Coffeeangel

Coffeeangel was founded by Karl Purdy, a photojournalist who turned to cafés in the 1990s and opened The Ground Floor in Belfast in 1997. After moving to Dublin, he opened a converted three-wheeled coffee cart at the end of the pier in Howth on St Patrick’s Day 2004, and worked it for seven years, through wind, rain and snow. He won the Irish Barista Championship in 2006, and Coffeeangel had another Irish Barista Champion in 2009.

The first café opened in 2011 as a three-month pop-up in the heart of the shopping district and is still there. Caroline, Karl’s wife, joined as co-owner and marketing director in 2015. Coffeeangel now has ten cafés, nine in Dublin and one in the centre of Monaghan town, along with an online shop, a catering kitchen and a coffee-equipment business.

The beans are chosen by Coffeeangel and roasted weekly for it by Bailies in Belfast, with the roast date on every bag, and the team in every café is trained to the same standard. The retail range is split into signature blends and single origins. Five per cent of the profits go to funding local biodiversity.

Several cafés are in historic buildings. The headquarters café is a four-storey Victorian red-brick built in 1896 as a stockbroker’s office, and the café near Merrion Square is in a preserved Georgian building. Others sit beside the Iveagh Gardens, at the entrance of The Exchange Building at the IFSC, and beside Trinity College, where there is generous outdoor seating. The tenth and newest is in Ballsbridge.

Photograph: Coffeeangel