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But getting that beautiful silky foam or microfoam necessary for these drinks isn't just about pure luck — there are many techniques and tricks you can use to help ensure success every time!
In this blog post, we'll explore why steamed milk texture is crucial in espresso drinks and share some tips on achieving those sought-after foamy results.
After setting up your steam wand, the next step is to lower it into the pitcher and start foam-making. Start by placing the steam wand below the surface of your milk. Turn it on full but be careful not to incorporate too much air. When the tip hits the surface of the milk, it will begin to create foam.
But how long should it stay in there?
To make latte style milk, a quick second or two is enough, but for cappuccino, you'll need to hold it down for 2-5 seconds. This will create more foam to pour beautiful designs onto your finished cup.
Now we've come to the exciting part of making your perfect latte: creating a whirlpool.
Use your steam wand to swirl the milk around in a circular motion at the bottom of your pitcher. This helps ensure that all those yummy air bubbles created during Step 2 are evenly dispersed throughout the entire pitcher so that there's a nice, smooth texture once everything's done.
It also pulls more heat into the mid-range, which means you get an even creamier and better-tasting drink.
Steaming milk at the correct temperature is vital to perfecting a great cup of coffee! You want it to be just right, so make sure you're paying close attention when using the steam wand.
Generally, the ideal range looks like 55-65 °C - anything below that and your milk will be too lukewarm, while anything past 65 and your milk proteins start to denature, affecting its structure. Turn the steam wand off once the heat begins to burn your hand.
When adding the steamed milk and foam to your finished espresso shot, you have to move quickly. If you wait too long, the microfoam and milk separate, giving you an undesirable layer of foam at the top.
To prevent this from happening, keep agitating the milk by moving the pitcher in circles to ensure everything stays blended together for optimal yumminess when it hits your cup!
Extra tip
Taking the extra step of wiping down your steam wand after each use may seem like a chore, but if you don't take this precaution, the milk can burn onto the wand and create a cruddy-looking brown layer. Not only is it an unpleasant sight, but it will take more than soap and water to get rid of it.
Water that is too hot will affect the intensity and flavour of your coffee. Although boiling water will not 'burn' the coffee, as some claim, it could mean you miss some of the subtle flavours you should be experiencing from your brew.
Don't worry if you don't have a temperature-controlled kettle. Simply let your water cool for a couple of minutes.
Wetting your filter paper before brewing will rinse away any residue and remove the 'papery taste' you may notice in your morning coffee. In essence, you are washing the filter paper, resulting in a much cleaner-tasting brew.
As well as improving the taste of your cup, this step leads to our next important tip.
Consistency is key, and this simple step will ensure you have the best-tasting coffee every single morning. We recommend always preheating your brewer and cup. This will help to keep your water temperature consistent and at the recommended temperature throughout the brewing process. Skipping this step means the water temperature will drop when it comes into contact with the cold brewer, affecting the extraction of your coffee.
Adding a small portion of your water in a circular motion helps to release CO2 and gases from your coffee and begin the extraction process before adding the rest of your water to the brew. This is called the Bloom. If you're following a brew guide, there will be an exact amount of water and time to let the coffee bloom.
Generally, aim to add around 10% of the total water. This will also help to heat the container to create a more stable water temperature.
Finish the rest of your pour-over in line with your preferred brew guide and ratio. Each sip changes as your coffee cools, allowing you to pick up on the taste notes and subtle changes.
250ml milk
150ml double cream
50gs of high-quality milk chocolate (chopped)
80gs of 60% dark chocolate (chopped)
2tsps of honey
Large white marshmallows
Pinch of cinnamon
Additional cocoa powder/grated chocolate/brown sugar
35ml Hennessy
37ml of espresso – Honduran Geisha
20ml Cherry Brandy
2 dashes of chocolate bitters
Trifle cherries to serve
2.5mls of cherries trifle juice
350ml Oat milk
¼ tsp of cinnamon
1/8 tsp of ground ginger
2 whole cloves
Pinch of salt
½ cup of vegan cream or nut alternative
50g of maple syrup
½ tsp of vanilla extract
2 tsp of dark rum – optional.
Filter brew recipe – El Comedor*
Sarah Competing at the Irish Barista Championships
Keep an eye on our socials for a link to the live stream to watch Sarah's performance.
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In February 2020, I very nervously- with the help of some awesome Bailies team members- made my way to the Irish Barista Competition in Dublin. This regional barista competition is held annually as part of the Food & Bev Live Expo, but every two years takes part during this biennial hospitality event. Food & Bev Live brings industry people from all over the island of Ireland to take part in events ranging from bartending, barista & best chef competitions whilst also show casing new equipment and merchant opportunities.
Although this was my third time competing in the all Ireland championship, the nerves were just as strong as they had been during my first competition. This time, however, they were put at ease by the sea of friendly and familiar faces in the form of former competitors, organisers and industry professionals alike.
The competition itself is organised by the Irish chapter of the non-profit organisation called the SCA - (Specialty Coffee Association) through their event management organisation WCE - (World Coffee Events.)
If you’re unfamiliar with the specialty coffee industry- and the events that take place within it- then the acronyms for all these organisations, industry chapters and competitions might seem a bit like well, ‘overkill’ and probably strange to even think that they even exist! I promise after one more self-indulgent paragraph, that I’ll explain it all and that it will hopefully all make sense and tie into my journey to the World Barista Championships.
After my part in the competition was complete, I settled in at the back of the audience to cheer on my fellow colleague Matt for his first ever competition. Some strange, cosmic, coffee alignment must have happened that day as we lined up to announce the winner, because as it turned out, I was that years Irish Barista Champion. It still feels a little surreal, even now to say it! This prize won me the opportunity to represent Ireland in the World Championships to compete for the title of World Barista Champion.
The World Barista Competition is usually held in locations across the globe giving different chapters and industry contributors the opportunity to host the event along with the SCA's own coffee expo. These events bring farmers, producers, green coffee buyers/sellers, roasters, shop owners, and baristas together under one roof to celebrate our industry.
However, as we are all more than familiar with, the world shut down and all events and planned industry expos during 2020 and a large part of 2021 were put on hold to all ensure the safety and recovery of our coffee community.
Now that the world has started to cautiously recover over the last year, I was delighted to be contacted with an update that the competition will be going ahead at the end of September in Melbourne, Australia.
This begins my 'road to worlds journey', that I would like to share here with you all. This will be my first experience of the World Barista Competition as a competitor, and I wanted to keep a journal of the experience to give birds eye perspective for any future, hopeful competitors across the Island.
This blog will take you on a crash course of everything you didn’t realise you wanted to know about the competitive side of coffee, the format the competition takes, and why people compete to be the world’s best barista.
So, what is a World Barista Competition?
The World Barista Championship (WBC) is an annual barista competition operated by World Coffee Events for the title of World Barista Champion. The competition is made up of the winners of the national barista championships, which are operated by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) chapters, or an approved, independent, non-profit national body.
There are three rounds of judging over two or three days. The first round includes up to 55 national barista champions. The top 15 competitors advance to a second (semi-finals) round, plus the addition of a wildcard placing. The final round includes the top scoring six baristas from the semi-finals round and takes place on the last day of the competition.
Who are the judges?
The judges are highly skilled industry professionals who go through rigorous training to be certified to take part and score each presentation. Four judges award points for each performance on the taste of beverages served, creativity and overall presentation. Three sets of four beverages will be prepared and served to these judges. Espresso, milk beverage and signature beverage. They use a detailed score sheet throughout to mark notes and scores throughout your presentation.
The barista will choose a coffee that they have used before, been a fan of or feel has all the beautiful characteristics that they wish to get up and present with. Some farmers will help create specific flavours through unique processing techniques or farming practices to elevate the coffee which the barista thinks will help push up their scores. A lot of the time this can set trends with the specialty coffee industry as to what will be seen in coffee shops across the globe for the coming year.
Technical judges score on cleanliness and technical skill.
Your every movement is carefully observed and graded using another system of score sheets. This will range from how much coffee is used, wastage and how accurately you are preparing the coffee to the standard that you are describing during your presentation. This includes, how level you are tamping your coffee to checking if you have too much milk left after the milk service. Every part of your coffee preparation will be watched and accessed to create your final technical score.
What is a signature beverage?
The ever-popular signature beverage allows baristas to stretch the imagination and the judges’ palates to incorporate a wealth of coffee knowledge into an expression of the baristas own individual tastes and experiences with their chosen coffee. Tremendous synergy and creativity happen here, when baristas taking the existing flavours of the coffee and like magic, change and manipulate the flavour profile to create a new experience for the judges. This round is always full of surprises, flair and originality.
The judges’ points are totalled to produce a final score for each barista in each round. The baristas with the highest scores advance from the first and second rounds, and the barista with the greatest score in the final round wins the title.
We do all this within 15 minutes, with more than your fair share of people watching. As you try your best to create the coffee experience for the judges, prepared to the highest standard.
Sounds like fun, right?
So, why do people compete to be the world’s best barista?
Well, it is quite the honourable title!
The winner gets to show their skillset, love and experience for the industry. They can also achieve sponsorship opportunities along with getting their very own trip to origin to see coffee being grown, produced and cultivated. This is a dream for most baristas!
This title also makes you the ambassador for the industry for the next year which can and will take you all over the world. All the winners are very interesting industry people, who have great influence and command over the growth and progression of the coffee industry. The hard work and dedication that all competitors put themselves through to take part each year is an immensely creditable achievement, and it will be an honour to share the stage with them during my time there.
Check back in for my follow pieces as I prepare for the world stage.
Thanks for reading. 😊
]]>If you want to catch up on the first leg of Jan’s trip in Honduras, you can do so here.
