Bear Market Coffee was founded in 2013 by Stephen and Ruth, two architects who changed careers during the recession and named the company after the financial term for a falling market. It started as a market stall in Blackrock, and its first café opened in Blackrock the same year.

In 2021 Bear Market began roasting its own coffee on a Loring Falcon 15 in a converted church in Stillorgan. The roastery is also a café, where the whole roasting process is visible to the public, and it is where the team runs barista training and cupping sessions. Every bean the company sells is roasted there, to order each week. The Loring recirculates its hot air through the burner, which also burns off the roasting smoke, and Loring estimates the design uses up to 80% less fuel than a conventional drum roaster. The green coffee comes from established suppliers with long-term relationships at origin, some of whom work directly with farmers and co-ops.

There are nine cafés: the Stillorgan roastery, Blackrock, three in the city centre, two at the IFSC, one in Sandyford Business Park and one inside the Decathlon store in Ballymun. Each café is designed, Bear Market says, “to be as considered as our coffee”. The café a short walk from Pearse station has outdoor seating, and the Decathlon café offers vegan and gluten-free pastries.

In 2014 Bear Market became one of the first coffee shops in Ireland to use compostable packaging for its single-use products. Its pods are compostable, its coffee packaging is certified carbon neutral, local deliveries run on an electric fleet, and customers with a reusable cup get a discount on every drink.

Coffee on the shelf

Photograph: Bear Market Coffee