Jay Elkins: Coffee and Community

For Jay Elkins, mentoring is a huge priority.

So much so that he left his college admissions job in Columbia to pursue this full time in Myrtle Beach in 2012 with Your Next Step Ministries, a nonprofit founded by Doug Dorman with an aim to building discipleship models with a focus on community and church.

“Basically, my job, when I moved here, was mentoring high school guys and college age young adult men – and my wife was [mentoring] a lot of ladies, and so we did a lot of what most people would say is life coaching,” he said.

He is no longer with that ministry, but he and wife Amy Elkins are members of Seacoast Vineyard Church in Myrtle Beach, and are still actively involved in reaching out to young people, currently helping 40 of them with life and career decisions.

And coffee is the glue that holds everything together.

Their business, Blue Pelican Coffee [www.bluepelicancoffee.com], began roasting last November – and two months ago debuted what Elkins calls the Bean Wagon – a 1964 Shasta camper that the couple found on Craigslist and spent the better part of a year refurbishing and bringing it back to its former glory.

The Bean Wagon will be at the Market Common every Saturday until December 19 as a component of the Holiday Bazaar there, and Elkins will be roasting beans and serving up cups of Blue Pelican coffee – including signature concoctions like the Dirty Myrtle and Holiday Hotty.

Blue Pelican has also been out to the Farmers Market at Coastal Carolina University, serving coffee on the Prince Lawn.

“Since we roast it and process it ourselves, we get to be a part of that,” he said, adding that the Bean Wagon will also be on hand at an upcoming “Photos with Santa” event at Horry-Georgetown Technical College.

Elkins said the heart behind the business is to get out and be a part of the community wherever the community is gathering. In fact, the Blue Pelican company slogan is “Building Community around Coffee.”

And the local angle is certainly filling a niche here.

“Instead of you needing to get your coffee from a company that roasts it in Minnesota and puts it on a truck and brings it here, we are the guys doing it right here in town. You can pick it up here,” he said.

According to Elkins, coffee is best consumed within three weeks of roasting because it degrades after that.

“We are fresh out of the box, basically – so we roast to order. If somebody goes online and orders a pound of coffee, we roast it after it is ordered and then we get it in the mail to them.”

Blue Pelican currently sources its beans from a company out of Charleston, which has been importing coffee from all over the world for three generations.

“I drove down there last month and picked up coffee and hung out with them a bit,” he said. “They are really, really into the distinct flavors and tastes. It’s just intense, man. I feel like I have a good handle on it until I go and meet with those guys.”

We brought up a process called cupping, a technique used by master tasters to evaluate coffee aroma and specific flavor profiles

“It’s an education hanging out with people that have been doing it for three generations,” he said.

In addition to the obvious administrative tasks associated with any business, Elkins said the bulk of his time is spent looking for opportunities to get the Bean Wagon to events and festivals.

“But the fun stuff is coming up with new ways to roast the coffee. I am slowing down the roast or speeding it up – or I am making it hotter or less hot for longer to change the flavor of the coffee. It’s been good. We came up with a couple of drinks that nobody else is selling.”

Elkins has not forgotten the allure of the water. He hits up the beach every Sunday afternoon with his family and perhaps a group of the college students he works with.

He cites Trent Ventura of Carolina Paddle Company as one of his closest buddies here, and in fact worked full time with him for the past two summers.

But paddleboarding is a family affair as well.

“We will paddle the Inlet, he said. “We will drop a car at one end, drive to the other and ride the tide. It’s like a six-mile trek. My wife paddles, my son [Wyatt, 9] paddles and my daughter [Addie Grace, 5] rides along.”

Elkins feels this is where he is supposed to be.

“It would have been really easy just to look for another career job outside of town instead of creating an avenue to stay here and do what we are doing. We are committed to being here,” he said.

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 8:41 AM with the headline "Jay Elkins: Coffee and Community."