The Sweeter Side of Beaufort, SC

At the end of June, my husband Nathaniel and I spent a week in Beaufort, SC to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.  We had the chance to try several sweet spots, and I'll highlight my favorites below.

Best afternoon tea: Southern Graces Bistro (inside the Beaufort Inn)

We stayed several nights at a cottage that makes up part of the Beaufort Inn, so we had the chance to have several meals at Southern Graces Bistro. My favorite was afternoon tea, which we did for our anniversary. You have to make a reservation. The picture on top is how our table looked when we sat down - an entire plate of fresh fruit and sliced cheese, a plate of sandwiches (they accommodated our vegetarian needs nicely), and a cake tier of sweet things (muffins, cakes, scones.)  I'm not sure if you can have afternoon tea anywhere else in Beaufort, but we would recommend this one.

Best candy: The Chocolate Tree

This store is filled wall to wall with homemade chocolates. They have milk and white chocolate too, we just love dark. They have a large sugar free collection, jelly beans of all kinds, pre-made gift baskets, and a back wall of candy making supplies. They do everything in-house and it was just as busy in the heat of summer as it was the week before Christmas. My favorite thing might have been the raspberry jelly covered in chocolate, but that may be a nostalgia chocolate for me. I'm always surprised by how inexpensive it is!

Best espresso: Common Ground Coffeehouse

I don't have a picture representation but we went here almost every day. They are in the perfect location, midway down Bay Street, accessible from the waterfront walk too. They have a variety of savory food, pastries, and gelato, but I really liked their coffee drinks.

Best drink to beat the heat: Scout Southern Market

There is a wine bar in town, but in 99 degree weather that is far from what I want to have. Scout Southern Market is a beautiful store of blues and white with a little sweet tea bar in the back. Their specialty drink is a tea float, which you can have with sweet tea or unsweet tea, with lemon sorbet or peach sorbet. I don't like things super sweet when I'm hot so I went with lemon and unsweet. I had never had anything like it. As the sorbet breaks down, I ended up with what I can only describe as an Arthur Palmer slushie. I left Scout much cooler than I came into it. They also have regular tea and a few snacks to order.

Best sweets with a burger: Fat Patties (Port Royal, SC)

Down the road from Beaufort is a marine base on Parris Island. (All of Beaufort changes every Thursday night and Friday morning because about 300 marines graduate every Friday morning!) The nearby tiny town of Port Royal is a military family town. Fat Patties offers burgers of all kinds (you can even get a shrimp burger!) and homemade icecream. That homemade icecream can be made into milkshakes, even spiked milkshakes. I got the burned marshmallow milkshake and it was delicious.

Best Bakery: Beaufort Bread Company

A quick drive over the bridge (the one used in Forrest Gump!) to Lady's Island and you will find the Beaufort Bread Company in a nondescript strip mall. Excellent artisan breads, unique pastries, and homemade sausages (?). We went here more than once, discarding other breakfast plans. Of what we tried, the raspberry croiffin and kouign amann were my favorite pastries. I wish this was my local bakery!