InTheBurg

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The Upstate Coffee: New Community Hub in Downtown Inman

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There’s a brand-new coffeeshop in Downtown Inman, and InTheBurg is bringing you the espresso scoop. Meet The Upstate Coffee, their cozy menu, baristas, and their newly-renovated shop space.

The Upstate Coffee’s location in historic downtown is convenient to City of Inman’s Main Street, at 14 Mill Street, and is surrounded by plentiful, free street parking. The 100-year-old building was in rough shape pre-renovation, but now features a fresh look inside and outside, as well as a large, paved patio with outdoor seating.

Owners Mariia “Mary” Kolpakova, Lana Divinets, and their husbands are originally from the West Coast, and moved to Inman in search of warmer and dryer weather roughly two years ago. Both Mary and Lana are new to the coffee and service industry business, but wanted to bring a glimpse of their traveling experience to Inman. “We wanted to create a cozy space with good vibes for people to hang out. Plus, living in Europe gave us ideas of how we can introduce coffee to this area,” Kolpakova said.

The faces you see behind the bar joined the TUC crew from all levels of experience, but all have a passion for coffee and serving the community.

The open, airy shop is both cozy and industrial, featuring original brick walls, wooden tables and bar-tops, metal detailing, and a large garage door in the center of the main cafe wall. For seating, choose from barstools lining the windows, two-top tables and bench seating, a tall community table for groups, and two couches and armchairs in the upper mezzanine-level nook.

One of the coziest spaces in the shop is family-friendly, with two armchairs, a children’s table, and multiple books and games, surrounding a stone electric fireplace.

Okay, so now that you’ve seen the space, we know you’re really reading to hear about the drinks. And boy, does The Upstate Coffee have some delicious ones to choose from!

The large menu has a multitude of hot and cold drinks, with both your traditional coffeeshop menu items such as lattes, americanos, and iced coffee, and unique non-coffee offerings such as “Italian Lemonade” and “The Peach Panther,” a fruity energy drink with Red Bull. Drinks are available in 8oz, 12oz, and 16oz varieties, with customizable flavor options.

We tried a variety of delicious offerings while “chilling” at The Upstate Coffee writing this here article, including an 8oz latte, 12oz house drip, two macaroons, butter croissant, and 12oz caramel iced latte, (not pictured.)

Autumnal drink specials include the Cinnamon Caramel Latte, and a Halloween drink inspired by The Inman Theatre Inc.’s production of “Inman Shop of Horrors,” “The Audrey 2,” an iced matcha latte with green apple and strawberry drizzle.

TUC brews Coava Coffee, a Portland-based roasting company. You can order a variety of single-origin roasts or coffee blends on The Upstate Coffee’s menu, including 12oz pourover coffees. For the house drip, you can sip the S.O. Blend, a rich and chocolatey medium roast of East African origins, with notes of honeycrisp apple, dark caramel, and chocolate-covered fruits. Like what you taste? Take a bag of Coava Coffee beans home to brew.

As the only coffeeshop in the area, The Upstate Coffee both fills a community need and provides an example to other potential small business owners. “We are hoping that after our experience more people will see that small towns have a lot of potential for opening a new business,” Kolpakova said. “We hope to be a good example to others to not be afraid to start something new.”

The community enthusiasm so far as been wonderful to see. The Upstate Coffee held their official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, October 30th, with live music and drink specials. Prior to opening, the business’ doors were open to community members to familiarize themselves with the new shop, with complementary drinks while baristas practiced preparing the new menu items, until roughly a week before the official opening.

When InTheBurg visited the cozy spot, a steady line of customers streamed in for their afternoon caffeination. College students on laptops, mom groups meeting after school pickup, young families, and teens doing homework all gathered in the shop– both sipping from counters and couches, and ordering multiple drinks to-go for friends.

Visit The Upstate Coffee at 14 Mill Street, and let us know what you think! The shop is open seven days a week:

Monday – Friday: 6am – 8pm

Saturday: 7am – 8pm

Sunday: 12pm – 8pm

Follow The Upstate Coffee on Facebook and on Instagram (@theupstatecoffee) for upcoming featured drinks, events, barista bios, and behind-the-scenes looks at daily business.

Cheers!

Something New Is Brewing In Lyman, SC

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Something’s growing in Lyman, and it’s not just the small business community! Botanical Brew is a brand-new plant store and coffeeshop combo that opened at 40B Groce Rd, Lyman on October 1st, 2020, and you’re getting the [coffee] scoop here first!

