Tod & Copper

After spending almost a month in the States visiting with family and friends I'm back in PE and Crawling/blogging again.  The first Crawl after my return to SA happened to fall on July 4, America's Independence Day.  Given that, I hardly could have planned Thursday's venue any better as Tod & Copper exudes a little bit of Americana right here in PE.

Tod & Copper owners, Denzel and Amy Heath, named their shop after two characters in The Fox and the Hound.  This 1967 novel by American author Daniel P. Mannix, and later the 1981 Disney movie by the same title, tell the story of how two unlikely characters become "forever friends."  Now, to this American novel/Disney film atmosphere add U.S. Prohibition Era (1920-1933) decor and the result is Tod & Copper Prohibition Bar!

Meet the Owners
Amy and Denzel Heath

The original Tod & Copper

Tod & Copper, located at 1 Stanley Street in Richmond Hill opened its doors for business on May 24, 2013.  As its name implies the Prohibition Bar serves strictly non-alcoholic beverages including soft drinks, unique sounding shakes (I may try the blood orange espresso shake the next time I visit!), outrageous specialty craft beverages, a variety of teas, and Urban Espress, Peacock, and Masterton's coffees. The menu includes breakfast selections served until noon, bar snacks, pizza and desserts, the names of which reflect the 1920s-30s theme.  To go with my excellent cappuccinos I ordered the Capone's Carrot Cake....just had to in memory of my grandmother's tale of waiting on Al Capone's table once!!!....Yeah, true story!

So, about halfway through the morning, our very personable barista, Lendl Maarman, delivered to me, in honor of the July 4th holiday, a red, white, and blue cold drink made from pomegranate juice, blueberry juice and an unidentified juice.  It was incredible.... I'm looking forward to trying more of the shop's specialty craft drinks.

Meet the Barista
Lendl Maarman

My Independence Day celebratory drink!



Tod & Copper seats about 40-50 people in a comfortable Prohibition Era dining room complete with comfy couches, antique-ish chairs, and very cool wall hangings.  The shop's hours are Wed-Sun, 9 a.m.-10 p.m., closed Mon-Tues.  Tod & Copper is available for private functions anytime.  To book your special event at this very special venue call Denzel or Amy at 073 787 9933 or email them: amy@todandcopper.co.za   Also, all you Coffee Crawl blog readers can like Tod & Copper Prohibition Bar on Facebook!

I arrived at Tod & Copper on July 4 decked out in red, white, and blue and sporting stars and stripes earrings only to find all the Crawlers, Gail Darne, Nomusa Nkomo, Margaret Zoetmulder, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Margaret and Arthur Marshall, Beth Vieira, June Nash, Leanne Waller, Colleen Le Roux, and newcomers Lee Rodwell and my American compatriot, Heather Anderson, donning the colors to help me celebrate the occasion.  Colleen even came in waving an American flag!  My SA friends are awesome! Thanks to all of you!!!

Ellen and Heather celebrating our nation's Independence Day

This Week's Crawlers
Colleen, Margaret Z., Gail, June, Arthur, Beth,
Margaret M., Leanne, Stella, Beryl, Nomusa
not pictured - Heather and Lee

Since I hadn't seen the Crawlers in quite some time it was nice catching up with everyone.  It seems that they all went about Crawling in my absence....still waiting on the pics they took!

Besides our typical chit-chat, talk at the table revolved around the impending birth of the future King or Queen of England.  Seems like only yesterday that the Crawlers were discussing the royal wedding.  We then went on to discuss the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.... that time of year again.  Every year since  we've been here Lou and I have spent at least one day at the festival and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  On the Saturday after the Tod & Copper Crawl Lou and I traveled to Grahamstown and caught three shows including the South African premiere of Morris Panych's drama, Vigil.....outstanding!

Overall, my first Crawl back after a month of vacationing was delightful.  During our time spent at Tod & Copper I remarked to everyone that I could easily see myself having coffee (or some other interesting beverage) there every day.  Very cool place....we all loved it!

~Thank you to Denzel and Amy for your hospitality!

~Happy 237th Birthday, America!!!
~A huge THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my awesome husband, Lou, and his amazing IT   Manager, Pierre, for getting this blog back up and running.  You guys saved the Crawl!!!!

Until next week,

Ellen