Newspaper Page Text
THURSDAY. MAY 18. 2023 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 7A
Red Bean marks second year downtown
Evolving as tastes change with coffee drinkers
More prom photos
If anyone missed it, we ran a large selection of prom
photos from Pickens High last week, all submitted by read
ers. The response was terrific. In fact more than 100 were
sent to us and we could not get them all in the print edition.
We also got a couple of names and photos mixed up, so here
a few corrections and additional photos.
Johnathan Koonce Senior & Cheyenne August
Ivy White and Blaise Garner
Rileigh Elrod and Brody Stone
Issy Wisdom and Kane Stone
Coffee still makes
up about 50
percent of the
orders but more
people are trying
the new tea drinks
at the local coffee
shop and roaster
It’s no cliche that the cor
ner coffee shop is the place to
hang out, especially in Jasper
with Red Bean Harvest at 1
South Main Street. Since
moving into downtown from
a spot on Jonah Lane two
years ago, Red Bean has built
a following with local coffee
drinkers, as well as those
who come for all sorts of
other drinks.
“We’ve become the hang
out for downtown,” said
owner Richard Lillibridge
during a recent interview.
“We have a lot of regulars. I
grew up watching the TV
show Friends and anyone
else who did will know you
need a place to meet all your
friends.”
While they still maintain
the coffee roasting portion of
the business at their first lo
cation, Lillibridge said the
move downtown helped them
attract new customers.
The store has consistently
expanded since the earliest
days when Richard and his
wife Kebra, one of the faces
behind the counter most
mornings, were selling the
coffee at the Farmers Market
and at a stand at the hospital.
One of the chief things
that makes Red Bean unique
is they roast all their coffee,
buying beans in bulk from
Smithsonian Certified Bird
Friendly coffee growers
around the world with some
of the sales returned to the
recognized bird conservation
program.
While there are several
certified bird-friendly coffee
sellers in Georgia, Red Bean
is the only certified bird
friendly roaster at this time.
During the almost two
years they have been open
N. Ga. textile
mill to quit
using PFAS
By Dave Williams
Bureau Chief
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - A major tex
tile mill in northwest Geor
gia has agreed to
permanently stop using a
group of chemicals that pro
vide protective coatings for
its products.
Mount Vernon Mills has
been discharging per- and
polyfluorinated substances
(PFAS) to the city of Trion’s
wastewater treatment plant.
Because the plant cannot re
move the chemicals, they
were flowing into the nearby
river.
The Southern Environ
mental Law Center (SELC),
representing the environ
mental group Coosa River
Basin Initiative, sued the mill
and the city for violating
both the Clean Water Act and
federal laws prohibiting
PFAS pollution.
The three parties entered
into a proposed consent
agreement this week to per
manently end the use of
PFAS at the mill by the end
of this year. While the agree
ment awaits federal court ap
proval, Mount Vernon has
agreed to divert its internal
waste for offsite treatment
rather than send it through
the city’s treatment plant.
“Ending use of PFAS in
textile production at this fa
cility is an important step to
finally dealing with ongoing
contamination in our region
and should serve as an exam
ple to others that there are al
ternatives to using these
chemicals in manufacturing
in the first place,” said Jesse
Demonbreun-Chapman, the
Coosa River Basin Initia
tive’s executive director.
PFAS are a class of syn
thetic chemicals that are
known to be toxic and asso
ciated with serious health
impacts.
downtown, the staff at Red
Bean has seen an evolution in
beverage habits with Boba
Tea, (sometimes called Bub
ble Tea) being the latest pop
ular trend, particularly
among younger shop patrons.
While the drink has been
around forever in other parts
of the world, the chewy tapi
oca pearls at the bottom are a
new wave of drinks being
served by our hometown cof
fee shop.
Lillibridge explained there
are many, many different
styles of this tea, just like
with coffee, cappuccino, and
lattes.
Taro, a sweet potato style
that is purple, and another
Thai style are the ones most
often requested right now.
For their main line of cof
fee Red Bean still goes with
their three styles reflecting
the local area, 108, North of
53, and 515 (all local road
names). They also do spe
cialty blends for both 61
Main and The Old Mule-
house restaurants.
Lillibridge said about 50
percent of their drink orders
remain a fairly basic coffee
with the other 50 percent
being more elaborate coffee-
based drinks, including some
fun specialty drinks like a
Snickers Latte and Smores
Latte that has a giant toasted
marshmallow or, for those
less daring, there’s always a
selection of teas.
Red Bean also offers their
THC, which Lillibridge said
raises some eyebrows until
he explains it means Totally
High Caffeine. With summer
their cold brews and lemon
ade and all sorts of new cold
mixtures will see more or
ders.
Red Bean has two full
time and three part time em
ployees plus Richard and
Kebra.
For more information on
times and menu, google Red
Bean Harvest or find them on
social media.
Ready to serve hot coffee or Boba Tea, Baristas Morgan
Jones, right and Kayleigh Osborne at the Red Bean loca
tion downtown.
RED
See our
Summer
Specials on
Boba Tea
and other cool drinks!
CRAFT
iCOFFEE
©OWNTOWN
1 South Main Street • Open 7 days
Find us on Facebook for regular specials.
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