Derry’s specialty coffee shops sit inside the city walls, just outside them and along the River Foyle. Opal roasts its own coffee and pours it at Rosta Coffee Bar. Offing started in May 2021 as a coffee cart in a renovated caravan in a field and moved to the riverbank in 2023, and Gráft, run by baristas, opened in 2024. Nine Hostages, The Coffee Tree and Gráft pour coffee from roasters in Belfast, Letterkenny and Galway.
Opal Coffee Roasters and Rosta Coffee Bar, just outside the walls
Opal is a micro-roastery and brew bar with “seasonally rotating coffee roasted for clarity & character”. The roast is light and well developed, aimed at sweetness, clarity and brightness, and the range runs from a natural Caturra from Coope Tarrazu in Costa Rica to Kenyan AA lots and a thermal-shock Pink Bourbon from Edinson Argote in Colombia. Opal roasts every Monday and recommends resting its coffee for at least a week, with the flavour at its peak around day 14 to 20; for espresso it suggests longer shots with a slightly shorter extraction time. Rosta Coffee Bar is its café, with “Seasonal Coffee & Baked Goods”: an Opal coffee on espresso, rotating batch brew, a pour-over menu and the Opal retail bags on the shelves, with banana bread and cruffins on the counter and a hand-painted coffee tree by Marty Green Art on the wall. Opal also supplies cafés with coffee and equipment, and runs cupping evenings of its current coffees.
Gráft, north-west of the walls
Gráft was “created & developed by baristas”, and Hannah and Lúcás run it. Grá is the Irish word for love, and its sign-off is “Grá Mór”. It turned two in September 2026. The pour-over menu brings in guest roasters: Calendar Coffee’s natural Rwanda, the first coffee roasted in Galway on Gráft’s bar, and a Colombian Pink Bourbon from Ground State Coffee, co-fermented with watermelon, which the team called “probably the funkiest and coolest coffee” it has had. Gráft is pet friendly and hosts Gaeilge Café, an Irish-language evening for beginners, with Clann & Co. Social Club.
Nine Hostages Coffee, inside the city walls
Nine Hostages takes its name from Niall of the Nine Hostages, whose story is tied to the north of Ireland. It sits inside the city walls, and its line is “Proper coffee. Proper food.” The coffee comes from Cadre, a Belfast roaster that groups its range by style, from chocolate-and-nuts daily drinkers to bright, floral lots, experimental ferments and decaf. Brunch is served all day, from eggs Benedict and French toast to sourdough, with baked goods and carrot cake on the counter, and the café is pet friendly.
Offing Coffee, on the River Foyle
Offing began with Stephanie, who first worked in specialty coffee in Melbourne in 2011. Facing redundancy during the pandemic, she renovated a 1980s caravan with her dad, and in May 2021 opened it as a coffee cart in a field at Milltown Farm, on the walkway locals call “Out the Line”. In April 2023 Offing moved into its café on the River Foyle, beside the Foyle Valley Railway Museum on the Foyle Greenway to Carrigans. It serves local produce alongside the coffee: shakshuka on lemon-oil sourdough and a mushroom toast with house-made chimichurri on the autumn menu, and doughnuts on Sundays. The team also runs a book club.
hang ten. brew bar, north of the walls
hang ten. is an independent, dog-friendly brew bar serving coffee, food and bakes. Its own drinks include the Mont Blanc, an iced Americano under a house-made vanilla and orange cream, and the Coconut Cloud Matcha, coconut water with matcha cold foam.
The Coffee Tree, in the city centre
The Coffee Tree pours New Kid Coffee, roasted in Letterkenny across the border in Donegal by the winners of the 2022 Irish Brewers Cup. The milk is from The Milk Bar in Carrigans, pasteurised but neither homogenised nor standardised, and the matcha and hojicha are from Mafia Matcha in Dublin. Two pastry chefs, Abi and Mimmi, make the bakes, and breakfast runs to overnight oats, granola pots and açaí bowls, with salads and doorstop sandwiches too.
What you need to know about Derry specialty coffee
Which Derry café serves coffee from its own roastery? Rosta Coffee Bar is the café of Opal Coffee Roasters, and its shelves carry the Opal retail range.
Which roasters do the other coffee shops serve? Nine Hostages serves Cadre from Belfast and The Coffee Tree serves New Kid Coffee from Letterkenny. Gráft brings in guest roasters, among them Calendar Coffee from Galway and Ground State Coffee.
Which coffee shops are inside the city walls? Nine Hostages is inside the walls, and Rosta Coffee Bar is just outside them.
Where can you have breakfast or brunch with your coffee? Nine Hostages serves brunch all day, Offing has a food menu built on local produce, The Coffee Tree serves overnight oats and açaí bowls, and hang ten. serves food and bakes.
Are Derry’s coffee shops dog friendly? hang ten. is dog friendly, and Gráft and Nine Hostages are pet friendly.
Is there parking at Offing? There is a pay-and-display council car park outside Offing’s door.
Photo credits
Photographs belong to the businesses and are reproduced from their official websites with attribution.