“After leaving Honduras, my next destination was Guatemala, where I had planned to spend two weeks. The reason why I spent more time in Guatemala was because I needed to find new suppliers for our Guatemalan Single Origin coffee. In the last number of years, Bailies have been buying a mix of conventional varieties from our long-term partner and friend Rogelio Aguirre from farm El Limonar. Unfortunately, in the last two years he has experienced problems in getting sufficient volumes due to very low labour availability in the regions, as well as high production costs. We are still going to have coffee from Rogelio this year, but sadly, just not as much as we used to.
Last year, in our Single Origin line up from Guatemala we had both El Granadillo and La Providencia from the region of Huehuetenango respectively. These are both incredibly well-run farms, but as I learned this year- they too are both facing their own challenges. Whilst at La Providencia, I took part in a very good cupping session with both Serben and Javier Palacios- whose coffee we’ve bought last year. During the cupping however, there were some heavy truths revealed about just how desperate the situation has become for the farm. Javier was telling me how difficult the conditions are and that the price of land in the area is growing significantly. He is considering selling the farm as the rising costs of production and more tempting land offers are prompting him to give up. The farm’s current situation was worsened when his coffees didn’t perform nearly as well as they did in the previous year, unfortunately placing near bottom in results from blind tasting. Despite the nature of the conversation, we had a good and honest chat about the situation, but unfortunately there were no Eureka moments that either of us could come to that might improve the situation at present.
Once leaving La Providencia with a sadness about the situation there, I went onto a slightly more positive visit at El Limonar with Rogelio Aguirre, even though as we knew, Rogelio has been facing challenges with his own farm also. We arrived quite late, so this time we didn’t have time to climb to the very top of the farm (it takes more than 2 hours fast paced to ascend). Once in daylight, Rogelio was very keen to show me his newest contraption that he had installed since my last visit. He called it his, “Cherry delivery tunnel”. He devised the machine due to the of the lack of pickers in the area. The idea Rogelio had was to build a large pipe that goes straight from the top part of the farm down to the wet mill. It is made up of over 140 pieces of 3-meter pipes. By sending cherries this way the pickers don’t have to make the round journey with each bag of the cherries, saving them time whilst also eliminating the hardest part of their job. Rogelio tested the device last year on smaller lots, to ensure that his concept would work and to also determine whether the cherries would be damaged during transport. The outcome revealed no quality difference in the final cup, which we also confirmed around the cupping table. I even got to see the tunnel in operation, and, to my surprise it was surprisingly loud! It sounded like thousands of bouncy balls rolling down a hill!
After leaving Rogelio and El Limonar, there was a definite sense of hope and a positivity at the resilience of farms like El Limonar and Rogelio’s passion and innovation that he applies to all aspects of his farm to combat many of the challenges that he and many other farmers are currently facing.
Santa Felisa was the next farm to visit. It is known as one of the most famous farms in Guatemala, and for good reason. Anabella is an incredibly professional coffee farmer, growing rare varieties on her farm and processing them in precise and controlled ways. I first came across Santa Felisa in 2016, when I was judging Cup of Excellence in Guatemala. Back then, Anabella’s natural processed Geisha came in very close second place. This was a ground-breaking feat at the time, as it was the highest scoring natural coffee in Guatemalan CoE history. In the past (and partially still in 2016) Guatemalan CoE promoted “traditional” washed Guatemalan coffees, not believing that Naturals could match the quality. Anabella proved them wrong then, and now by continuing to showcase well executed natural processed coffees that have excellent quality attributes and interesting flavour profiles. This was true this year on my visit, and I was very impressed with a number of the exemplary lots that Anabella put on the cupping table.
Another highlight for me was from my visit to Santa Ana farm and meeting Fernando, who I was introduced to by Eduardo Ambrocio (Guatemalan coffee legend and ex Anacafe Quality Controller) as I didn’t know Fernando personally. I was very impressed with his farm. Well, technically 4 farms. Fernando’s farm is split in between 4 lots, each of them has their own “farm” name despite that they are side by side and there is only one farm house and one wet mill. Fernando is relatively new to farming; with his background in telecommunications. Fernando perceives looking after the farms as his hobby and way to escape from busy life in the capital. Despite it being classed as a ‘hobby’ he is doing an extremely good job. Across the farms, he has planted about 28 different varieties and he is observing and recording the performance of each of them. Most of the lots are too small for exportable quality now, but he is hoping to find out which varieties are producing the highest quality cup profile. Once he narrows down his search for the perfect varieties, he will then replace the underperforming varieties with the good ones and scale up the production. I had a chance to taste a few varieties that are already in “production” and I was pleasantly surprised with the results already. And on top of that I was able to see a few varieties that I’ve never seen before.
My last visit was Las Nubes farm- a visit that was very pretty. After arriving, we immediately rushed to the top of the farm to see the beautiful view and sunset. It was a stunning view; we also spent time bird watching as the Quetzal birds live here in the farm. Quetzal is the official bird of Guatemala and is very rare, so it was a great opportunity. We didn’t get to see one, but we did see a toucan! (Whilst everyone was rather disappointed by not seeing a Quetzal, I was actually delighted as I absolutely adore toucans!)
Aside from the view, the farm has some constrasts. On one side it grows a lot of coffee in quite a commercial setting with very little shade. On the other side, the farm has 900 hectares of protected forest area and has incredible social programs including high quality accommodation for the pickers and workers, private school and on-farm healthcare. It was interesting to see it all and to go through the long history of the farm that dates back to 19th century. My favourite piece of historical information was that people used to pick cherries on ladders back at the beginning of 20th century! The varieties grown were very traditional (unlike today’s prevalent dwarf varieties) and were not pruned or stumped very often, which resulted in tall coffee trees that required the use of ladders to pick the higher parts of the plant.
The landscape of Guatemalan coffee production is changing, and I have to say that after my visit I am quite shocked at just how fast that is happening. Despite the high market prices this year, many farmers are overwhelmed with the challenges they are facing. Whether it’s been the lack of pickers and farm workers, coffee leaf rust or increasingly volatile climatic conditions. Splitting farms into smaller chunks and then selling these off seems more and more like a good option. The rumour is that about 8% of medium sized farms were sold off like this just last year in Huehuetenango. If this trend continues, we will witness significant changes in Guatemala that are very likely to affect the quantities produced, as well as the quality.
For this year, we managed to find some exceptional coffees during the two weeks spent in Guatemala. The logistics and contracts and shipping situation already signed and approved, some of these lots you have already been introduced to such as Guatemala El Limonar Pacamara from Rogelio. We hope to showcase more of the coffees from this trip across the rest of the summer, whilst hopefully being able to go back again to Origins such as Guatemala and continue our support and partnerships with farmers there.”
We're not done with our favourite cosy drinks just yet, and at Bailies we've been experimenting with some exciting recipes to see you through the Easter holidays using the delicious cocoa from Islands.
Thanks to Sarah Hannaway, Bailies Trainer, Sensory pro and 2020 Irish Barista Champion, we have a exceedingly scrumptious recipe for you try to liven up your Easter Chocolate consumption;
15ml of Earl Grey Simple Syrup
Method for Earl Grey Syrup: 35gs of Earl Grey (Loose Leaf) to 250ml of water brewed for 10 minutes. If you are using tea bags, use three.
1:1 ratio of tea concentrate to sugar brought to the boil on the hob to shimmer for 10 minutes. - allow to cool slightly. Makes enough for around 15 hot chocolates.
Topped off with 50ml of Orange Creme.
And that's it! The perfect drink this Easter!
Remember you can save on the entire range of Islands chocolate this Easter. Why not experiment with your own chocolate drinks or bakes and tag us in your pics!
]]>"After a 2 year hiatus, I am excited to once again be able to travel to visit the coffee producers we source from at Bailies. On this trip, I will be visiting Central America, with my first stop in Honduras, followed by Guatemala and then, ending my trip in Mexico.
Honduras is undeniably filled with genuine and hard-working people determined to succeed through hard work and perseverance. I was lucky enough to meet some of these people 6 years ago when I first visited, and we have been buying their coffees ever since. The producer group of these coffees initially started with two siblings, Karen and Edgar. When they started out, their coffee was simply sold to a local Co-op, but they hoped to differentiate themselves and produce specialty coffees. This is how Pacayal was born. (Pacaya is a type of palm flower that is often consumed in the region – so Pacayal translates to the area where these grow). Pacayal’s motto is “quality does not suffer in crisis”. Karen and Edgar’s passion has since inspired relatives and friends, who have decided to join the movement. They slowly started to separate their coffees in hopes of selling them through Pacayal.
When I last had the chance to visit Pacayal, their operation lacked some infrastructure. They were drying the honey processed coffees on Karen’s garden, they also had no mill or formal offices. They did however have great washed coffees that showed potential, and they were committed to getting better.
Fast forward to 2022, and they now have their own office building, communal wet mill with drying patios, professionally equipped new dry mill and have expanded to 135 members and are working with a number of well respected roasters and a few importers. They also have 4 Q Processing Specialists (Coffee Quality Institute’s program for teaching and certifying specialists in coffee post-harvest processing) and have a professionally equipped quality control lab. Of course, through the communications over the years I was aware of most of these improvements they have made, all of which made it easier for us to get more consistent coffees. But seeing it all in person was impressive.
Speaking of their own experts in post-processing and agronomy, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to pick their brains. We had a passionate discussion about fermentations, experiments, new varieties, and high scoring microlots, as well as coffees that unfortunately didn’t score as highly as expected and why. I shared some of the experiences of other producers we work with and they shared with me their own findings and results of their experiments. Coming out of these conversations, my brain is always working overtime, trying to explain the weird and wonderful, unexpected outcomes.
One of the benefits of visiting origin is that I can chat with the producers about their thoughts and plans for the future. Everyone is very aware of the changes to their farming conditions due to climate change and diseases like Roya (coffee leaf rust) and Ojo de Gallo (American leaf spot). Even farmers that have grown previously resistant Arabica coffee varieties are now finding that their trees are affected with these diseases. Management of these issues is becoming increasingly more difficult, especially for organic producers. The positive side to this is that all farmers were aware of the individual challenges of their farms, and they are enforcing risk-mitigating practices, developed with local agronomists. The solutions range from re-planting trees or changing varieties in the farm, to shade management, pruning, mulching etc. The reality of this is that all of these efforts require work and will take time.
