On the corner of Fulton Street and South Elliot Place in Fort Greene, brooklyn there's a distinctive sound of blenders whirring and coconuts knocking. Robert Warner, originally from Trinidad and Tobago, is known to the neighborhood as  the “Medicine Man”, “Coconut Rob” or the “mayor of Fort Greene” ever since his fresh juice stand became a fixture of the neighborhood nine years ago. Mr Warner was educated in England, but  learned to use a machete spending summers on his grandmother's estate in the Trinidadian village of Erin.

His business began in 2007 as a sugarcane-and-coconut stand a block up Fulton Street and has flourished into inventory of juice-making tools (including a tabletop sugarcane press he also sells wholesale). Mr Warner offers a menu of delicious coconut smoothies and juices, or you can make up your own signature cocktail for your wedding or event. All drinks are non-alcoholic, but go great with a splash of premium liquor. As with all Robert Warner concoctions, “the most important ingredient,” Mr. Warner said with gravity, “is love.” It's one of many catchphrases he employs, such as “a taste of the islands,” and “pay for the juices now, or you'll pay for the doctor later.”Mr. Warner, who is still considered a street vendor, has had to shuffle from spot to spot before establishing himself in a more permanent place at his current corner.  For the past couple of summers, home base has been the Magazines & More bodega at 727 Fulton Street, whose owner lets him keep his equipment in the basement for a monthly fee, but he has dreams of moving partially inside the bodega, perhaps taking over a window.