Owner Ricardo Pereira grew up in Brazil's coffee country and went on to earn a Q Grader certification, the tasting credential that sits behind most of what leaves the roaster here. Since 2013 he has built Due South on direct relationships with the farms themselves, sourcing from Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Ethiopia and roasting every bean in the Upstate rather than buying it finished.
Roasting happens on site, with a profile developed coffee by coffee instead of one setting for everything, so a given single-origin lot gets the treatment that actually suits it. Whole beans go home by the bag, and the cafe keeps its espresso and pour-overs approachable enough to order well without knowing the vocabulary. The team sums the whole thing up as "useful and good," a cup that earns its place in your morning without turning into a lecture.
It all sits in a reclaimed cotton warehouse at Hampton Station, a former mill just outside downtown that now packs breweries and restaurants in around the roastery. Reviewers tend to single out the knowledgeable baristas and the unhurried feel as much as the coffee itself, and if you are working your way through the menu, the cortado is the drink customers name most often.