Another very noteworthy topic I was interested in was the high numbers of female producers in Pacayal. With about 40% female farmers, the group has significantly more than the average representation, and they even have a specific program to empower female producers. I spent some time talking with the women that take part in the program. It was very insightful for me; I was impressed that topics that could sometimes be perceived as sensitive were discussed very openly and frankly. I certainly can’t claim to be in their shoes, but it provided me with a very interesting insight into some of the challenges that female farmers can face. Sometimes it is a mix of culture or tradition and other times land inheritance or intra-family relationships can affect the situation as well. I appreciated listening to what they think are the best ways to face these challenges and how to empower women who want to become producers.
The best part of my trip was of course visiting Dona Isaura. It has been 6 years since I last saw her in person, although we have done some video and phone calls over the years. But a lot of things have changed in that time, so we chatted for about 2 hours straight just to catch up. We chatted about all the new microlots that she’s producing and experimenting with. About her family history (which would be a blog post in itself!). About the changing conditions and her progression towards organic farming. About Sarah’s competition with Isaura’s coffees…. It was very nice. Later she fed me with delicious homemade lunch and we went to spend time in the farm and wet mill and see all the lots we talked about. This place is always very special to me.
For the last stop in Honduras, I went to see Dona Reina from Los Naranjos farm. Hurricane Iota in November 2020 damaged a significant part of Honduras and destroyed Dona Reina’s house. Shortly after, Pacayal organized a fund raiser for the nearby communities and their members that had been affected by the hurricane. Bailies also contributed to the fundraiser, so they took me to see Dona Reina’s house to show me how, with the finances, they managed to rebuild her house. It was nice to see the rebuilt house, and it made me proud that we were able to help and also made me very thankful that I have not witnessed any hurricanes in my life!
Altogether it was very busy trip. I was still struggling with jet-lag while trying to fit as many visits into each day. But it was very nice to be back, see all the familiar faces, talk to all the producers and taste the previews of the coffees we are going to buy this year. I just hope I will be back sooner next time around."
Alice Parsons, Bailies Engineer won the NI AeroPress Championships 2021 and went on to compete via a surrogate brewer at the World Championships hosted in Melbourne Australia. Alice sat down with us, and brewed up some coffees whilst chatting through what it was like to go from first time competitor to finalist in a World competition.
]]>In September 2021, in-person coffee events were finally welcomed back into our calendars and with that came the joy of welcoming back to Belfast the NI AeroPress Championships hosted in Black Box.
Over 40 competitors had signed up to battle it out on a Sunday evening to see one Champion crowned as the victor of the humble but brilliant brewing invention. Hours and many coffees went by the judges table manned by, Sarah Hannaway Bailies Coffee AST, Phillipa Jordan (formerly) Root & Branch, and Hannah Whitton of Crafthouse Coffee.
Heats were performed with the winners of these moving onto the quarters, semi-finals and eventually the finals. A fun twist in the AeroPress Championships is that in the quarter and semi-final rounds, any competitor has the opportunity to get back into the competition with a second chance at reaching the finals and even winning by being selected as a ‘wildcard’ pick. One such wildcard entrant in 2021 was, Alice Parsons. Alice entered her first coffee competition, just, “for a bit of fun”.
Alice won, being crowned NI’s first female winner of the AeroPress Championships. Her journey didn’t stop there, with the wheels set in motion for Alice to compete next on an even bigger stage at the World Aeropress Championships in Australia. Before the WAC finals on the 5th March 2022, we chatted with Alice about how it felt to win the NI competition and then be placed into an even bigger competition against competitors from across the World, and the difficulties of competing from the other side of the World.
How many competitions had you entered before the NI AeroPress Championships in 2021, or was this your first and if so, what was your motivation, aim or goal behind entering?
The NI AeroPress Championship was my first ever competition. I only entered for a bit of fun - and I was heavily persuaded by Andy, one of the other engineers here at Bailies, but never in a million years did I expect to win!
How long have you been in the coffee industry?
I have been in the coffee industry for maybe 4 or 5 years. I started off working in a coffee shop called the Gallery in Belfast as a waitress, and this was my first experience of speciality coffee. I then managed to get a job in General Merchants where I was able to make coffee every day and I began to realise how much there is to learn in the world of speciality coffee. I applied and started with Bailies about 3 years ago as an Apprentice Engineer.
What’s your favourite brewing method?
My favourite brew method probably is the AeroPress simply because it is so versatile. I can make a coffee for 2, I can make a coffee in less than 2 minutes or I can make something super tasty and complex. Inverted, regular set up, stir or don’t stir, bypass… the possibilities are endless!
What’s the one piece of coffee equipment that you absolutely must have when brewing at home?
My one piece of coffee equipment I absolutely need to have at home is my Peak water jug! I only got one a few months ago but now I couldn’t be without it. A coffee is 98% water so it’s great to be able to start with great basics.
How have the last months been in the lead up to the World Championships?
The last few months in the lead up to the AeroPress Championships have been so exciting. Things were much different to usual as the competition was online instead of in real life and we had to submit our recipes and then have a surrogate brewer brew them for us. For me this was a bit more difficult because I had to think about every little thing I would do and how to translate that into exact instructions for somebody else to follow. I would have loved to have been able to go to Australia and represent Northern Ireland but honestly I was so over the moon to have actually won and be in the world finals at all that I didn’t mind!
Would you enter more competitions after this, and would there be any that you would like to venture into outside of AeroPress?
I would definitely enter the AeroPress Championship again. It was such a fun and chilled competition and I’d love to see what it would be like outside of coronavirus rules. I would love to try out Brewers Cup or the Barista Championships too but I know they require a lot more training and preparation!
What prep have you gone through for the World Championships that you wouldn’t have even thought of doing for the previous competition?
When prepping for the World Championships I ended up going really deep into water composition. We were allowed to use third wave water classic or espresso blend, distilled water or a mix. My natural thought would have been to use 100% classic blend as that’s the recommended blend for filter coffee. However, upon trying them out I really enjoyed the brews I was making with the espresso blend too. I ended up using 75% classic blend and 25% distilled water because I loved the juicy body it was giving me. I also learnt a lot about what effect changing different variables had to the body, the acidity and sweetness which was really interesting.
What advice would you give any baristas, people within the coffee community or coffee enthusiasts who are thinking with perhaps entering a competition?
My advice to anybody thinking about entering a competition is just do it! As a naturally very nervous person, AeroPress is definitely a good first step into competitions because of its casual nature. No fancy presentation to make, no TDSing of the coffee, all that matters is if it tastes good!
Lastly, can you share your winning recipe with us?
It's that time of year when our favourite hot beverages take a back seat whilst we try and cope through a blazing summer heatwave. Sadly, flat whites and filters on days like these just aren't quite so reviving, but thankfully iced coffees and teas are in abundance and many of your favourite coffee spots are serving up some truly tantalising options.
If you're keeping your cool at home, on the beach or out at a picnic and fancy brewing up your own refreshing concoction, look no further as we have some great coffee and tea recipes with thanks to Sarah Hannaway, Bailies Trainer and reigning Irish Barista Champion.
Sarah has given us her best coffee recommendations for iced drinks whilst sharing some handy and easy to make at home recipes to keep your cool over the rest of the summer months.
Not all coffee is going to taste great as an iced option. With that in mind, Sarah suggested a couple of options that would hold up their great flavour and profile even when served ice cold.
*Sarah's recommendation- Coconut milk
This recipe can be applied to the following brew methods: hand pour (V60, Kalita, Chemex), batch brew or Aeropress.
What you'll need:
Recipe: 1:8 ratio
Brewed coffee ratio to milk - 1:1
Method: Pour 120ml in glass, fill to top with ice and dilute with you favourite milk option of choice!
Makes two cups.
This recipe can be applied to the following brew methods: hand pour (V60, Kalita, Chemex), batch brew or Aeropress.
Makes two small cups or one mega iced (your choice), but can be adjusted for even larger amounts. Just remember to adjust your grind texture and water/ice ratio!
What you'll need:
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Businesses re-opening as they are at present and with lesser restrictions expected to be in place for the summer- we wish to support all businesses who work closely with us and ensure that re-opening can be as stress free and enjoyable as possible.
Our Bailies Engineers have throughout the last year offered services that would allow for businesses to create pop-up stands for takeaway and retail trade as well as offering servicing of machines in preparation for re-opening. Now that stay-at-home mandates are being lifted and vaccine roll out is successfully being administered, we feel comfortable to offer these services once again to help local businesses get back on their feet.
We must still encourage proper practise during this time in order to still protect those most vulnerable in our society as well as those not vaccinated, to further support our NHS and frontline workers, along with our own staff members.
Before you head straight back in, the engineering team have put together a handy quick step-by-step guide for turning your machine back on:
For those who may need assistance, have questions or queries, our Engineers at Bailies are available to guide you through proper bespoke machine maintenance to ensure that when business gets back to normal- your machinery and equipment will be good as new.
The Atlantic storms first hit the country in early November with category 4 Hurricane ‘Eta’ which caused widespread flooding and destruction from heavy rains and winds. However, areas that were already badly affected alongside those that were spared the wrath of the first onslaught did not have much time to recover or prepare before they were hit once again with category 5 Hurricane ‘Iota’.
Both hurricanes have left their devastating mark of destruction on the country- as one of the worst natural disasters in Honduran history- not to mention their occurrence at a time the country itself had already been crippled by the socio-economic impacts of a worldwide pandemic.
Preliminary reports on the ground in Honduras stated the following;
Producers and exporters Pacayal Coffee set up the ‘Pacayal Solidarity Programme’ coming together with other producers and members of the local community to support those most affected by the storms.
