit in a peaceful environment.

In the café, there are canvases can be purchased and painted while visiting. There are also colored pencils and markers available in the café for anyone who is waiting for their coffee. They are also available for anyone in need of a study break or wanting to express their creativity.

TRee House Café offers a wide variety of coffee and other specialty drinks. The café offers four drip coffees along with lattes, frappucinos, chai’s, tea and smoothies. Any of the coffee can be served hot or iced.

TRee House Café also has “Sunny day Specials” located at the front register with specialty iced and hot coffees with a twist. One of the coffees offered on “Sunny day Specials” is the Oh! Mocha latte, crafted with dark chocolate syrup, a shot of honey, along with hazelnut syrup and oat milk.

Scändi Tiny

This local coffee shop is located in Greer directly in front of the Lake Walk Tiny Home Community.

Scändi Tiny came to be by a mother-daughter duo. “The duo has a Scandinavian background and are Finn,” expressed Edwin Martinez, café manager. “Scändi is short for Scandinavian to thank the architect who built the café and the tiny home project.”

The outside of the café has chairs available outside to enjoy the weather as conversations or studying is happening. There is a fire pit for the cooler nights to gather around while sipping on a latte or cappuccino.

When one steps into the coffee shop, there are baristas ready to brew a fresh coffee to captivate your coffee need. The inside of the café has comfy couches for friends to take a seat and make memories while sipping on their coffee.

There are also seats along the inside of the windows, which are mostly used by students while they study. The front counter has a sidebar with a few seats for coffee connoisseurs to watch the art of how their coffee is crafted.

Scändi Tiny also has a classic aesthetic of coffee shop beats that will make you want to move your feet while enjoying their coffee.

There is a plethora of coffee and tea available at Scändi Tiny. “The most requested and popular drink at Scändi is a vanilla or mocha latte,” Martinez revealed, “which you can either order hot or iced.”

The café offers lattes, cappuccinos, americanos and cold brews. They also offer matcha, chai tea, London fogs and herbal tea.

Scändi Tiny also has different specialty drinks each week, such as the garden latte and butterfly latte that are available hot or iced.

There is also a student discount that any college student can redeem by showing their student ID.

Bridge City Coffee

The final local coffee shop is located on Wade Hampton Blvd. in Greer.

Bridge City Coffee was started by its current owners, Greg Ward and Jon Quigg, who loved roasting good coffee and had a vision to start a café that poured back into the community.

“The owners chose bridge because it means to bridge the gap between the person in the café drinking the coffee and the farmer that grew the beans,” Matt Myers, the front manager said. “Also, relationships happen when you usually meet someone over a cup of coffee. It is all these different gaps having bridges built between them.”

The outside of the café has chairs that allow anyone to enjoy the weather outside while drinking their coffee. There are also different window decals of a coffee cup or plant that are on each window of the café.

The inside of the café has a variety of different seating options to allow homework, meetings or fun get-togethers to occur. There is also a small display of Bridge City Coffee merchandise that one can purchase such as t-shirts, hats, coffee beans and coffee cups.

The coffee shop has engaging vibes for college students. The mission statement exemplifies their goal, which is “building value and hope in people through coffee.”

Bridge City Coffee makes their coffee with beans grown in Muanda which is owned and operated by women in the District Republic of Congo, as well as, beans grown in Columbia, S.C.

The café offers fresh brew, cappuccinos, lattes, americanos, nitro cold brew and espresso. There are a couple of options of tea that are available to order. Each of the drinks can be ordered hot or iced.

There are also seasonal drinks that the coffee shop offers. The autumn drinks are the pumpkin latte, rosemary latte and Saigon nitro tea.

Bridge City Coffee offers a student discount as well to all college students with a valid student ID.

Sit, sip and be cozy this season with a cup of coffee from one of these local coffee shops.