The new BloomBar Cafe et Fleurs in Long Branch offers flowers, coffee and more

You're walking in downtown Long Branch on a hot summer day when you stumble across a vibrant cafe with floral scents and cool air pouring out the door.

With its exotic bouquets, dozens of artisan-crafted candles and luxury beauty products, BloomBar Café et Fleurs is not a place where you want to get in, grab your daily dose of caffeine, and walk out.

You're going to want to hang out here while you enjoy coffee, tea or a Matcha Mint Lemonade.

Heleyne Tamir and her husband Ronnie of Long Branch have been soft opening the certified kosher cafe since the first week of June.

Hike different environments: Take a hike! Step-by-step guide to hiking trails at or near the Shore

It started with a flower shop

Bloom Bar Flower Market in Oakhurst, which opened in 2020, supplies fresh and dry flowers for BloomBar Café et Fleurs and its sister location in Allenhurst, which opened a year ago. The Oakhurst shop, which sends weekly delivery trucks out as far as Brooklyn, was a new venture for the couple.

"When COVID happened and we were all home, we ... saw that the spot was available," Heleyne explained. "My husband said it hadn't been open for decades. So he asked, 'What should we do?' And I said, 'Let's open a flower shop.'

"Now, when things get chaotic, our running joke is 'Let's open a flower shop.' "

From there, the idea only grew.

"The market became a neighborhood store," Heleyne said. "We know everyone and people would always say, 'I'd love to just come in here and have a cup of coffee,'... so we thought, 'What if we served our customers coffee?' "

Fashion and beauty

While bouquets are not custom-made in the cafes, visitors can find them lining the walls, ranging in price and variety. You can find exotic selections like Ranunculus and Anemones, or Proteas and Banksias overnighted fresh from a farm in California.

“We view flowers like fashion, so we try to have the most cutting-edge assortments and arrange them in a model style,” she said.

Heleyne, who was born in New York City but grew up in Ocean Township from ages 5 to 21, combined her personal connection to the area with her previous knowledge in retail clothing and artisan beauty sales.

“Our background is really in fashion and beauty," she said. "We had a small chain of women’s clothing stores in the Upper East side of Manhattan, and then we went into the luxury beauty business."

In the Long Branch cafe, you can find anything from body oils and face sprays to lip balms and soaps. There are also ceramic wares, furniture and other items that are constantly rotating.

Diner tour: There are more than 400 diners in New Jersey, and this couple wants to try them all

On the menu in Long Branch

For drinks, try the Dirty Matcha, with espresso, a Mango Matcha, a Lavender Matcha Latte or a Matcha Mint Lemonade. Coffee drinks include cappuccino, cold brew or Cafe Mocha. In addition to basic drip coffee, they also offer “Clean Coffee,” brewed and roasted locally with organic beans and triple-filtered water.

You also can try a traditional Japanese form of green tea called Hojicha in drinks like the caramel hojicha latte. Green tea refreshers come in peach, raspberry, passion fruit and strawberry.

The store offers local food products, including vegan salads made fresh daily by The Juice Theory in Long Branch. There are also gluten-free baked goods.

The couple hopes to open more cafes.

"It’s nice that, living in the time of getting everything delivered to your doorstep, we can get people out of their homes and excited to go and experience something new," Heleyne said.

Gabriela L. Laracca joined the USA Today Network New Jersey in 2021 and eagerly brings her passion for cuisine and culture to our readers. Send restaurant tips to [email protected]. Follow on Instagram at Jersey Shore Eats and subscribe to our Jersey Shore Eats newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: BloomBar Café et Fleurs opens in Long Branch, barista made drinks