If there is one thing that I’m passionate about it’s fresh coffee. I don’t care how you extract it, aeropress, v60, espresso, French press, chemex, whatever floats your boat. But when it comes to buying fresh coffee I offer my café customers one option and that is to buy Irish roasted. Irish roasted coffee can come in many guises, from small artisan specialists to big commercial roasters. But the most important factor is that your coffee is fresh – and that is the key to any great food offering. (yes, coffee is a food!) Freshly roasted, freshly ground and each cup made to order – you won’t go far wrong.
When I say freshly roasted coffee – by that I mean coffee roasted at absolute maximum within the last 4 weeks. We don’t have to accept stock piled coffee that sits on pallets in Italy or the UK, maybe roasted 3 months ago and with a shelf life of 2 years – we’ve moved on. It’s time to support local suppliers and buy Irish. Your customers will appreciate you for it, and you’ll have a happier conscience too.
Like cooking, roasting is a skill where the specific pleasant flavours and tastes within the bean are identified by the roaster through the roasting process. When roasted, these flavours are then magnified through the extraction. So in short, properly sourced, quality beans, roasted with skill and precision will taste of fantastic ripe fruits, will posses great body and length, a balanced acidity and punch, and will linger in your mouth with a smooth and velvety feel. It’s a skill that takes years to perfect and understand and if you are passionate about coffee and want your customers to be interested in what you offer, I encourage you to go beyond the bag and find out more.
Finally don’t get consumed by price when choosing your coffee supplier. A euro difference per kilo from one supplier to the other in the price nets down to little over half a cent per shot when you get to the bottom line. It could be the difference between losing a customer forever or winning one for life.