The elephant.

A note from Jami to all those who have supported us, encouraged us, followed us, and booked us:

I have always loved elephants, but if you know me for a short time then you’ll probably realize I don’t enjoy those awkward

"elephant in the room” moments.

Whether you’ve felt it or not, we have been a massive one following us for some time. Me specifically. I hate announcing something and not following through. It’s just not my personality. For months, I have felt like a failure, been at war with God, & just in a very confusing time personally.

I have thought about, dreaded, reasoned, started & deleted this note for many months.  For many months I haven’t had the perfect words, but you know what, I never will.  You know when you feel like you’re being dramatic or over reacting because there are worse things happening in the world or there are more items for the day that you need to focus on so you just try to brush it off and keep going? That’s where I’ve lived.  

The lil figure on one shoulder keeps saying, “they don’t care, they probably forgot what you said already” and the other side says, “you failed. They know.” 

I’ve come to realize that neither one is right.  People don’t decide your failures and successes- yes, I will say that & continue working on believing it. 

What the heck am I rambling about?!? 

January 1st we announced that we were opening a coffee shop + event space. T’was true.  We had a lease signed, a team of people coming around us, and felt like this was finally the time.  

Then Tuesday came. 

My world started crashing.  Without all the nitty gritty details that I don’t want to relive, we lost a loved one that hit harder than I can express, the pieces of the building began to crumble, along with the steps to making this part of a dream come true.  Within a couple weeks, I felt the weight of 2 years of creating & growing a business fully crushing me.  I can’t explain it.  I knew that I had been drained from trying to start technically 2 businesses at once, but it finally hit- I no longer remembered why I was doing what I was doing nor did I feel the same passion or joy for it. 

I have always been a runner. Not so much physically now, but I still have the runner mindset.  I would run everywhere.  I would see how much faster I could get, who I could catch, how long my body could endure the strain.  I have the same mindset in all that I do. 

“Run the race with endurance”

is what my dad constantly says to me.  However, I am not running it with the same endurance that the verse he is quoting was made for. That endurance I carried had become so inward.

It has caused me to close off to others so that I can focus on getting ahead - unintentionally.

It has caused me to miss moments because resting is for the weak- lies. 

Endurance and perseverance do not equate to productivity or efficiency or success.  We do not endure well alone and I had embraced the fact that I had mostly been doing this business alone. 

I don’t want to discredit the people who have sacrificed for me to chase this dream or take away from the friends and family who have encouraged me, watched my babe, moved their lives around to join in, or who have run around with me for 14 hour wedding days. I am truly unceasingly grateful and humbled by you.  When I say I have been alone, I did it to myself, I think. I didn’t slow down to learn critical business things or understand that starting 2 businesses at once would be tough (silly, I know). I pushed through the struggles of it all as hard and long as I could. 

So, now what.

I have shied away from social media after I realized the coffee shop + event space wasn’t happening because I felt like a fraud posting something and then not following through. However, here I am. 

Welcoming the world back. Jumping back into community. Reviving my God given creativity.

Emerald oX. will no longer carry coffee as part of our brand or business. Who knows if it’s forever or just a time, but what I do know is I will be brewing coffee from the comfort of my kitchen so feel free to come by for a cup and stay a while.

I am PUMPED to say we will be solely focused on weddings!

I am OVER THE MOON to pour my attention back on my couples & give them all the creativity + time that I can give them. We are so thankful for this community of Augusta and beyond who has supported us, sipped our coffee, and encouraged us to do this dang thing. Never will that be forgotten. THANK YOU!!!

As we take a lil maternity leave soon, we will be working on our packages, branding, and all the new + exciting things for the days to come. Stay tuned for those, but until then tell your engaged friends about Emerald oX. & let us

curate joy & community in every event .

Thanks Loves! We are in a house of Joy today. Cheers!

Big Big Things.

We have been just shocked and in awe of how our company has been recognized lately. We came to Augusta not too too long ago and we feel like we have been welcomed with open arms. We have worked in quite a few cities for weddings and coffee but the desire that the people of Augusta have for new companies to thrive is so encouraging. Thank you to Augusta for welcoming us and enabling us to do what we love. We are working towards some really exciting opportunities, but we wanted to share a little of what we have been up to!!

First off- WE ARE SO THANKFUL! It has been a crazy full past couple of months & wedding season is for sure upon us. Our wedding calendar is filling up and we only have a few dates left for 2021!! Send in your inquiries if you are engaged or soon to be!

