Coffee Shops in Travelers Rest

Bridge City Coffee sits on South Main in downtown Travelers Rest, a coffee shop and cafe built for both a lingering morning and a quick stop while you are moving through town. Come in for a coffee or an espresso drink and a seat, or use the store side to take beans and a few things home rather than only carrying out a cup.

Joybird began as a trailer coffee stand before settling into a permanent brick-and-mortar spot with a drive-thru. The owners are upfront about the thinking behind the move: after six years running a coffee shop, they wanted one place that treated the food as seriously as the coffee. The space they built out leans into a cheerful, 1950s vintage look with room to sit and linger, and the drive-thru handles the mornings you would rather not leave the car. The coffee is Counter Culture, poured alongside a rotation of breakfast and lunch sandwiches and a case of fresh pastries. The sandwiches are where reviewers get specific, and the focaccia comes up the most; the turkey focaccia gets singled out for tasting fresh and being built generously. The overall feel is unhurried and easy, the sort of place that works as well for a quick coffee as it does for sitting down to a real lunch.

D'Cafe pairs a coffee shop with a small food store on Main Street in Travelers Rest. It is a relaxed, budget-friendly stop for a coffee, a bite to eat, and a few items to take home in one visit. Opening early and running through the afternoon most days, it makes an easy morning cup or a midday break in the heart of this Upstate town.

Walk into Leopard Forest and the first thing that reaches you is the smell of coffee roasting a few feet away. This is a working roastery as much as a cafe, and much of what gets poured at the bar was roasted on site, often within sight of where you are sitting. The room is small and down to earth, the sort of place people settle into with a book or a laptop and lose an hour. Travelers Rest has had Leopard Forest since 2004, when it started on Main Street before moving out to the Poinsett Corridor. In that time it has earned a line a lot of locals will repeat without hesitation, that this is the best coffee in town. The beans are sourced directly from farmers and roasted in house, poured as espresso, drip, or pour over, or bagged to take home. The roasting side has grown well past the cafe too, supplying coffee to shops and restaurants across the Carolinas and the wider Southeast. It sits right off the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail, which runs directly behind the building, so cyclists and trail walkers wander in alongside the weekday morning crowd. If you want something past a straight cup, reviewers keep pointing to the Snow Leopard, a white chocolate, caramel, and macadamia nut latte.