Botanical Brew features a full menu of caffeinated drinks available by curbside or in-shop pick-up; plants of all sizes, styles, and environments; and the coziest vintage seating nestled in a photogenic setting.

Picture: Velvet sofas, mismatched armchairs, rattan and wicker chairs, and local art– all nestled between a jungle of plants that you can take home. (Very inspiring for planning your personal home decor.)

Botanical Brew offers a traditional coffeeshop menu of drip coffee, iced coffee, hot and iced espresso drinks (think lattes, cappuccinos, and americanos,) as well as a few unique specials. The shop brews locally-roasted beans from Junto Coffee, (232 Mill St, Taylors.)

Customize your drink order with milk alternatives (oat or almond,) or a variety of flavor syrups, such as lavender, white mocha, butterscotch, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. Seasonal drinks include Pumpkin Spice Lattes and Spiced Caramel Apple Lattes.

Maybe you’re not the biggest fan of coffee… Try a Botanical Soda, which are like bubbly “mocktails.” Caffeine-free varieties include Monstera Mint Mojito, Palm Tree Colada, and Blood Orange Spritz. The Blue Lagoon (pictured above) is both pretty and packs an energy punch, made with a berry medley and natural caffeine from green coffee. Even more flavor specials are coming to the menu soon…

Order your coffee in-person at Botanical Brew, or mobile-order and pick-up curbside with Odeko App.

After your coffee, search for a new plant– or two, or three. Botanical Brew has large, statement plants such as Monsteras and ferns, hanging vines such as Pothos, cacti of all sizes and varieties, whimsical plants such as “String of Dolphins,” and more. Are there any Fiddle Leaf Fig fans reading? Find figs of all heights and fullness, including both tree and bush varieties of FLF.

In addition, local art and stationary lines the walls and shelves. Make a friend’s day with the perfect housewarming card and plant!

After their first week of customers, the coffee and plant store expanded their hours. Sip and shop 12PM-6PM Mondays, 6AM-6PM Tuesdays through Fridays, and 8AM-12PM Saturdays. Find Botanical Brew on Facebook and Instagram, (@botanicalbrewsc.)

Botanical Brew is right on the edge of the Town of Lyman’s downtown, comfortably between a local artist’s studio and Trading Pages Bookstore (new and used books.) So, find a new book and plant baby, then snuggle up in your statement chair of choice with a latte. Cheers!

Cuts, Not Bruises

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From uppercuts to haircuts, former-MMA fighter Ashley Rushing is making a big impression at Bareknuckle Barbershop‘s new location, now open in Drayton Mills’ Marketplace, (1800 Drayton Rd, suite 305.) The specialty shop offers cuts, shaves, facials, wax and color services, all with a complimentary drink to sip. Book Here.

Bareknuckle Barbershop is o-owned by Tyler Maupin– Rushing’s former client and current business partner, who works on the business side of the shop and created the name as a nod to Rushing’s MMA career.

Once known as “Doll Face” in the MMA world, Rushing fought for a little more than a decade, starting with an amateur career at a North Carolina gym. She began her professional career when she moved to South Carolina and fought in two professional fights with Invicta Fighting Championships, a women’s MMA organization.

But she’s always had a passion for cosmetology, too, and has worked as a cosmetologist for about 15 years. When Rushing broke a lower vertebrae ending her fighting career, she decided to focus on hair full time which led to the opening of Bareknuckle Barbershop.

Rushing found she prefers doing men’s cuts and women’s pixie cuts over a traditional women’s color and highlights that can take hours at a salon. “I didn’t like standing behind someone’s head for four hours,” Rushing said.

There’s no specific demographic that comes into the shop, co-owner Maupin said, mostly men of all ages, races and ethnicities come to Bareknuckle Barbershop.

Excerpts from Cuts, not bruises: Former MMA fighter opens barber shop in Spartanburg, written by Genna Contino, published by GoUpstate.com on August 14th. (Click here to read the full article.)

Photos of Ashley Rushing and Tyler Maupin by Tim Kinzey via GoUpstate

Barbershop photos via Bareknuckle Barbershop

Initial Q Social Bar & Smokehouse

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Long-awaited “Gastro Smokehouse,” Initial Q officially opened last week in the renovated Leader Building. (127 W Main St)

The bourbon-themed social bar focuses on unique smoked meats such as rabbit, hickory pork belly, and bourbon barrel sirloin, for a refined spin on the traditional “BBQ plate.”

An I.Q platter allows guests to pair any four of the smoked items with three sides for $34. Sides include mac and cheese, honey coleslaw, mashed potatoes, baked beans, crispy Brussels sprouts, and more. Also on the menu are specialty entrees, appetizers such as ahi tuna and meat-and-cheese boards, salads, and more. The restaurant will also serve up specialty cocktails, and a plethora of whiskey options.