Supplies were gathered; sheets for roofing, food and clothing for the families and individuals who lost everything in the wake of the disasters. This aid was also being collected and donated to those who were hit even harder in the Northern regions of Honduras- the economic belt of the country itself.
Pacaycal Coffee are doing whatever they can to help rebuild their community.
Who's priority is to help the families, single mothers and children who were orphaned by the tragedy.
To help fund their mission, Pacayal have launched their 'Solidarity Coffee' and for every pound of coffee purchased, 2 cents of a dollar will be invested in their Solidarity Program in order to help as best as possible. Reports on how the money raised is spent and the developments made in the rebuilding and re-housing of communities are then sent to supporters of the fund for full transparency.
Also accepting donations into their solidarity fund, we at Bailies donated $1,500 to Pacayal as part of our support for their work in the aftermath of this disaster, alongside our continued support by way of purchasing coffees from Pacayal Coffee itself to include in our offering to you, our customers.
Whilst there is still work to be done, it will be a slow process to rebuild what was lost and for the families and individuals who lost their loved ones, homes and livelihoods that road will be longer and more difficult to rebuild.
For our farming partners, we’re more than a coffee roaster. We’re a committed, integral part of what they do. And everything starts with them. It is through your continued support of Bailies Coffee Roasters- and throughout 2020 in particular- that has enabled us to donate to this crucial cause and allowed us to continue to purchase our coffees directly from partners such as Pacayal Coffee who are committed to not only the quality of their coffee, but most importantly, the wellbeing of their producers and wider community in Honduras.
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It was a privilege to be able to still provide coffee for all of you, and our wonderful wholesale customers over the past year, particularly at times when it was sometimes the simple pleasures that were getting us all through.
We're looking back on the year at some of our favourite coffee releases voted for by our Bailies staff members, some of whom were working and brewing from home; working in the roastery under new restrictions or brewing up a coffee for the road.
First up, we asked resident Irish Barista Champion 2020, and Bailies Trainer, Sarah Hannaway what was her standout coffee of the year, which, wasn't much of a surprise!
"Well, for me- as you can probably guess- has to be the one I competed with back in May of 2020, Honduras, San Jacinto. Isaura (farmer) is a boss!
Isaura has been working directly alongside Bailies for around four years. She has several farms (San Jacinto, La Florencia) in Honduras that we have worked with every year since then. Her coffees are just incredible, as is her story and the hard work that she puts in to create and maintain these beautiful farms. She is truly inspiring.
It's a wonderful example of how direct relationships are so beneficial and rewarding for us all. I believe the judges on the day felt the passion and enjoyed the coffee and story as much as I did- which was the best outcome imaginable when putting the presentation together for both Isaura and I."
Stephen Houston (Irish Aeropress Champion, Head Roaster) gave us his take on his favourite brew of 2020. For Stephen, his choice of coffee was one that had a personal resonance and some fond memories too:
"I suppose, for me, the Monte Verde Mokka was a standout coffee, especially since I was able to use it before in the Irish Brewers Cup Competition back in 2017, which I then went on to win.
In 2019, Jan and I then travelled to Colombia and were fortunate enough to visit Monte Verde and meet the Gutierrez family who produce this incredible coffee. To see the farm in person adds a entirely new perspective, especially as when we visited the farm they had just carried out extensive 'Pollard' pruning on this lot of coffee (382 trees). This method of pruning in common practice for most crops, usually happening once every 3-4 years. The trees are pruned back to the trunk of the plant to ensure better yielding results the following year. It also means however, the production the following year is a lot less- so we were extremely lucky to have the entirety of this lot here in our roastery, a total of 18kg.
And also- the Mokka's characteristically wee tiny beans are so rare. Being so small, yet so incredibly dense- making them an especially challenging coffee to roast but resulting in an amazing coffee to drink and enjoy.
Similarly, to Stephen, our Head of Quality Control, Green Bean Buyer Jan Komarek also voted for Monte Verde Mokka as his favourite coffee of the year alongside Monte Verde Geisha:
“For me, I would probably vote for the Monte Verde coffees, in particular, the Mokka- which is probably a very obvious answer!”
These were incredibly exciting coffees to be able to share with customers. Particularly as not only were these exclusive coffees, both being rare and sought-after varieties but also being from a farm that we have such close and personal links to as a roastery.
For some of us, lockdown was a chance to really switch up our coffee game; whether that was by trying new brewing methods, and recipes, or even investing in new equipment, our teams working from home quickly found their way into new coffee at home routines.
Sales Account Manager Emma West found her new favourite Bailies coffee and brew method whilst working from home:
“My favourite coffee this year was Guatemala La Bella, made at home on our ever so humble French press! I loved the taste profile of this coffee, with notes of pear and muscovado sugar. I found it a really enjoyable coffee to drink and make using a favourite home brew method.”
Another coffee that proved popular amongst several Bailies staff was Ethiopia, Yabitu Koba. Marketing Assistant Becky Warde of one staff member for whom this coffee was a standout:
“This year, I really loved our Ethiopian Microlot, Yabitu Koba. I remember tasting it for the first time on Fresh Roast Friday in Bailies (pre-lockdown)- it was made as a batch brew for us all to try and I really loved it, as I could taste the notes Apricot and Pomegranate flavours coming through. When we were then working from home from March onwards, I was brewing it on my French Press (which was my only brewing device at home at the start of lockdown) and still really loving it. At the beginning of lockdown I also invested in a Baratza grinder, which really made life a lot easier as well as helping improve my home brews. I have been using it every day for my morning coffees and it’s brilliant.”
Accountant Janey Mitchell was also a fan of Yabitu Koba alongside another of the African coffees we were privileged to roast this year, Rwanda Gasigati.
“I loved Yabitu Koba & Rwanda Gasigati – why- is a good question! I guess, being not the most confident home brewer, I would say I loved these coffees so much because they were the only ones that when I made a V60, I thankfully got it spot on every time haha!"
Alongisde our Roasters and Production staff who were working tirelessly throughout the pandemic, our Engineering team were also working on-call and behind the scenes offering repairs and servicing when it was needed by customers.
For Engineer Andy- his sentiment on his favourite coffee of 2020, was, an oh so sweet tribute to one of his favourite co-workers…
“Christmas blend was my favourite. Why? Because it tasted like a big hug from Stephen Ho Ho Houston ❤️😍.”
Thank you all for supporting us at Bailies Coffee Roasters throughout the past year. We couldn’t have done it without you all. Here’s to 2021 and many more great coffees to share!
Stay safe,
Bailies Coffee Roasters.
]]>As we come ever closer to the end of what has truly been an extraordinary year, we at Bailies hope that amongst all of the madness you have been able to find a few moments of calm and comfort- perhaps even with a great cup of Bailies coffee.
Behind the scenes, our training team have been busy on something we hope you are all going to love – brand new training videos! Check out a teaser here.
As distanced and online learning are becoming the new norm, we are delighted to add these new training videos to our repertoire and, as part of our updated training programme, these video tutorials will compliment our in-person training, aiming to help all baristas at varying stages of their coffee career.
Courses |
Price |
In Person/Online |
Dates |
Home Brew Class |
£60 |
In Person |
16th Jan, 30th Jan |
SCA Foundation Barista Skills |
£115/£150 |
Combi Course- In Person & Online |
22nd-23rd Jan; 19th- 20thFeb |
SCA Intro to Coffee |
£90 |
Online |
6th Feb |
All the above courses available are entry level- which means they are suitable for those coffee enthusiasts with no to little experience. We have something to suit all interests – filter coffee for the home brewers; espresso for the aspiring baristas; and everything else in between for those who simply want to learn more about specialty coffee- or perhaps a great gift for a coffee enthusiast *hint hint*.
Whilst our in-person training is also still taking place- we will be adhering to on-going changes and appropriate regulations with regards to Covid restrictions. If you would like to schedule a training session with one of our team simply email us at training@bailiescoffee.com.
We will also be continuing to offer our advanced SCA training courses in both barista skills and brewing & grinding. These will be offered upon request, so if you are interested in improving your skill set and gaining industry recognised certifications please contact us at training@bailiescoffee.com for more info or click here to view all our courses and descriptions on our Bailies Training Academy page.
We look forward to seeing you all soon!
Stay safe!
Julia, Caroline & Sarah
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As there are no planned van deliveries this year, please ensure that you carry enough stock over Christmas. Our roastery will continue to be roasting/packing orders until 23rd December and parcels will be sent in line with Royal Mail and DPD.
For our wholesale customers, we strongly advise to order enough stock to cover 10 days of closure (2 weekends, 5 working days) as far in advance as possible! Our production team recommend placing orders now for despatch w/c 22/23rd December. Orders can be taken up until 1pm on the 23rd December and this may reach you on 28th/29th December.
Our new web portal can take orders of course all through Christmas, but please note that the first possible despatch day will be 4th January for earliest delivery on 5th January. Please also be aware that there might be high demand during this period and delays might be inevitable.
If you have further questions or queries around closure dates and deliveries please contact info@bailiescoffee.com.
]]>For 2020, we bring back our Christmas Blend, along with some extra special microlots that will certainly add to any coffee lover’s festive cheer!
Our limited-edition Christmas Blend is unique combination of two washed microlot coffees that, we think, produce a great balance of festive flavours. The Kenyan Beloya bringing subtle notes of Orange Marmalade and the Colombian La Fortuna microlot offering sweet notes of Canelé. Together, these coffees are perfectly balanced and offer just the right amount of festive sugar and spice! Brew up on crisp, cold winter mornings as filter or espresso, with or without milk- for a heart warming cup from Bailies to you this Christmas.
Limited-edition, Honey processed Monte Verde Geisha is this year’s extra special Christmas Microlot for those who love a unqiue home filter brew experience. This microlot is incredibly special to us here at Bailies- we visited Monte Verde in Colombia 2019, and have a great partnership and direct trade relationship with the Gutiérrez family. Expect delicious taste notes of Apricot, Lychee and Raspberry Ruffle.
