Walk into Leopard Forest and the first thing that reaches you is the smell of coffee roasting a few feet away. This is a working roastery as much as a cafe, and much of what gets poured at the bar was roasted on site, often within sight of where you are sitting. The room is small and down to earth, the sort of place people settle into with a book or a laptop and lose an hour.
Travelers Rest has had Leopard Forest since 2004, when it started on Main Street before moving out to the Poinsett Corridor. In that time it has earned a line a lot of locals will repeat without hesitation, that this is the best coffee in town. The beans are sourced directly from farmers and roasted in house, poured as espresso, drip, or pour over, or bagged to take home. The roasting side has grown well past the cafe too, supplying coffee to shops and restaurants across the Carolinas and the wider Southeast.
It sits right off the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail, which runs directly behind the building, so cyclists and trail walkers wander in alongside the weekday morning crowd. If you want something past a straight cup, reviewers keep pointing to the Snow Leopard, a white chocolate, caramel, and macadamia nut latte.