According to Smith, it started slowly. “It’s easy to get down on yourself,” he said, “but the key was to keep pushing.” Now the two run a successful destination coffee shop. Each cup of coffee is brewed using the pour over method, Smith maintains is the purest way to make a cup of coffee. Black Tap never settled. In the beginning, people would walk in, Jayme said, take one look at the price, and walk out. “That hasn’t happened in a few years.” People now are more willing to pay $3.50 for a cup of good coffee. “Some people are more accepting than others,” he said. “You can’t cater to everyone...we could have had a ready-to-go coffee, but we didn’t. We stuck to this and it’s been very beneficial.” Black Tap is pristinely black and white, excluding the outside, which stands painted in shades of purple. Tall windows let the light pour in, illuminating and freshening the small space. In the center is a community table that fosters conversation and collaboration while lining the walls stand bar stools for independent, isolated work. “We want people to be able to come to a place that makes them feel comfortable,” Smith said. “That two minutes or that two hours in here, whatever it is, hopefully goes a long way in helping people with their days.” The shop derives its vibes from a sense of community and productivity. “I think our space stimulates people...it’s clean, modern. Some people work really well in places like this.” Black Tap does just that for students at the College of Charleston. A popular place to study and get a cup of coffee, the environment makes homework feel less taxing and tedious. Ah, the magic powers of a coffee shop. “It can be, in a way, an escape from reality,” Smith said. October 15
Coffee has always appealed to an intellectual crowd, to a community of people with goals and ambition, to people who possess a desire to affect the world. This following has enabled coffee culture to grow and played an integral role in its direction. “That is what has driven this industry,” Smith said. “People’s jobs today are way less centralized…[they] aren’t working nine to fives anymore. There is a demand now for places like this.” But Black Tap attracts more than just a young and intelligent hipster crowd. They see customers from all walks of life enter their wooden doors. Smith and Jett want first and foremost to provide people with a good cup of coffee, but they also seek to inform and educate. “If we give them our knowledge on coffee and see them really receive it, then we see them the next day, then we see them every day...if we can change people’s perspectives on what coffee is and what it can be, that’s a really rewarding thing to be able to do as a coffee shop owner,” Smith said. “That’s part of the job - to spread this culture.” Another coffee organization dedicating themselves daily to spreading this culture - Counter Culture Coffee - opened a training center on Spring St. earlier this year. Counter Culture is a North Carolina-based coffee company leading a continuous search to find the best coffee beans from around the world. Counter Culture works directly with the farmers and then utilizes its own roasting methods, placing value on transparency and sustainability. Since its founding in 1995, Counter Culture has observed a growing interest in coffee beyond just its caffeine content. “Sustainability is a priority to us,” said Park Brannen, sales and regional development manager 17