If you’re still unsure but would love to order coffee for friends or family, how about a monthly coffee subscription? It’s a guaranteed winning gift for any avid coffee lover as they can enjoy months of freshly roasted and seasonal coffee delivered right to their door!
You can never have too much coffee- we can’t argue with that- but how about adding some accessories and stocking fillers to the mix? Check out our Bailies merch this Christmas- perfect for any coffee lover.
We've got the perfect socks ready for you to gift that coffee lover or just style it out yourself! In three different colourways and styles, gift the quintessential Christmas stocking filler with coffee twist!
Helping to promote saving the planet this Christmas with your gift giving? We have the environmentally friendly option of the reusable coffee cup with the Bailies Branded Keepcup. The Keepcup is a great companion with the added bonus that many of your favourite coffee shops offer discounts year-round for being eco-friendly- it’s really the gift that just keeps on giving- plus, it looks good too!
Wrap up one of our suede five-panel peak caps as a gift this Christmas. These hats are a firm favourite amongst the Bailies crew, and we reckon they’ll be a firm favourite Christmas gift too!
Inspired by none other than the iconic designs our blend bags; our Bailies branded tees are; high-quality, screen printed garments in Vintage White, as well as being 100% Organic Combed Cotton and PETA Approved Vegan.
Been practising, or learning to brew from home this year? We have some of the best brewers to offer- from batch brew options to hand pour filters- we have options for everyone.
Perhaps you’re in the market for a kitchen coffee maker that is as cool as it is brilliant at making brews- and if so, we have the answer in the form of; The Technivorm Moccamaster.
Handmade in the Netherlands using sustainable and BFA-free parts, The Moccamaster is built with a copper boiling element for perfect brewing that meets SCA and ECBC standards- and, a 5-year warranty.
To sweeten this deal even more, when purchasing a Moccamaster this Christmas- you, or the lucky recipient of your Christmas gifting will receive a free bag of our limited-edition Christmas blend to test it out!
A brewing method champion. As Bailies Head Roaster and Irish Aeropress Champion Stephen Houston can attest, the Aeropress is one of the underrated brewers on the market. With a low price point, and great functionality that now comes in a 'to-go' version, the Aeropress and the Aeropress Go are both designed to help you make fantastic coffee whether at home or on the go; at the beach, out hiking, or at your desk. Try it out this year with a free bag of our Christmas Blend when you purchase an Aeropress Original.
The Hario V60 Coffee Dripper range is seen as the best coffee dripper available. Now available with an easy to use kit. The Hario V60 Coffee Dripper Kit is all in one pack. This kit features coffee scoop, forty filter papers and dripper...everything you need to get started!
Not a coffee fan? Don't fret! We have gifts for non-coffee lovers as well! Why not treat someone to a great mug of tea? We have a choice of 3 ForLife Stump Teapots in assorted colours and sizes- and, when purchased, receive a free bag of our heart-warming festive, Winter Spice tea. The perfect gift for cosy winter evenings in.
Many thanks to the small group of coffee shops that tested, inspected and ordered in the initial testing phase. This site will sit independently from the main consumer web shop and is ready for accepting wholesale coffee orders. As you can imagine we have an extensive equipment and coffee product list, it took a little time to refine.
We've now ironed out the quirks, well, most of them...if you spot any, do let us know!
We are in a position to launch our brand new customer ordering website and it's really easy to get involved!
1. You must be an existing Bailies Coffee Roasters customer.
2. Register with us via email on sales@bailiescoffee.com.
Once registration is complete we will issue you with a unique log in and password. The new wholesale site requires a log in that is specific to you. There are, of course, rules around who gets the password for your business and it's important that you keep track of that.
Once you have logged in, our full catalogue will be available to you. Simply add items to the basket, check the details around delivery and click to place the order. (Well, there may be a couple of small steps in between but we're here to support).
We've also added a handy FAQ guide within the website should you have an problems, it's quick and easy to read.
The new ordering platform is safe and secure. Not only that, it marries to our main production ordering system meaning that your specific order history is stored.
Any new orders will be made, collected and dispatched, then added to the normal way that you pay, for example, your monthly invoice. Current terms of business will apply and if you have had an account with us for some time, nothing has changed, only the ability to order wherever and whenever you want.
We think that this is a great time saving website and one that we have developed to support our customer base. It allows you to choose when to place an order and opens up the possibility of buying coffee and ancillary products outside our normal working hours of 8.30am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday.
To register, simply email sales@bailiescoffee.com, plus even with reduced staffing we're always happy to answer any queries by phone, so give us a call. If you're not a Bailies Coffee Roasters customer, and on hearing this great news, would like to be, simply contact us on the email above.
]]>We want to continue to deliver world class coffee education and support to our customers and due to the ongoing pandemic we have had to make some changes to the way we do training.
Until further notice we will not be delivering training at the roastery.
This is to control and help minimise the number of visitors who could potentially expose the premises and roastery/warehouse staff to Covid-19. We will be reviewing this on a regular basis and notify our customers of any changes. We hope to be able to welcome our trainees back to the roastery soon.
Training will take place on customers’ sites and will be subject to the following guidelines and procedures:
Training Allowance & Additional Costs
Customers will be provided with one free training session per site every six months which includes all of the resources as listed above, travel costs and 1kg of coffee for the session.
If additional training sessions are required they will be charged at £50 exc. VAT per session, with the addition of travel costs which are dependent on customer’s location.
For those new customers joining us, we look forward to meeting you and your team. To everyone else, we can’t wait to see you again!
Stay safe. Wash your hands. Clean your coffee machine.
From,
Julia, Caroline, Sarah, Matt & Alastair
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]]>The latest on our ways of working and partnership ethos during the pandemic. Check this blog out for how to get in contact, place an order or simply to ask for some advice.
]]>New ideas were launched, new coffee shops have opened, and the coffee kept flowing…albeit in a reduced capacity. However, there are some positives. A recent survey of 2,000 shoppers highlighted the growth of small independent retailers and the extra trust consumers have in these outlets. Check out the article by Food NI here.
Our business is fully operational, with a reduced team, we are still roasting, packing, advising, servicing, and delivering great tasting coffee.
We have placed extra measures in the roastery to ensure safe production and reduced contact between staff. As an example, collections are allowed however customers may not enter the premises. You’ll get a smile and a wave from Luke at a 2-metre distance however no quick coffees in the canteen! When visiting remember to ring the outside bell, at the warehouse entrance, then wait to for further instruction. Social distancing must be adhered.
Delivery of items has been managed by our preferred courier supplier. As there are currently no driver runs available, please make sure your coffee purchase is planned well ahead and try to establish a routine or volume for your weekly order. Placing more on the order also helps to reduce contact via the number of deliveries to your premises and cuts down repeat visits. To help our production team all orders must be in before Noon as it may not leave the same day.
The roastery and distribution team are working with only 10% of the normal staffing capacity. So please give consideration when placing orders. The team are working hard, socially distanced of course, in their own silos.
Currently there are no visitors allowed inside the roastery for tastings or showroom visits. Should you need any information on coffee, sales advice or equipment please contact sales@bailiescoffee.com. We’re all working from home and supporting the industry as best we can. In these trying times we may have to revert to different tactics to deliver our service e.g. Teams Meetings, FaceTime, Samples via courier and more…to get you the best advice.
Tourism NI and the Department for the Economy have issued guidance for business owners, operators and workers in hotels, tourist attractions and hospitality businesses. This includes restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars. The guidance will help businesses re-open as safely as possible please check with your local authority on the latest advice.
Find out more here: https://covid19.tourismni.com/support-centre/business-support-advice/practical-guidance-for-working-safely-during-covid-19/
Good luck to everyone re-opening and please do reach out to use if you need any support. We have posted a handy guide on machine start up, on our previous blog, here. There are certain steps to follow if a machine has been left idle for a while.
For specific queries you can get in contact via any of the methods below.
Sales: Email sales@bailiescoffee.com or call our main office at +44 (0) 28 9077 1535 and select option 1. This is for orders, equipment pricing and the latest coffee collection information. Please note this number carries a high volume of calls.
Engineering: Call our main office at +44 (0) 28 9077 1535 and select option 2. This will get you through to our engineering support team. This team will diagnose faults by phone or schedule an engineering call accordingly.
Accounts: Email accounts@bailiescoffee.com or call our main office at +44 (0) 28 9077 1535 and select option 3.
Marketing: Email marketing@bailiescoffee.com or pop us a message on Facebook or Instagram.
Thank you for choosing Bailies Coffee Roasters!
]]>Over the past several weeks of lockdown, we have been amazed at the resilience the coffee industry has shown, and how it has been able to find ways to adapt, especially during these incredibly difficult circumstances. From creating new web shops, brand new takeaway and delivery services to providing online brewing and baking videos for those stuck at home- the coffee industry and our local coffee community, has been doing it’s upmost to support itself, and everyone within its wider community at this time.
At Bailies Coffee Roasters, we’re still here, roasting away, by providing the best direct trade coffee to you at home. Whilst our team and their locales has shifted slightly, our focus has not. Our Engineering team are still operational, fully kitted out, and here to lend support and a helping hand to our coffee community. If you would like to avail of some support at this time, please do get in touch with us as there are procedures we can support with during this lockdown to keep your machinery intact.
Machine Start Up
Before you head straight back in, the engineering team have put together a quick step-by-step guide for turning your machine back on:
We’ve also been asked what does coffee service look like when we return?
It looks like social distancing and increased hygiene are here to stay. Take-away and delivery services will become the norm, meaning a whole new set of rules, set by Government. You can read more below.
At Bailies we can already see the following happening and can recommend these steps in the interim:
Additional resources can be found here for UK customers:
Guidance for businesses selling food (updated FSA and HACCP Processes) - within this link, you will find invaluable information on current measures that need to be enforced to ensure safe business practice for both staff and patrons. Please pay special attention to the section entitled ‘Social Distancing’.