Oh, Hey Zimbabwe:

Huge announcement number one. We are planning an ELOPEMENT and STYLED SHOOT at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. If you don't know this about us yet, we love to travel, but specifically to Africa. It’s a long story, but I can tell you more of that later. Victoria Falls is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and truly magical. If you are interested in eloping abroad in August, send a message our way!! We are still working through the details, of course, but I can truly say, this will be like a dream- for the couple and us. Send a message to hello@emeraldox.co to learn more.

SECOND HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT>>

The coffee side is also just continually being encouraged. We are blown away by the amount of people who support us through weekly coffee orders & catering opportunities! We had the incredible opportunity to be featured by REDFIN!! We were so giddy and honored to be recognized with some big name coffee companies for our insight on Coffee Corners.

Check it out at: https://www.redfin.com/blog/how-to-create-the-perfect-at-home-coffee-bar/

Oh, Hey future:

Like I said before, Augusta supports small businesses so well and one avenue we are highly aware of are the wedding vendors and creatives. Wedding vendors and creatives are always thinking, dreaming, and working on making beautiful ideas come to life. Our goal is to bring a place for them to do all of those things. Currently we do that through providing coffee for them to drink wherever, but we have hopes of a brick and mortar spot for this community to sip and say ”I DO.”

You may or may not recognize this photo from our website that says “A hint at what’s to come.” I am going to tell you the truth. We started working on a coffee shop wedding venue mid COVID this past year. Due to a lot of bumps & no’s we had to postpone. As my realtor and construction guy have said, “You don’t give up,” and “You don’t take no.” In this case maybe that’s good- maybe not so much for my mom when I was a kid. SO let me be the first to share with you that we are back at it!! If you are interested in seeing this happen or want to know more, send us a message or stay tuned to watch the next steps.

With all the joy and excitement,

The Emerald oX. Team

The Story

I have to always write a script. Not to make it super fancy, but because otherwise otherwise I freeze.  So here is what I wrote for our incredible chance to be on Augusta Food Blog “ Cooking with Coffee.”

Start off by thanking Augusta Food Blog for reaching out & asking us to be apart of this.

Introduce self

Jami Craft.  I moved to Augusta in July 2019 from Statesboro, GA. Hail Southern! I have spent a lot of time in Zimbabwe Africa and after a semester there I came back wanting to know more about coffee.  I loved how in Zim they would have tea time and people would gather around a cup of tea or coffee and just be in community with each other.  So I wanted to experience that back in the states. My coffee journey started with Three Tree Coffee while I was in school at Southern. The owner of Three Tree Coffee, Philip Klayman, and his wife, Anna, began roasting in 2014 just as a side hobby.  They started serving it at the Farmer’s market and pretty quickly they got a name for themselves. I was very interested in coffee and wanted to work in the industry so I reached out to Anna & began to just watch her roast while I wrote everything down that she said. Soon they hired interns & that’s where I officially came in.  I became an intern and Philip would have us research coffee articles, we handled packaging the coffee, inventory, work markets, create events, & learn to make lattes on the lil espresso machine in the back.  I fell in love.  It was truly an art and a science.  All of it.  From the importing to the roasting to the cup.  So I was an intern then they realized that it was time for an actual coffee shop.  The building was located, the equipment purchased, the walls painted & floors scrubbedddd ( so much scrubbing), & I was finally a barista.  We started as a team of 4 plus the ,now 4, owners. I gave practically everything to Three Tree because the people became family & the mission was genuine.  I was in college, but truly I think I was in Statesboro for  Three Tree  & school just got me in the right place. I had a few titles and a lot of tasks while there.  I got to see the ins and outs of all the details of coffee and coffee shop life.   I was a barista, baker, roaster, trolley & shop manager, & wedding coordinator.  They watched my husband & I go from the awkward flirting / dating stage to dating to engaged to married and then eventually to having our own baby.  SO they truly are family and a huge part of why I love coffee. 

Beginning of co. 

My husband & my superrrr pregnant self moved to Augusta for him to get his Masters in Nursing at AU in July of 2019.  A lot of people thought we were moving here to start a coffee shop.  Surprise, that was not on my radar.  In my mind, I would just enjoy it the rest of my life & maybe commute the 1.5 hour drive to Statesboro for Three Tree or IDK what.  I had babe and missed working with weddings so I STALKED Florologie and started working with Rebekah.  She is an incredible florist in town who does wedding flowers and truly the sweetest & gracious soul. Through her I got back in the wedding industry & realized okay, I’m ready to get back at it.  So I reached out to some of the wedding vendors I had met on wedding days with Rebekah and stalked some others and began Emerald oX (Craft & co at the time). I kept thinking, what makes me different from all the other wedding planners and vendors.  My love & knowledge of coffee.  Most wedding days (before the mimosas), the planning process, the meetings, the celebrations all start with coffee.  People come together to celebrate and so in my mind, it only makes sense to bring the two together.   

