Tag Archives: Ireland2019

Coffee Spots I visited on my trip to Ireland in October 2019

Reference Coffee

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My espresso, a Colombian single-origin from Carlos Alberto Ulchur, roasted by Colonna Coffee and served in a classic white cup at Reference Coffee in Dublin.Today’s Saturday Short, Reference Coffee, is the second half of my Dublin double-header, which began with Monday’s Coffee Spot, Meet Me in the Morning. The two share common ownership, occupying adjacent terrace houses on Dublin’s southside. Although physically linked, Reference Coffee operates as a standalone coffee bar, as well as making all the coffee for Meet Me in the Morning. Aside from three small tables on the pavement outside, it’s standing-room, so if you want a seat, you’re better off heading next door.

Reference Coffee is a multi-roaster with a pair of single-origins (one for black drinks, one for milk-based) and decaf on espresso, all from Colonna Coffee. The filter coffee comes from a guest roaster, with different options on batch brew and pour-over. There’s a selection of cake and a small range of savouries to go with your coffee, but if you want something more substantial, head next door.

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Meet Me in the Morning

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Meet Me in the Morning, written in capitals on the whitewashed upstairs wall next to the window.Since I’m really late in posting today’s Coffee Spot, Meet Me in the Morning will form the first part of a Dublin double-header. It’s a coffee shop which, like many in the Irish capital, has made its reputation combining excellent food with speciality coffee. The second part of the double-header, Reference Coffee, has the same ownership as Meet Me in the Morning and makes all its coffee, but is a standalone coffee bar in its own right.

Together, Meet Me in the Morning (middle) and Reference Coffee (right) occupy two of three houses in a short terrace on the north side of Pleasants Street in Dublin’s southside. Meet Me in the Morning is spread over two compact floors, with a short row of tables outside in front of the solitary window. It offers full table service, with separate breakfast and lunch menus during the week and a combined brunch menu at the weekends, all cooked on-site using a range of Irish suppliers.

The coffee, meanwhile, is made next door in Reference Coffee, but delivered to your table, with a choice of espresso-based drinks or several filter options. For more on the coffee, please see Reference Coffee, which has its own Coffee Spot post.

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Brother Hubbard South

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An excellent flat white, made with the Farmhand house-blend, and served in a classic blue cup at Brother Hubbard South.My first trip to Dublin, back in 2014, saw me visit Brother Hubbard, a comparatively small spot with a reputation for excellent food as well as really good coffee, located just to the north of the River Liffey. Now, six years on, it’s expanded out of all recognition, maybe quadrupling in size, adding, amongst other things, a restaurant and an on-site roastery, Farmhand. Along the way, it rebranded itself Brother Hubbard North to distinguish itself from the subject of today’s Coffee Spot, Brother Hubbard South, which, appropriately enough, is (some way) south of the Liffey.

Brother Hubbard South is spread over two rooms, with a large, covered outside seating terrace. The first room contains the counter, which is only of interest if you are ordering takeaway, while the second room has more seating. Brother Hubbard South follows in the footsteps of the original Brother Hubbard, combining excellent food and really good coffee, which it serves from a breakfast menu (until 11am), an all-day brunch menu and a lunch menu (from 12pm). There’s also an expanded weekend brunch menu, while the Farmhand house-blend is on espresso, with a single-origin on batch brew, joined by a range of other drinks, including prosecco.

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Brother Hubbard North

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A latte art heart in my cortado, made with the Farmhand house-blend, at Brother Hubbard North in Dublin.I visited Brother Hubbard on my first trip to Dublin in 2014. Back then, it was a relatively small place, with a reputation for excellent food as well as really good coffee. So good, in fact, that after going there for breakfast, I returned for coffee later in the trip. 5½ years on, Brother Hubbard has added a second branch (Brother Hubbard South) while the original, reborn as Brother Hubbard North, has changed beyond (almost) all recognition. It’s now a takeaway joint, coffee shop, retailer and restaurant, with an on-site roastery, Farmhand, thrown in for good measure.

Normally, this would be a Coffee Spot Update, but with all the changes, I’ve gone for a complete re-write, leaving the original as is. These days Brother Hubbard serves a bespoke house-blend from in-house roaster, Farmhand, along with a single-origin on batch brew. There are grab-and-go goodies from the takeaway counter to the left, or you can sit in and enjoy breakfast, brunch or cake with your coffee. Finally, in the evenings, there’s a small but innovative dinner menu five nights a week. The space, by the way, is huge, with a long, thin indoor seating area, outdoor terrace and magnificent dining room.

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Indigo & Cloth

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Detail from the doormat leading into Indigo & Cloth, a menswear & lifestyle shop with an in-house coffee shop in Dublin.Indigo & Cloth is in the heart of Dublin’s famous Temple Bar, just south of the River Liffey. Since opening in 2007, Indigo & Cloth has offered a blend of international and local menswear, lifestyle and design products. The in-store coffee shop, which occupies the left-hand side of the ground floor of Indigo & Cloth, opened in 2014. There’s a small amount of seating, including a window-bar and table, plus a bench outside if you need it.

Originally the coffee shop was operated as a concession by Clement & Pekoe. However, at the start of this year, Indigo & Cloth brought the operation in-house. Following the same principles as the main store, the coffee shop blends local and international roasters, with Belfast’s Bailies Coffee Roasters providing a house-blend and two single-origins on filter, joined by two seasonal guest roasters, with a single-origin on espresso and two more on filter.

