Kool Bean is open and now serving up triple-brewed coffee with specialized syrup in Newnan. James Hong, originally from South Korea but went to school in Baltimore, and Sean Novinson, from Illinois, are co-owners who wanted to create a different kind of coffee shop. “We’re not everybody else. We try to have more fun, and we try to find out what people actually want,” said Sean.
Once greeted, customers are treated to a sort of coffee tasting while Sean tries to figure out your flavor profile. The tasting goes through different types of brewed coffee, espresso, and nitro green tea but also includes the shop’s New Zealand syrups, ranging from the standard caramel and vanilla to the more atypical like mojito or his Christmas mix.
He says, “Coffee is coffee in a sense. It’s just how it’s brewed, how it’s made. There are 100 million ways to make coffee, but do you want someone else’s way or your way? That’s what it comes down to.”
Sean and James utilize coffee from different roasters with Indian coffee from Joshua Company out of San Francisco, Collectivo from Milwaukee, Modesto out of St. Charles, and Metropolis from Chicago.
The syrups are from a company called SHOTT out of New Zealand and are made with real ingredients, ethically sourced.
They choose these syrups because “most of the syrups in America, all of it’s pasteurized, and that cooks all of the flavors out of everything. So what happens is they have to add stuff back into it, you know, hydrogenated fat, salt, this, that, or whatever to try to get flavors back,” and Sean wanted “a place where people could come in and get good food and not have to worry about all of the gunk in your diet. ”
The co-owners are appreciative of all of the new and repeat customers, and James hopes that customers “come, enjoy, and relax.” They are excited for their official ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 11:45 a.m. There will be coffee, tea, and food tasting. Stop by at 300 Bullsboro Drive or visit them online at https://koolbean.net or Instagram.
