Bridge City Coffee, a recently-opened coffee shop and roastery,  is located just a quick walk from Bob Jones University at 1520 Wade Hampton Blvd.

The café offers a variety of types of coffee, including drip coffee, cold brew, macchiatos and lattes.  They also sell a few kinds of teas. Some dessert and pastry items such as cookies and homemade pop tarts are also available.

The interior is well-lit and spacious and offers enough seating for larger groups. Wi-fi access is provided, and there is a drive-thru to allow customers to grab a cup of coffee on the go.

All coffee is roasted in the coffee shop, and customers can purchase bags of the coffee to take home. Some of the coffee varieties that customers can buy include seasonal blends and Guatemalan coffee.

Customers can also pay a subscription fee to have bags of coffee shipped directly to them from the roastery every month. Customers can pick which kinds of coffee they would like each month.

Gregory Ward, the founder and owner of Bridge City Coffee, said, “We always strive to create a top-notch, quality-crafted product that people truly enjoy, both with the coffee we roast and the beverages we serve in our shop.”

Bridge City Coffee could be considered just another coffee shop, but the unique vision and goals of the owner help it stand out.

Ward started a blog related to the shop in July 2017 before the current location had been secured.  He adds a new post once or twice every month. Ward shares many of his personal desires for the shop on this blog.

In one blog post, Ward said his goal for the coffee shop is to work with nonprofits, mainly those nonprofits that help young people, in order to help them transition more easily into the real world.

“Our goal is to pick up where our partner organizations leave off and bridge the gap between nonprofit services and real-world employment,” Ward said.

Ward’s unique business model primarily focuses on offering unique and valuable experience to inexperienced workers. “I wanted to create a place where people who are often overlooked or neglected could receive deep, high level training they wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else at an entry level position,” he said.

Ward also said he and his associates seek to create meaningful relations between communities, including customers, coffee growers and the shop itself. “We believe coffee can be used for so much more than just a great beverage,” Ward said.

Ward said that he runs the shop under three central pillars: “Everyone Matters, Courage, and Excellence in the Small Things.”

Bridge City Coffee is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The coffee shop is closed on Sundays.