GOOD EATS: B.D. BEANS CAFÉ & COFFEE CO.
‘Feel Free To Linger’ By Rick Allen • Photos By John Jernigan
The story of how a local coffee shop of more than two decades and counting created Marion County’s first “coffee culture.” And it’s still going as strong as their unique morning blend.
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t seems that an improperly brewed cappuccino launched a trend of coffee houses in Marion County some 20 years ago. As my former colleague Christopher Lloyd reported, “It was the bitterest cappuccino they’d ever had.” The “they” were Rebecca Bennett and Donna Lafferty. “They said to themselves: Wouldn’t it be nice to have a cozy little place to go sit and read while sipping an aromatic latte or espresso?” he wrote. “And maybe cruise the Web and e-mail distant relatives, too?” A few days after that Star-Banner
OCALA’S GOOD LIFE retirement redefined
report in February 1999, they opened B.D. Bean’s Internet Café on Abshier Boulevard in Belleview, believed to be the first standalone coffee shop in Marion County. Not long after, a crop of other coffee shops sprouted throughout the area, but not until Starbucks came to town in 2003 did any of them have any longevity. Twenty-two years later and B.D. Beans is still here, a feat few eateries can boast even in non-COVID times. And it still serves a darn good