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Shoe Lane Coffee, Tara Street

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A lovely single-origin Brazilian espresso from Full Circle Roasters, served in a glass at Shoe Lane Coffee, Dublin.A relative newcomer in Dublin’s rich and growing speciality coffee scene, Shoe Lane Coffee only opened in 2016, joined in 2018 by a second branch just down the coast at Dun Laoghaire. On Tara Street, once home to Dublin’s cobblers when it was known as Shoe Lane (hence the name), the coffee shop’s right in the heart of the city, a block from the River Liffey’s southern bank and across the street from Tara Street Station.

The shop is lovely, spread out over two floors. The spacious downstairs has the counter at the back, home (since September) of Dublin’s only La Marzocco KB90 (a source of much envy amongst Dublin’s barista community, several of whom recommended Shoe Lane Coffee to me). Meanwhile, via a switch-back staircase at the back, the upper floor is dominated by a large, communal table with a window-bar overlooking the street below.

Shoe Lane Coffee only serves single-origins from the local Full Circle Roasters. There’s a single option on espresso, two on pour-over and one more on batch-brew, all changing on a seasonal basis and all available to buy in retail bags. If you’re hungry, there’s a decent selection of cakes and savouries to choose from.

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Coffeeangel TCD

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A V60 of a Gakui AA Kenyan single-origin served in a carafe, with the cup on one side, presented on a wooden tray at Coffeeangel TCD.Last weekend’s return to Dublin was marked by a combination of new places (such as yesterday’s Coffee Spot, First Draft Coffee & Wine) and new locations of old favourites (such as 3FE Sussex Terrace). Today’s Coffee Spot sees me back in Coffeeangel, whose HQ branch was a big hit with me when I was last in Dublin. This time it’s the turn of Coffeeangel TCD (which stands for Trinity College Dublin), on Leinster Street, which runs along the southern edge of Trinity College’s city-centre campus.

Coffeeangel, which began with a pair of coffee carts, is one of the veterans of Dublin’s speciality coffee scene. These days the coffee carts are no more, Coffeeangel having moved into bricks and mortar, now with five city-centre stores. TCD is a relatively compact affair, with outside seating, a counter at the front and a cosy seating area at the back. All the coffee is roasted exclusively for Coffeeangel by Bailies in Belfast. There’s a house-blend on espresso, served via a concise menu, joined by two single-origins, available on espresso or pour-over, the latter using a V60 on the Marco Beverage Systems SP9. If you’re hungry, there’s a wide selection of cake and sandwiches.

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First Draft Coffee & Wine

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A lovely flat white in a class white cup on a black saucer, made with an El Mirador single-origin from Guatemala, roasted by Roasted Brown and served at First Draft Coffee & Wine in Dublin.A quiet, residential street in Portobello, south Dublin, is not, at first sight, where you’d expect to find one of Dublin’s top coffee shops. It’s certainly not somewhere I would have found without the tip-off I received from Roasted Brown, whose roastery I (briefly) visited at the start of my current trip to Ireland.

First Draft Coffee & Wine is a fairly small spot, although it’s got as much seating inside as yesterday’s Coffee Spot, 3FE Sussex Terrace, in about a quarter of the space. It pretty much does what it says on the tin, serving coffee in the mornings through to the early evenings (seven or eight o’clock), with a magnificent selection of wine from noon onwards, and a small evening menu after five. There’s also a very tempting selection of cakes and pastries, while you can buy both coffee beans and bottles of wine to take home with you.

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3FE Sussex Terrace

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The bright red 3FE logo on the wall behind the counter at 3FE's Sussex Terrace location in Dublin.I spent the weekend in Dublin at the end of my week-long trip around Ireland, exploring the city’s ever-growing speciality coffee scene. It was my third visit to the city and where better to start than at 3FE, the first speciality coffee shop that I wrote about on my very first visit to Dublin, over five years ago? Back then, 3FE was already an established name, a roaster with a lovely coffee shop on Grand Canal Street. Since then, 3FE has opened two more coffee shops, as well as moving to a bigger roastery.

The subject of today’s Coffee Spot is 3FE’s second location on Sussex Terrace, which opened in the summer of 2016. Just south of the Grand Canal, it’s off Leeson Street, and about a 20-minute stroll along the canal from the original. However, it’s a very different beast, combining takeaway coffee shop with retailer, equipment showroom and training room. If you’re in the market for some home coffee kit, this is definitely the place to come.

Although focused towards the takeaway/retail market, you are welcome to sit in and, as well as two daily options on espresso, there’s also a small selection of cakes to tempt you.

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Filter (Cork)

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The front of Filter, in Cork, with the door on the left, and a solitary bench under the window on the right.Filter, one of Cork’s speciality coffee pioneers, was the third and final stop on my one-day tour this time last week. I also visited Dukes Coffee Company on Carey’s Lane and Three Fools Coffee, all recommended by local expert, Caroline O’Keeffe, with each totally different from the other two. Filter is a very homely place, with an eclectic mix of styles, kitted out almost entirely with bespoke furniture made from reclaimed wood, no single piece quite matching any other.

From the outside, it doesn’t look like much, with a narrow store front facing onto St George’s Quay on the southern bank of the southern branch of the River Lee. Inside, however, it goes a long way back, being maybe five times as deep as it is wide. There are two distinct seating areas, one at the front, the other at the back, with the counter in between.

When it comes to coffee, Filter serves the Momentum blend from 3FE on espresso, where it’s joined by a guest single-origin from Cloud Picker. There’s also a single-origin batch brew, plus a wide selection of single-origins on pour-over from either 3FE or Cloud Picker. If you’re hungry, there’s plenty of cakes and scones.

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