Offing began with its founder, Stephanie, who first worked in specialty coffee in Melbourne coffee shops in 2011 and spent the next ten years wanting a spot of her own. When the pandemic left her facing redundancy, she renovated a 1980s caravan with her dad, and in May 2021 Offing opened as a coffee cart in a field at Milltown Farm, beside the walkway locals call “Out the Line”.
After two years in the field, Offing moved in April 2023 into its brick-and-mortar café on the River Foyle, still on the same route. It stands beside the Foyle Valley Railway Museum on the Foyle Greenway, the cycle path from Derry to Carrigans, and there is a pay-and-display council car park outside the door.
Offing serves local produce with the coffee. The autumn menu brings back shakshuka on lemon-oil sourdough and a mushroom toast with house-made chimichurri, and on Sundays there are doughnuts. The team runs a monthly book club and shares what each of them is reading.
Photograph: Offing Coffee