Dublin coffee guide: champion tasters and a church roastery

3fe started as a one-man cart in a nightclub lobby, Coffeeangel on a three-wheeled cart on Howth pier in 2004, and Bear Market on a market stall in Blackrock in 2013. Five of these ten businesses roast their own coffee: 3fe in Glasnevin, Bear Market in a converted church in Stillorgan, Cloud Picker in Crumlin, Shoe Lane through its head roaster Brian Birdy, and Sumo, founded by the 2019 World Cup Tasters Champion. The other five pour Bailies, Square Mile, DAK, Farmhand and a rotation of guest roasters, and Vice is also an Irish coffee bar. The cafés are in Grand Canal Dock, Smithfield, Temple Bar, the Liberties, Ranelagh and Phibsborough, and on the coast at Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey.

3fe, Grand Canal Dock and seven other cafés

3fe began as a one-man coffee cart in a nightclub lobby and is owned by Colin Harmon, a four-time Irish Barista Champion, who has written two books about running coffee businesses. It now roasts in Glasnevin, only ever to order, and runs eight cafés: two in Grand Canal Dock, including the flagship, and others in Harold’s Cross, Phibsborough, Islandbridge, the IFSC, Ranelagh and Dublin 4. Five of the cafés have food menus and take table bookings, and every café sells beans and equipment. Its green buyer travels to the farms it buys from, and several come back every year, among them Los Chorros in Huila, Colombia, and Erwin Mierisch’s farms in Nicaragua. Some bags carry artwork by artists from coffee-producing countries, and 3fe is the official coffee supplier to Irish Rugby, with a blend for the national teams and another for Leinster.

Bear Market Coffee, a church in Stillorgan and the city centre

Bear Market Coffee was founded in 2013 by Stephen and Ruth, two architects who changed careers during the recession and took the name from the financial term for a falling market. It began on a market stall in Blackrock, where its first café opened the same year. Since 2021 it has roasted every bean it sells on a Loring Falcon 15 in a converted church in Stillorgan, which is also a café where the whole roasting process is visible to the public, and where the team runs barista training and cupping sessions. There are nine cafés: Stillorgan, Blackrock, three in the city centre, two at the IFSC, one in Sandyford and one inside the Decathlon store in Ballymun. In 2014 Bear Market was one of the first coffee shops in Ireland to use fully compostable packaging for its single-use products.

Cloud Picker, Dublin 2 and Dublin Airport

Cloud Picker was founded in 2013 by Frank Kavanagh and Peter Sztal as “Dublin’s first micro roastery”, by its own account, and took its name from the founders’ first farm visit, up through the clouds on the border between Myanmar and Thailand. It roasts by hand, to order, every week on a Loring in Crumlin, buying from single farmers such as Alemayehu Hillo Meko in Sidama, Ethiopia, and from cooperatives, and two Colombian coffees in its range are shipped to Europe by sail. The café is in The Projector Room in Dublin 2, and Cloud Picker also serves coffee at Dublin Airport, in the Terminal 1 arrivals hall and at two gates in Terminal 2. It is a certified B Corp, and its local deliveries run on an all-electric fleet.

Shoe Lane Coffee, Tara Street station, Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey

Shoe Lane Coffee opened in July 2016 as a pop-up beside Tara Street station, on a street once known as Shoe Lane for its row of cobblers. The first café has vintage Singer sewing machines and shoe lasts in the window, donated by Tara Leather, the last of the cobblers, and counters and seating made from 150-year-old salvaged timber. Its coffee is roasted in small batches by head roaster Brian Birdy, a former Irish Cup Tasters Champion, who travelled to Fazenda Chapadão in Brazil to see the harvest behind the house espresso. The house filter comes from the Rung’eto Farmers Cooperative in Kenya, a supplier since 2016. There are four cafés: the original, a newer one on the Liffey near O’Connell Bridge, and two on the coast in Dún Laoghaire and Dalkey. All four are dog friendly, with free wifi.

Sumo Coffee Roasters, Temple Bar

Sumo Coffee Roasters was founded in summer 2020 by Daniel Horbat and his partner Alexandra. Daniel won the Irish Cup Tasters Championship three times and the World Cup Tasters Championship in 2019, with a perfect score, the first Irish representative to take that title. The roasting began at home during lockdown on a 50 g sample roaster, because the first production roaster was stuck in transit; Sumo now roasts to order on a custom-made Probat P12, twice a week. Its range is split into filter and espresso roasts and includes competition lots such as the Finca Deborah geshas from Panama. The name comes from Daniel’s childhood in Romania, watching sumo wrestling on the family’s first colour television. Sumo has a café in Temple Bar.

