Story by Kevin Williams
Photo provided by Leopard Forest Coffee
This fall, Leopard Forest Coffee turned 20, marking two decades of bringing Travelers Rest together over specialty roasted coffee, whether for business or simply to meet with friends. With smiling employees and the ever-lingering smell of freshly roasted coffee, Leopard Forest has kept its small-town feel while serving our community.
The Travelers Rest that Leopard Forest was started in has changed somewhat, as has the world. As has Leopard Forest itself. Originally, the coffee company strictly roasted Zimbabwean coffee, but that country’s increasingly complicated political scene would eventually eliminate the option for coffee from that country.
In 2004, the third wave of specialty coffee was just beginning to take hold in more urban centers of the nation. Leopard Forest Coffee Company was formally created in TR in September of that year by Helen Revi and Robert Boswell Brown.
“There was Liquid Highway and West End Coffee Roasters. They had been around for years and roasted their own beans, but didn’t share our focus on the specialty coffee aspect of it. We were just beginning to get a grasp on it ourselves, “ said current owner Adam Kelly.
“Shannon Hudgins established Coffee and Crema in Greenville around the same time as us [Coffee and Crema closed in 2015] and was at the forefront of specialty coffee drinks in the Upstate using Counter Culture coffee from Durham. He focused on specialty drinks and hospitality, but what we were offering was something no one had in the area at the time – a vertically integrated coffee company that had our hands in the entire process from field to cup,” Adams shared.
In 2005, just a year after Leopard Forest opened, Adam started working at the company as an employee while attending Furman University, becoming one of many Furman students to work at the company over the last two decades.
Leopard Forest has moved several times since its founding, having its first move in May of 2010. As part of that move, the cafe portion of the company was sold and moved to 27 S. Main Street, becoming renamed as The Forest, but continuing to sell Leopard Forest coffee. The roasting/wholesale would stay with founder Robert Brown and his wife Ildi, who moved it to Marietta for a season.
In October of 2011, Adam became a co-owner, with his percentage increasing every year while Ildi began her role as Education Director at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA), no longer being involved in daily operations since the end of 2011.
In September 2015, Adam purchased the remaining shares along with the cafe that was sold in 2010. He became sole owner, overseeing its final move in 2017 to its current location at 403d N. Poinsett. Its old location, 27 S. Main Street, is now TRee House Coffee and Studio, a cafe that still brews Leopard Forest Coffee.
“In short, the purpose of the company has changed since the beginning, and our focus on quality specialty coffee and customer service has grown,” said Adam, when asked how the company had changed since its creation.
While so much of what we read and see in our world polarizes, driving us apart, some things continue to bring us together. Come on in for a cup of coffee, be it a sweet drink or a dark roast, and enjoy Leopard Forest Coffee Company as they continue to bring TR together.