“It’s very exciting,” said Stacey Wingate, the restaurant operations manager, who will run the establishment along with three other business partners. “This has been a long time coming. We spent really more than two years planning and preparing it.

Currently, the restaurant is open during dinner hours, from 5-10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4-9 p.m. Sunday. The bar opens at 4 p.m each day of operation, but the business is closed Monday.

Eventually, lunch hours and a lunch menu will be added, Wingate said. There’s also a plan to introduce live music.

Find UnderPin Lanes ‘N Lounge on the building’s basement level and Magnolia Grand Event Center at 106 W Broad St.

Read more here at GoUpstate.com.

Mata’s On the Move

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A Mexican restaurant offering a nightlife vibe with 19 beers on tap and a back patio big enough for a fiesta is coming to the former Mellow Mushroom spot in downtown Spartanburg.

Fabian Mata, the owner of Nacho Taco, and his dad Antonio, the owner of Don Rey in Boiling Springs, are partnering to transform the closed pizzeria into Mata’s Mexican Bar and Grill.

“This is our first venture together, and I’m absolutely pumped,” Fabian said, of co-owning a restaurant with his father. “We want to incorporate some nightlife into this place. We want to be one of the few Mexican restaurants where you come for the food, but stay for the beer.”

Mata expects to open late April once he cleans up and redesigns the space at 464 E. Main St.

Excerpt from GoUpstate.com. Read the full article here.

They’ve Got the Juice

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JuicyVerse is both a familiar concept and a positive addition to City of Spartanburg’s Eastside. Just past Spartanburg High School, the juice bar filled a location previously left to disrepair– quite vibrantly, we might add. It’s hard to miss the neon green building.

Courtney Farr and her uncle, Daniel Mostiler, opened the juice bar on December 16th, 2019. The business came out of both their personal fitness goals, and a juice partnership with Landrum’s Element Strength and Fitness.

JuicyVerse’s menu includes cold-pressed juices made daily, smoothies made to order, salads, quick bites, and more. The juices include fresh produce, with combinations such as the best-selling Citrus Delight (orange, cranberry, lemon, ginger, and Fuji apples,) the Hydrator (pineapple, cucumber, coconut water, and chia seeds,) and the Master Cleanse (lemon, house maple syrup, alkaline water, and cayenne.)

Shop JuicyVerse’s online market here.

Snack on cranberry paleo bars, made-to-order salads, muffins, fudgey quinoa brownies, chia puddings, and other indulgent (yet guilt-free) delights, mostly vegan and gluten-free. The shop includes ample seating, although all items are grab-n-go accessible.

JuicyVerse is open 8am-6pm Monday-Saturday, at 3024 East Main St Ext.

 

 

UnderPin Lanes N’Lounge

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Downtown Spartanburg is home to more entertainment assets than ever, with Skating on the Square, busking musicians, live performances in venues, and now, a brand-new bowling alley, opened in early November.

UnderPin Lanes N’Lounge is branded as a boutique bowling alley, with eight lanes, a full bar and creative menu, lounge and party seating, and an arcade.

The menu ranges from appetizers to meals to specialty cocktails, with favorites including fried oreos, smoked wings, spiked floats, and more.

Photos courtesy of UnderPin’s social media.

Don’t let the bar fool you; this establishment is family-friendly, yet caters to all ages with late hours:

Monday-Wednesday: 4-11pm ; Thursday-Saturday: 11am-2am ; Sunday: 12-10pm

The bowling alley’s final presentation has remained true to the original vision, of restoring a central downtown building, on Morgan Square, into community gathering space generating food traffic downtown. (Take a look-back to the 2018 plans here.)

View more Bowling Alley photos here.

Joining UnderPin are two more entities in the nearly 26,000 square foot building– Initial Q: Social Bar & Smokehouse, and an event center capable of hosting 200-400 attendees. The gastro smokehouse is set to open early 2020, boasting, “local meat smoked in house, with a fine Southern tradition.” Stay tuned…. [Update: Read more on Initial Q here!]

127 West Main Street has been many entities in its 119-year history, most notably the Leader Department Store which opened in 1928. On February 9th, 1943, it was destroyed in an uncontrollable fire, and rebuilt in September 1943 in the current Art Deco Style. The building was later home to Kimbrell’s Furniture, until 1996.

Photos courtesy of the Spartanburg County Public Libraries Bradford Scrapbook Collection.