Need a new spot for your daily brew? New coffee shops open in Irmo and Columbia

If you’re looking for a change of scenery from your regular coffee joint, you’re in luck.

Loveland Coffee opened a new location Friday and Azalea Coffee Bar is coming to Devine Street early next year.

Loveland Coffee opened its first cafe in Irmo Friday. Loveland previously served as a drive-thru only coffee kiosk on St. Andrews Road in Columbia for seven years. It will remain open for drive-thru from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturdays.

The new location is at 7475 Carlisle St. in Irmo, across from Kroger in what was a crossfit building. The store is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for dine in and carry out.

On their website, owners Beach and Jessica Loveland describe their coffee shop as “a vision of bringing the community together through their love of coffee and guidance of the Lord.”

The Lovelands closed their roastery on Bush River Road to combine the roastery with the new shop. They specialize in roasting small batched, single origin, certified fair trade organic coffee. The store sells wholesale and retail coffee.

A brand new coffee shop business is coming to Devine Street in Columbia in 2021.

Azalea Coffee Bar will be at 2700 Devine St. beside the Copper Penny clothing store and near Craft and Draft Beer.

Brittany Koester owns 72 Company, a local coffee and cocktails mobile shop that mainly caters weddings and events. In October, Koester announced plans to open a female-focused brick and mortar coffee shop in Columbia.

The name azalea comes from Koester’s childhood in Summerville, where the Springs were filled with blooming azaleas, she said. The name is also a tribute to Koester’s late mother, who inspired her to leave a corporate job and start a coffee business in 2017.

Azalea Coffee Bar will sell only female produced coffee and pastries, along with some retail items from women-owned companies.

“I kind of learned about how there’s this issue in coffee where women work on the farms and grow the crop and they sometimes don’t have access to capital or opportunities to be in leadership and own their own farm, so there’s this movement in coffee right now to really support women,” said Koester.

This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 11:32 AM.