The coffee

So we started an online coffee shop that does door to door delivery in the Augusta Area. We offer wedding planning services, coffee corner events, & now our coffee.  You can buy it through our website emeraldox.co .  We offer cold brew growlers, homemade vanilla, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Brazil, Emerald oX Blend, Espresso, and decaf beans.  You wont be surprised but our coffee is Three Tree Coffee.  There are other coffees that are delicious, but Three Tree is doing something different.  They roast all of their coffee so that the natural flavors of each bean come out.   So African coffees are usually fruitier or more vegetal & south American coffees are usually nuttier and chocolatey, etc.  SO no coffee origin tastes the same, but once they get the right roasting profile, every bag of Ethiopia, or Guatemala, or whatever you get, tastes consistently that delicious. Besides the incredible tastes, the actual mission of Three Tree is one of a kind.  They have a mission to empower the farmer, end human trafficking, and engage the community. Not one of those points is more important than the others.   They all go hand in hand.  So they only purchase Fair trade organic coffee.  Some of their coffees do more for their farmers than just fair trade standards.  The organizations build community wells, or pig farms, etc. They partner with organizations like IJM and out of darkness in the effort to end human trafficking.  A couple years ago they sent a few of us to a training to learn to recognize and act against trafficking.  They host events at the shop to teach customers what to look for and about the issue.  So long story short, this shop is a baby of three tree coffee and we fully support what they are doing with their mission.  We hope to share in that through serving their coffee. 

Emerald oX is a company run by women.  4 to be exact. We love pretty things, are creatives, coffee gurus, and wedding obsessed.  We didn’t intentionally plan a woman run company, but when you run in very close circles with each other and share the same passions, it is only natural.  There are husbands supporting us from the background, but we are for sure boss babes praying we can make this company happen.  We are so thankful to have gotten to know so many people in Augusta already & to have the support of people who have been here longer than us. 

Today/goals

Our goal is to keep this up.  We would love a brick & mortar coffee shop one of these days, but until that happens we will happily deliver coffee to your door and help you experience coffee in a new way.  We want to help bring the community together.  We are living in such a strange time filled with unknowns and anxious moments.  Our goal is to be a place of joy and an opportunity to bring people together- even if they’re sitting 6 ft apart or zooming.

Thank you for reading all of this. Order online at www.emeraldox.co!

Welcome to Emerald oX!

We are so excited that you are here. Truly. I wanted to introduce the faces behind this company. We are three women- two that are thirty, flirty, and totally thriving, and one that is ‘rocking’ the late twenties (me). We all lived in Atlanta at some point in our lives, graduated from the greatest little university in America, Hail Southern, and ended up here in Augusta with our young & fresh families.

So why Emerald oX? 

I’m sure you’ve been there before. Picturing your future and wondering what the next big thing would be? I found myself coming back to this concept in my daydreams and prayers: a space to gather for the large and small groups, to educate the community about specialty coffee and the impact it can have. It’s in this imagined space that I’ve created amongst my closest friends, bringing my love of coffee and excitement around wedding celebrations together while helping people locally + around the world. What if this were a real space, a public collaborative space expanding that joy for not just me but as many people as we can fit (while socially distanced of course). I thought to myself, Yeah, that’d be cool. Then I moved on.  

I moved on until, one day while I was continuing my obsession of looking at vacant buildings, having extremely coincidental conversations with people, or confirming things I had been dreaming to myself- I realized, I was getting a significantly less amount of negative responses in my feedback. 

So here we are. 

A dream coming to fruition.  At a time unlike any other.  A time of unrest and unease.  A time of what ifs.  A time that the people of Augusta and beyond craves community.  A time that we need joy. My love for coffee started when I spent a semester in Zimbabwe (a story for another post). It was in my time spent around morning coffee and afternoon tea time that I saw these joy-filled souls make much of the little they had. They taught me what true joy looked like. Community. Having your people surrounding you. In this time of CoVid, that seems like a far fetched idea; in reality, it is the perfect time for us to support each other. We need each other to get through this and the future unknowns to come. Whether it is the stranger getting married the weekend before you or the person six feet away from you sipping coffee, we need each other. So here we are, starting something bigger than we can imagine (or currently fund) and we are truly pumped for it.

We are wedding planners & coffee gurus + graphic designers + criminal justice enthusiasts, and we have a mission to curate joy with every cup and with every event. So whether it’s a bigger production or a small joyous occasion, we have you covered.

Stay tuned for what is coming!

With joy,