Peace, Love & Rocky Roast opens in Columbia, SC

When a new, high quality small business opens up and fills a need in my life, I can't help but do some shouting from the rooftops.



Happily, I would like to report that the new fancypants, independent gelato shop and coffeehouse in Columbia, SC's Vista district is open!



Peace, Love and Rocky Roast is on Gervais St. btw Park and Lincoln, a block and a half from the SC State House. They're next to the old Mais Oui space, across from Nonnah's and Carol Saunders Gallery.







Here are the bullet points of awesomeness:

• Organic, fair trade coffee, roasted on site. It is highly delicious and I couldn't be more pleased.
• Open Sundays. 
• GREAT gelato. 
• Wi-Fi. Code comes printed on your receipt. 
• Giant space. 
• Open 6am-10pm weekdays, til midnight Fri-Sat.
• They have a gelato flavor that combines chocolate, pistachio, and amaretto, called "Amadeus Dream," of which I approve quite highly.
• They have a few breakfast offerings and a smart little menu of simple snacks: scoops of things like chicken salad or Palmetto Cheese on a croissant or over romaine, with sides like pita chips or apple slices.
• The owner, Butch Allen, is awesome! 

I asked Butch about the provenance of this business, and he noted that he and his lady (a lawyer on the Left Bank [West Columbia]) did a ton of research, visiting Portland, OR and Seattle, WA (fancy coffee Meccas  of the U.S.) to collect best practices.

Seems like they've put a lot of best practices to work here. Excellence in action. Sweet.

Butch said that he trained as a barista at "the Harvard of barista programs" (I forget the name of the place, apologies!) and brought in a big, fancypants coffee roasting machine that he tested in the factory in Chicago himself before shipping it here to Columbia.

The man's got pride in his enterprise. This is cool.


 

Would you like to go and "Like" them*? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peace-Love-Rocky-Roast/144258435612679

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/PL_RR

*I'm not affiliated with this business in any way, except as a happy customer.