Bluffton coffee shop named best roaster in ... Savannah?

Josh and Kali Cooke, owners of Corner Perk in Old Town Bluffton, plan to hold on tight to the statue they won May 22 at the third annual “Eat It and Like It” Foodie Awards in Savannah.

The coffee shop was named best coffee roaster in the Savannah area — which is no easy accomplishment considering that Savannah has great coffee shops, some of which, like Corner Perk, roast their own beans.

“It’s big,” Josh Cooke said of the award. “It’s heavy. It looks like an Oscar.”

Corner Perk was nominated in two categories: best coffee shop and best coffee roaster. Their best roaster award is the second Foodie for the shop. Last year, it won a Foodie for best coffee shop in the Savannah area.

But don’t expect to see that statue proudly displayed at their shop.

“It was stolen,” Cooke said.

When they won last year, Cooke walked around with the statue for 30 minutes but no other winners seemed to be doing the same thing (and his wife made fun of him for it), so he put the award back on the table with the others. When the couple went to retrieve the statue at the end of the night, they found that it had been taken.

“So (this year’s award) is that much more exciting,” he said.

Corner Perk roasts beans four times a week, usually in the afternoon. If you’re there, you can smell the toastiness coming from the roaster, which is located in the front window of the shop, and you’ll also find roaster Ian Duncan of Bluffton, who has headed up the shop’s roasting.

“He does between 250 and 300 pounds a week,” Cooke said.

Corner Perk opened in 2009 and was originally located on Burnt Church Road. The Cookes built the current building on May River Road and relocated the shop in 2014, expanding its size and menu. In December they opened The Roasting Room, a bourbon bar and music venue on the second floor of the coffee shop.

Corner Perk was featured on an episode of “Eat It and Like It” around this time last year, along with Bluffton restaurants Pour Richards and Bluffton BBQ. The show, hosted by Jesse Blanco, airs at 7:30 a.m. Sundays on WSAV. In the show, Blanco visits Savannah-area restaurants to find out what’s worth ordering. If you’re up early enough, it’s worth checking out.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Bluffton coffee shop named best roaster in ... Savannah?."