Advice on additional signage:
Floor Markers:
Additional resources for those customers based in Ireland:
Business Continuity Planning – Checklist of preparatory actions in responding to Covid-19
Within this link, you will find invaluable information from the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation. They provide a checklist of some of the key risks to the continuity of your business activities during the outbreak. Please pay special attention to Page Six, entitled ‘Responding to Workplace Risks due to COVID-19’. Covid-19: An Employers Guide. Within this link, you will find invaluable information from the Government of Ireland and Enterprise Ireland.
Or visit the Gov.ie website. This has advice on additional signage. The HSE have official posters as part of their ongoing public awareness campaigns that are available to view and download HERE. There are many companies supplying adhesive tape to clearly mark out the required 2m distance between people, for example HERE and HERE.
Therefore, as in industry, we’re going to have to work hard to win back the trust of our loyal consumers.
These measures are already in place within our roastery and we work hard to maintain cleanliness even though coffee production is deemed a low risk manufacturing process.
Give us a call to relocate machinery, or if there are any problems during start up, offer greater retail products for home brewing or even if you just want a chat.
For those with La Marzocco coffee machines – the company has published two advice documents- advice for Irish customers and partners along with advice for UK customers. Both documents are available via email on the address below.
We hope these are of use and are relatable to any coffee shop with practical advice by region.
We’re normally all over Instagram, email info@bailiescoffee.com and can be reached on 028 90 771535.
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Prior to the Government’s new updates at the weekend, Bailies engineers had offered a service that would allow for businesses to create pop-up stands to conduct take-away and retail trade. However, this may now also not be a solution as many cafes and businesses that had practiced this over the last week felt that this was potentially encouraging people to avoid guidelines of staying home. We feel the same as those businesses who have decided sadly to shut their doors for the foreseeable. We must encourage proper practice during this time and help to protect the most vulnerable in our society as well as aiding the fight to slow the spread of the virus to help support our NHS and frontline workers.
Therefore, instead of offering this service at a time when we at Bailies would also like to encourage the public to stay home and protect not only our customers; coffee shop owners, baristas, restaurateurs, but our communities as a whole. Instead, we are offering to help ensure that all machinery in your café is maintained during this period of downtime.
Our Engineers at Bailies are available to guide you through proper bespoke machine shutdown and maintenance to ensure that when business gets back to normal- your machinery and equipment will be good as new.
If you would like to avail of this service, contact Bailies via the following;
Tel: 028 90 771535 (Ext 2) Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.00pm
Or
Email: info@bailiescoffee.com
Stay safe everyone and brew at home!
Bailies Team
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In the re-purposed textile building, of the towering four floors of brick and mortar; three are dedicated not only to its retail offering; but also to owner Andy and his staff’s passion for coffee and design.
The ground floor of the store shares shelves of retail products with its stylish, minimalist café that serves Bailies as its house roaster and features guest roasters on rotation, changing twice every year with some seasonal specials. The newly revamped third floor, ‘The Studio’, is a multi-functional, modular space with the ability to accommodate for; events, photography and design studio spaces, as well as its day-to-day use as an area for retail and a newly implemented ‘pour-over’ focused coffee space- to sit and relax and further educate on the art of filter coffee.
We spent a rainy December afternoon with owner Andy Collins, as he took us on a tour around the store before getting stuck into the busy preparations for the evening’s Indigo & Cloth x Bailies cupping event.
Coffee within an independent retail space seems perhaps to some, quite strange, what made you pursue selling speciality coffee within Indigo & Cloth?
Speciality coffee in Dublin, when it first broke out had the impression of being somewhat snobby and close-minded in certain places. That’s changed now though, with a thriving, collaborative community of businesses. When opening the café, we wanted our café’s brand curation to be more inviting, allowing people to experience rare lots and editions without the intimidation that sometimes comes with a speciality cafe. Coffee helps to break the act of shopping in a retail environment - it helps to relax and put the customer and ourselves at ease – encouraging more interaction and conversation around not only the coffee but the products we sell in-store.
We opened the café part of our business in March 2019, with the purpose of pushing the product assortment and experience to a contemporary level, bringing it in line to match the store. With the modern set-up and brands to match, customer service then became key, ensuring both new customers and old can be educated and enthused on what we are doing in-store.
There was a time we were without the café part of the store and it was deeply missed, so we knew we had to bring it back. It sets the right type of atmosphere we want to create in-store, one that’s built on customer engagement and trust – essentially building a community around our in-store experience. When we didn’t have the coffee shop as part of the store- we lost that everyday customer we once had, impacting on the atmosphere. We loved the experience that it created for customers.
When did your passion for coffee first come about?
I’ve always enjoyed coffee, but I guess my knowledge of coffee had come about through having a passion for travelling and searching for new experiences in retail. For instance with our initial Spring/Summer menu when we opened in March 2019, I had visited previously visited both Nomad, Barcelona and Bonanza, Berlin who we initially stocked. To be honest, it’s more the opportunity to connect and collaborate with people I admire and who’ve also created experiences I’ve loved. I want to try and bring that sense of experience to our own customers here in Dublin.
How has Bailies helped your business?
Bailies have been instrumental to helping our business. As our house roaster they have helped to provide us not only with incredible coffee that’s constantly evolving, but also with equipment and knowledge. By bringing a speciality café into the building- we needed the training to match too. The SCA courses offered by Bailies helped us so much, but they also help customers to get into coffee and filter coffee in the right way.
Again though, it’s mostly around the personal relationship we have with the brand. As an independent business, the relationships we create are always built on trust, ensuring we can represent the brand to its best potential. From that trust, we’ve received constant support and built up lasting friendships with Bailies, which results in a natural passion for the products we sell.
With Bailies coffee specifically, we’ve used Nota espresso as our house blend since opening. Bailies is the only permanent coffee brand we have in the café, with our seasonal menu offering new coffee brands and specials, changing twice a year. Having the Nota as a consistent house espresso allows us to engage with our regular customers who want that same comforting coffee when they visit time and time again. We also have a rotating guest espresso option for those looking to experiment with something different. I think a lot of speciality café’s lose sight of that baseline customer, who are looking for the same tasting coffee they loved in the first place. It’s been a crowd pleaser since arriving back in March.
One of our best investments through Bailies for the café space is our Marco SP9. It’s an incredible piece of kit that allows us to make some amazing filter coffee. The consistency of this machine helps the barista ensure quality and consistency, whilst also giving our staff more time to engage with our customers. Filter coffee is a huge part of what we do, allowing us to showcase the best of our international brands we stock and is perfect to use when we have a coffee on bar that requires a recipe with specific parameters. This makes Bailies Microlots on filter a real bonus for us because we can be creative with them and experience a real nuance of flavours and aromas.
Indigo & Cloth comprises three elements in its make-up: café, retail space and studio. Why did you decide that you wanted to combine all these things within your business?
Dublin is lacking in independent creative spaces within the centre of the city. I really appreciate businesses that have a different aesthetic, a different focus- and having coffee here as well as our studio space- that created something that I think set us apart, and still does. It’s all built on a unique customer experience.
It’s paramount that we continue to collaborate and be open with our brands, suppliers and customers to help to shine a light on the talent we have within our city. We are always looking to collaborate with various artists across different disciplines; collage artists, illustrators, musicians, graphic designers- it gives us an opportunity to connect with creatives in our city and give them a platform to share their work.
We produce the majority of our graphic design work in-house. With collaborative projects, through the café’s strategy, we aim to work with a different artist for each of our seasonal menus. For instance, for our Spring/Summer menu (March – October 2019) we worked with Irish artist; Fatti Burke producing a collaborative print and tote bag.
How do you go about curating Indigo & Cloth?
Our aim is to stock quality-driven products that are worthy of investment. For the fashion side of things, the majority of our brands are exclusive to the country, ensuring our customers are offered something different within a unique environment. When opening the café, we wanted to replicate what we do when buying fashion. Twice a year, every year, we launch a new seasonal collection (Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer). We’ve included these seasonal collections within our café assortment, presenting two new seasonal menus each year, stocking new coffee brands for each and releasing seasonal specials. For example, for our latest Autumn/Winter menu (October – March), we are stocking La Cabra, Aarhus and Origin, Cornwall as our guest roasters. We’ve released seasonal specials like our Winter Hot Chocolate in collaboration with Wexford chocolate producers, Bean & Goose.
The changing and evolving menu set up allows us to work and collaborate with new brands, ensuring we’re offering new experiences for our customers. We’ve already started to research our next menu and seasonal specials for the upcoming Spring/Summer release.
The lifestyle brands you stock in Indigo & Cloth are within the higher pricing bracket, how do you work your selling strategy in order to compete with other stores and particularly the fast-fashion giants that seem to dominate the retail space?
It’s all about experience. A lot of the brands we stock in-store are available internationally, sometimes from companies which huge investment that can offer quicker shipping and better advertising. As an independent, it’s all about creating a unique in-store atmosphere and customer experience to build a loyal following.
It’s so important put your customer first in terms of the products we buy - if you can see the investment in a product; the quality, the craftmanship- that counts for a lot and they will be able understand it more transparently.
The same can be said with how the speciality coffee scene has become much more mainstream in recent years. People are willing to pay more for quality coffee that is sourced ethically and sustainably.
]]>For almost a year, Cargo’s new second location; on Northern Ireland’s ‘Gold Coast’ (or so Mike McGoldrick would call it) has taken off. Inside,Cargo shares its space with Ferguson Flowers- and together, both businesses are blossoming (oh yep, the puns are back), with their co-space naturally marrying their two businesses and aesthetic styles together.
Matt’s cool brew bar/café and Ferguson’s wonderfully vibrant haven of flora and fauna play well against and with each other to achieve a collected and unique feel for the customer to truly sit back and relax.