Coffeeangel, ten cafés from Trinity College to Ballsbridge

Coffeeangel began on St Patrick’s Day 2004, when Karl Purdy opened a converted three-wheeled coffee cart at the end of the pier in Howth. He worked the cart for seven years and won the Irish Barista Championship in 2006, and in 2011 he opened a three-month pop-up in the shopping district that is still trading. There are now ten cafés, nine in Dublin and one in Monaghan, several in historic buildings: the headquarters is a Victorian red-brick built in 1896 as a stockbroker’s office, and another is in a Georgian building near Merrion Square. The beans are roasted for Coffeeangel by Bailies in Belfast, with the roast date on every bag, and five per cent of profits go to local biodiversity.

Copper + Straw, Smithfield, Temple Bar and Palmerston Park

Copper + Straw is an independent coffee company founded in 2018, shortlisted among the top ten cafés in Dublin in the Irish Restaurant Awards 2023. Its house roaster is Bailies in Belfast, with a different guest roaster every month. There are always three coffees on espresso, one for milk, one for drinking black and a high-scoring guest, and a guest coffee on filter. More than 50 roasters have passed through, among them La Cabra, The Barn, Gardelli and Dublin’s own Sumo. The food is chef-led and made in its own off-site kitchen, and the cafés are on the quays in Smithfield and Temple Bar, in Palmerston Park and in Bray.

Proper Order Coffee Co., Smithfield

Proper Order Coffee Co. has served coffee in Smithfield since 2016. The house espresso is Caramelt, a natural Brazil from DAK in Amsterdam, and guest coffees are on frequent rotation, with drip and pour-over on filter. Its own drinks include a flat white made with freeze-distilled milk, which has had 62.5% of its water removed, Turkish coffee brewed two ways, traditional in a cezve with house rose syrup or a precise “new wave” version, and pour-overs of single-origin cacao from Ander. Seasonal lattes use syrups made in house.

Two Pups, the Liberties and Fairview

Two Pups pours Red Brick, the seasonal espresso from Square Mile, which it has served for four years, and filter coffee from Farmhand, a roaster in Dublin. All its pastries come from Bold Boy Bakery, its own micro bakery, and the kitchen buys from small and organic producers such as McNally Family Farm and Village Dairy. The second café is in Fairview. In the evening the café in the Liberties becomes Notions, a natural wine bar and restaurant with head chef James Walsh, formerly of Glovers Alley and Belcanto in Lisbon.

Vice Coffee Inc., Wigwam in Dublin 1

Vice Coffee Inc. has served coffee since January 2013 and is now a multi-roaster bar inside Wigwam, a venue in Dublin 1 with a rum bar, a Brazilian kitchen and a ping pong club. The menu rotates roasters from Ireland and abroad, among them Square Mile, 3fe, Bailies, Calendar, Coffee Collective and Friedhats. Vice is also an Irish coffee bar, with three on the menu, from the “Plain Jane” with espresso and Kilbeggan to the “Fancy Frankie” with Teeling Small Batch.

What you need to know about Dublin specialty coffee

Which Dublin coffee shops roast their own coffee? 3fe roasts in Glasnevin, Bear Market in a converted church in Stillorgan, Cloud Picker in Crumlin, Shoe Lane through head roaster Brian Birdy, and Sumo on its Probat P12.

Which roasters do the other cafés pour? Coffeeangel serves beans roasted for it by Bailies in Belfast, Copper + Straw pours Bailies and a monthly guest, Proper Order has DAK’s Caramelt as house espresso, Two Pups pours Square Mile and Farmhand, and Vice rotates Irish and European roasters.

Where can you drink an Irish coffee made with specialty coffee? Vice Coffee Inc. serves three Irish coffees, among them the “Fancy Frankie” with Teeling Small Batch.

Is there specialty coffee at Dublin Airport? Cloud Picker has a counter in the Terminal 1 arrivals hall and two at gates in Terminal 2.

Can you book a table? 3fe takes bookings at five cafés: the flagship and Gertrude in Grand Canal Dock, Five Points, Phibsborough and Clancy Quay. Notions, the evening restaurant at Two Pups in the Liberties, also takes bookings.

Can you work on a laptop? Shoe Lane welcomes laptops and has free wifi in all four cafés, and asks for consideration at the busiest times; the original café has an upstairs seating area.

Where is the coffee by the sea? Shoe Lane has cafés in Dún Laoghaire, near the East Pier, and in Dalkey village, Bear Market has a café in Blackrock, and Copper + Straw has a café in Bray.