But this isn’t the only spot in North Down you might come across ‘Cargo Coffee'. The first instalment of Cargo opened in Bangor back in 2017, when owner Matt Towe began his coffee journey in the form of (in our opinion) the coolest drive-thru experience Northern Ireland has to offer. Matt’s drive-thru location made of shipping containers took the ‘grab ‘n’ go’ coffee culture and turned it, somewhat on its head.
For maybe what seems like the first time, in Northern Ireland anyway, you can go to a drive-thru and purchase locally roasted, speciality coffee from the very driver’s seat of your car. What a world we live in, eh?
Originally hailing from England, owner Matt made the move to Belfast to play for none other than the Belfast Giants Ice Hockey Team. Now, with a growing family and growing business, you can most likely find Matt, not on the ice, but behind the bar or in the kitchen of Cargo’s Holywood location whipping up winning bagel combinations on the daily.
We spent some time with Matt (thankfully for our sakes, not on the ice), as he told us where the inspiration for Cargo came from, and how the move from Ice Hockey star to Coffee Business Owner came about, and how the idea of ‘team spirit’ resides in both of his careers.
So, I guess my first question for you is, why coffee, coming from…?
… coming from Ice Hockey, right?
Yeah! Where did the passion come from?
Coffee for me, started out as a tradition. I was used to drinking it before a game and that’s how it started out for me. Our daily schedule would be on-ice training plus a gym workout and our day was done by 12pm, we’d have a ton of free time- so the guys would get together and we’d go for a coffee. Gradually, it became a bit of a social thing for us all to do. It would, dare I say it, start in more commercial coffee shops and then as we got into coffee a bit more, we’d start hitting some of the speciality and 3rd wave cafes.
And was it from this, that the inspiration for Cargo came about?
Yeah- especially after I started appreciating speciality coffee, I wanted to explore it more. Whilst I was living in Cardiff, Starbucks opened their first drive-thru about half a mile from my house and I thought, ‘well, that’s actually a great idea’. It’s convenient, but why not try to do the same with speciality coffee and focus our USP on quality espresso over the bean-to-cup machine kind of thing that was the ‘quick and easy’ selling point of such places.
When I came to Belfast, I had spare time outside of playing and training- and I got a job in a coffee shop to get some experience alongside playing hockey. And, it gave me something to do whilst also getting to see the actual running of a coffee shop.
The opportunity to set up in Bangor came around, and the site had previously been set up (with containers) - so it was ideal. We had originally opted for a spot by the Ravenhill road, but we were having some issues with planning. The idea was always to have the business ‘Cargo’ run out of the shipping containers- so when we moved, we literally just had to re-brand the containers and re-structure slightly, and that was it.
We’re now open two years this December.
And then the opportunity to open here (Ferguson Flowers, Holywood) came along?
Yeah! I had originally visited (here) as a customer, and I had always noticed how great a location it was- right on the high street which is already a busy spot, and I knew they were looking to turn their café around, and do something new. I thought I would take the opportunity to fire over an email to see if they would be interested in partnering up and they did! Last December we took over the café and it’s been going great.
We’ve been able to create a completely different service style here than with Bangor. In our Bangor spot we’re a take-away only service, so it’s all about speed, and that’s why we use a Bailies Blend there- we know we can have the consistency with the coffee that we need and the blends are total crowd-pleasers with or without milk.
In Holywood, it’s more about the sit in service with some take away added in. Here, we have Single Origins on bar as we have more time to experiment with them on espresso- dialing in different recipes for them. Right now, we have Sao Silvestre on espresso, (which, is tasting particularly good this morning, might I add) and we’ve also been pushing the retail packs also.
We would really love to be doing filter with Microlots at some stage, but right now, we’ve seen that a lot of people are wanting espresso-based drinks with milk- so right now we’re listening to those needs.
What do you reckon is the favourite hot drink amongst Belfast Giants?
Most of the guys are big on filter- the batch brew is set up in the morning before practice and for most of the guys, it’ll be a strong black coffee before the training session. It’s huge in the States and in Canada-which is what we really wanted to push in the drive-thru, but here, there is a lot more demand for milk-based coffees which we offer across both sites.
I’m curious, coming from the professional sports scene, do you think that some of what you have learned over the years has prepared you for running a business? Is there anything that you’ve taken from this experience that you’ve been able to apply to your business?
I think that it’s prepared me for the front of house aspect within the coffee shop business- interacting with the customer.
Sport, and particularly Ice Hockey is a very open sport and you tend to meet a lot of the fans. It’s a lot more interactive with fans than most sports would be. A lot of our sponsors would involve the team at their events, and I really enjoyed being a part of that. Face to face interaction with the fans- chatting with them and getting to know them- that’s probably my favourite thing about running a coffee shop also.
You get to know your regulars; you get to know their names, what they do for a living, get to know their families. And I just tell my staff, just be polite and, most importantly- be yourself- that’s the best thing to do when talking to customers.
I don’t want there to be a stuffy atmosphere here, because all the staff here have such great characters and personalities. So, I tell them to aim to give the customer the best experience they can have, and, have fun! I’m not going to tell them ‘now do this’ and say ‘that’- the mantra here is very much allowing you to be yourself- because the staff here, in my opinion, are great people and have a real passion for coffee and that’s what counts.
So, then what would you say is your management style or ‘coaching’ technique in running your coffee shops?
My thing is to surround yourself with people that are better than you. It’s my personal goal to create a team where everyone feels confident in what they’re doing, and I can oversee in order to keep the flow going. However, I’m still very much here every hour of the day, so I’m just as much a player in the team as well as the manager. The key for us here is that we all pitch in to do every job. Whether it’s the till, or the toilets, or clearing tables, it’s being a part of the team whilst leading the guys- as opposed to cracking the whip. And that’s the way I see people getting the most out of their day.
And most recently, some of your team competed in the NI Aeropress this year, is that right?
Yeah, our guy Pedro was unfortunately knocked out (nods over to Pedro at the bar)- but it was good experience for him, and we always have some time out when we would brew up coffees from various roasters- staff, we they have been travelling, they always bring back coffee to experiment with. It’s kind of our ‘thing’ amongst the staff to hang out and try some manual brews, because it’s good practice. And hopefully next year, everyone might get involved, potentially myself included… maybe! I’ve got zero experience on manual brew, but I’m willing to give it a go and have a laugh. Even the Latte Art Competition Bailies hosted, one of our former baristas AJ won that which was class.
(Pictured above: Peter (aka Pedro))
It’s a fun thing to do to take part in those types of competitions, especially in Northern Ireland, there’s that real coffee community and coffee scene which I do really like, and especially with Bailies hosting and supporting a lot of those events- it’s really great to be involved.
Speaking of Bailies, what made you pick us as your roaster?
I had tried a lot of roasters around Northern Ireland and Ireland, but the service in general, was what drew me to Bailies. Not only do we get great coffee, but they invest in people too- you’ve got the Irish Brewers’ Cup Champion working in the roastery, competitors and finalists in the Irish Barista Championships, Irish Aeropress Competition, etc., too. If we have those guys behind the scenes - I know there is going to be good coffee and great support.
From the whole service point of view, whenever I’m struggling or need something- Bailies have always gone above and beyond to help me and the guys out- despite that it is quite a big company, you’re never more than a phone call away and someone is there ready to help. That’s why I really push Bailies- because of this. In addition, I’m also always pleased with the quality of the coffee.
You were talking earlier (during our photoshoot) about hoping to expand your kitchen, add more to the menu potentially?
Yeah! When we first opened, the idea was to pioneer the bagel- I don’t think anyone has really taken that on yet around here. We’ve got a great menu and we’ve stuck to that from early on. But we have come to realise as well that there are of course, those who don’t eat bread or don’t want to, and you want to cater to everyone’s needs, so we put on a brunch menu and a lunch menu which offers some different options. Porridge is a popular staple for breakfast, or sourdough with mushrooms and truffle houmous as well as soups and salads at lunch too.
We like to play around with the menu. Whilst we have the classics there and we also have some specials on, and we should be dropping new menu additions in the next month or so which is exciting and a bit more seasonal that people will hopefully love!
The kitchen is quite small, it’s a juggling act in there! The best way I plan a shift in the kitchen is basing it around how you plan your orders that need made using the two hobs we have. So, if someone orders scrambled eggs, and someone orders poached eggs, and then you have a porridge order- it’s a fine balance of getting them all made up and served at the same time! We’re looking forward to getting some more equipment in the kitchen soon that will really provide the opportunity to get more exciting additions to the menu, and hopefully more business through the door!
Obviously, your coffee comes from a local roaster in ourselves, Bailies, so with regards to how you source your food- is locally sourced food produce just as important to you?
Ideally, we’d source local 99% of the time. As you said, with our coffee; we use a Belfast roaster, we use milk from Lisburn, and our meats and veg are local too. We use Yellow Door for our bagels- because, it’s quite an art to make a bagel just right, and we’re always so pleased with the quality that they provide us.
The key is local always and, that’s pretty much from day one we’ve been sticking to that. The consumer is more educated these days and can appreciate that and see the quality in it for sure.
What is your favourite thing on the menu- hands down?
‘The Reuben’ on the Cheddar bagel for me is my personal favourite. That’s my go-to. We get a lot of customers that ask what our best and/or our personal favourite bagel would be. Where the best-selling would be the ‘Harland’, we tell people that if they want to try something special, go for the ‘Holy Guac’- it’s got a ton of flavour especially with added bacon- if they’re a meat eater of course!
(Pictured above: The infamous, 'Harland' bagel and the veggie/vegan friendly, 'Nutty Geezer').
It’s funny though, it does depend on what’s happening seasonally and weather wise! Over the summer the ‘Smoke Show’ Salmon bagel went down very well, but what’s great is there is something for everyone. All the bagels, barring the cheese bagel are vegan. Our whole ethos- which is that we really want to cover the needs of 95% of people who walk through the door- that they will be able to find something they will be able to enjoy.
Are there any sources you take particular inspiration from?
To be honest, I see inspiration in a ton of different things and I’m a big Jamie Oliver fan. I think he’s great- plus my mum gets me his book every Christmas, so I can’t avoid taking inspiration from him! I like his cookery books and shows that focus on the idea of ‘casual dining’ and that’s ultimately where we want to end up.
I’m hoping that there could be the option of homing in on some of that inspiration and eventually opening late nights- maybe sometime in the future.
But another big inspiration I guess is Instagram. I follow a few Michelin star chefs and places like ‘Noma’ on social media- who push ingredients such as sauerkraut, etc., - and I’d really love to get into that more and play about with pickling more veg and fruit, because the flavours are great.
Do you ever get suggestions from the rest of the Cargo crew about what they’d think would go well up on the menu boards?
Oh yeah, Josh, Johnny, Pedro (Peter) and William are working today- and when they’re not working, they’re in coffee shops! They just love it!
So, we were doing a bit of a brainstorm yesterday about it. Johnny- he had just spent three months in Budapest, and he was giving us plenty of cool ideas from what he seen over there and there’s potential to try some stuff and do something quite different and see if maybe some of those would have the potentially to work here.
The guys all chip in with ideas when they have any. And that’s what I was saying before; about this being an open environment to be yourself, enjoy the job and if someone has an idea- tell me the idea- if it’s commercially viable, then let’s give it a go. That’s part of the teamwork spirit here, because five brains are always going to be better than just one.
There’s inspiration everywhere, and I sometimes just happen upon it when I’m out in different places. But it can be tough because you can fall into the trap of comparing yourself with other places, and with each other- overthinking about who does what well, and maybe who doesn’t, but you can learn from others too and apply what you’ve learned to your own practice too.
Finally, I must ask- are you still playing ice hockey this year for the Giants?
Not this year I’m afraid. I played one game last year, but with a growing family and business to match there just aren’t enough hours in the day. Most away games happen on a Sunday also, which is my day off and it’s all about family for me.
Thank you so much for your time Matt, and you never know we might see you sooner rather than later if we have another Latte Art Throwdown at some stage…
Well, I might have a go! I usually make one coffee a week because I’m mainly working in the kitchen, but I’m willing to give it a go- it’s all fun and games right?
(Pictured above: Cargo's drive-thru location in Bangor, and owner Matt Towe).
Sadly, for one day at least, our trip to Cargo came to an end. With our appetites satisfied and the morning's coffee intake sufficiently met- we left Matt and the guys to get back to work, and prepare for the day's lunchtime rush which was steadily approaching.
With Cargo, we're truly spoilt. Great coffee and food at two locations. Holywood offers the chance to truly take your time, relax and enjoy the cool and casual atmosphere with the friendliest of staff. Whilst you're on the go- Bangor is the ideal spot. It's a drive-thru that's offering top notch service; coffee and food to go that's sourced locally and served to perfection.
Matt's on a winning streak here, and long may it continue!
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From the outside, Finegan & Son looks like it could have been the inspiration for the shop fronts of Diagon Alley (that's one for you Harry Potter fans). Inside, the cafe is minimal, yet quaint- presented in an airy space, with wooden flooring, tables and chairs accompanied by giant windows that allow light to envelop the shop, and allow for the act of casual "people watching" along the Quays.
These details, even the smallest; the colours chosen, or the idea to have the chairs aligned in a certain way- to allow for the illusion of space- was the design concept of co-owner Anne-Marie. And it makes for a homey and comfortable space; one that has a sense of the archaic about it- where you can feel the slight shake as busy lorries and cars pass by outside.
In actual fact, the shop hasn't been changed much since joint owners Graeme and Anne-Marie took it over. They opted to keep the authenticity and character of the popular outdoor sporting shop it once was. Stripped back walls with exposed brick and low hanging lights boast a simple design that allows for the space to speak for itself. The old shop front is well-known for its past life, much like it's home city of Newry.
Settling into our seats, we sampled some of the coffee tastings on offer- courtesy of resident barista, Aaron. We were served up some delicious Ethiopian Odo Shakiso on V60, and Costa Rican, Cerro Dragon on espresso as we sat down with Graeme Finegan himself- who got into interview 'zone' with the help of none other than instagram favourite; his son James, as we picked his brain on all things coffee; food and the passion behind the marvellous space that is Finegan & Son.
How long have you been working in coffee? What was your first experience of coffee?
I’ve been working in coffee about 14 years now. My journey with coffee began initially in Costa and I was there for about 7-8 months. I took a job there because I wanted to experience working in a coffee shop, with the idea that it would give me some insights into owning one- so I could test if I actually liked it!
I guess I properly started to get into coffee when I began home brewing- I had my first V60 at home about 11 years ago. I became enthusiastic about coffee- I really wanted to learn more, but Costa wasn’t the place where that was really going to happen.
What made you want to be a barista and then eventually become a coffee shop owner?
All through university, I wanted to own a coffee shop. So, yeah, I guess it was always my plan. I studied to be a radiographer and finished university, and only worked as a radiographer for a short spell before opening my first shop; Grounded, which, along with Finegan & Son, is also in Newry.
What makes coffee special to you?
It’s about the transparency for me. I like being able to tell a customer the story. I know how to make the coffee I’m serving; I can tell them everything about it- the varietals, taste notes, what it tastes best served as, right down through the chain of it being roasted at Bailies, and oh yeah, because of where it’s roasted and how it is sourced- I can tell a customer about the farmer/farm and their process too- and that’s what's really class.
Why Bailies at Finegan & Sons? What made you chose us as a supplier of coffee?
It was clear to see that Bailies were passionate about coffee, even at that time 11 years ago- they were at the forefront of coffee scene. But Bailies also understood what it’s like to be a small business- to struggle through the tough times, they understand it’s not instantaneous success.
I initially was contacted by Russell Bailie all those years ago, because I guess he must have caught wind that I was looking for a machine. It was an FB80 La Marzocco actually. Russell called me up to tell me he could source me one, at the same price it was offered to me by another company. I went with Bailies because, well, as I said, at that time they were the coffee scene here and they knew what they were doing. And that’s how it started.
And it’s crazy how much it’s grown, because I remember at that time Bailies only had 5 or 6 staff!
Favourite coffee on offer from Bailies at present?
I think probably the Kenya Gakui AA- we have it on bar at the moment, and it’s a great tasting coffee- I even took it with me on a recent holiday and it was tasting great the whole time.
For a solid “coffee” coffee- definitely the Colombian Pueblo Nuevo.
Favourite coffee – ever?
It was a coffee from Bailies actually. It was the Sasaba, an Ethiopian Natural that was f***in’ unbelievable- for me, it set the benchmark for all other coffees for me, especially naturals! It was class.
At Finegan & Son- local produce seems to be the main highlight of your menu board- why is it important to you to source locally?
We want to do the same thing with our food as we have done with our coffee- we want to place an importance on the food we use, how it’s made and of course where it comes from. There are often times, you can go somewhere for food and the coffee is terrible or vice versa- one of the two is always disappointing and so we wanted to get both to be at the same level. One way we achieve that is having great local produce- which is super important to us because it’s transparent- you know what you’re getting, much like when buying our coffee from Bailies. Another way we achieve this is through our chef and his passion in the kitchen- it mirrors our passion for coffee- which speaks volumes on the plates we serve and the menu we have.
(Image from @fineganandson)
Why Newry? How has the reaction been to your shop over the years you have been open?
It’s been great here. We opened our shop, Grounded in Newry first, and it has been doing really well- but we wanted to bring speciality coffee to the fore in Newry, and that meant opening a place that only sold and served microlots on both filter and espresso- which isn’t typically everyone’s preference, especially in more rural areas that have built associations with coffee being traditionally darker and more developed.
The food in grounded is constant, but the first year of Finegan & Son, we didn’t serve food, we just had coffee and that was a tough sell sometimes. You don’t want to be shoving only coffee down people’s throats. But we now serve food and we chose to pair our food to the coffee offering here too. We’ve been open four years and for the most part, we’re still brand new. Some people who live in Newry have only just begun to discover us!
(Image from @fineganandson)
Where do you see speciality coffee in the future?
Hopefully sometime in the future speciality coffee will be everywhere. I know that people complain about the pricing, but these days, it’s pretty much the same price and you don’t pay extra for the knowledge and transparency- that comes free, and it comes as a given when buying speciality.
But hopefully it continues onwards and upwards. I think we’re already starting to lose the people who travel for a good cup of coffee- mainly because there are so many places that are more accessible for people, with less of a commute to far out places- but that isn’t necessarily true for everyone. But if that is the case, then I guess that proves that it is growing and that more and more people are getting into it too.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in building your business in coffee?
Balance is key. There is always the stereotypical image of speciality coffee being extremely pretentious and I think there is a balance to be had in how you approach a customer. You can learn to read a customer- it takes a while, and I can’t say everyone can do it, but you can have a chat, engage with someone and get an idea of what they like, what they dislike and discern that, ok- they aren’t going to appreciate if we have a knock-out washed coffee on filter, they just want a flat white and that’s fine. It’s just about tailoring the approach.
If you do this right- you can help a customer become a regular. A regular has trust in you and your shop- they may eventually take a recommendation to perhaps try something new, and then that becomes their new routine. It’s a cool thing to watch someone’s tastes evolving.
Also staying true to the visual. For that part that’s all Anne-Marie, she’d kill me if I tried to take credit for that! She did all of this; (Graeme points out the tables and chairs to us, the layout of the shop) without Anne-Marie, it wouldn’t look this good. She’s the boss- she does everything, I just order the coffee!
You have been very vocal about how Finegan & Son is for your family but it is not something that you expect them, or in particular; your son, James, to take over- this is a really wonderful sentiment, can you speak more to this and what your hopes are for his future?
James is here a lot of the time- it allows us to spend time together, whilst we’re at work, and he helps from time to time, which he seems to enjoy!