Really? Another Coffee shop?

Mr_Spaceman

@ror

Sounds like you got a bitter espresso when 3fe realised you didn't have your top button done up.

I haven't been there, but London is packed with these places as well. In any case, I'm a bit too old for skinny chinos and a condescending smirk to go with my cappuccino.

I love Insomnia's coffee plus they have free newspapers ftw.

Ole Rodrigo

LOL@Spacey. Spot on sir. That, or I arrived with a brake on my fixie (I have a brake on my fixie ). Insomnia do a mean double espresso, and their lattes with egg and bacon sambo for a fiver a treat on a winters morning.

@quadrifoglio verde - no doubt that freshly brewed beer, like freshly brewed coffee tastes lovely, better than the mass produced stuff , no contest there. What I'd like to know, beyond keeping their equipment clean, is how do these independents make coffee that is so superior to the brand chains, and yet not discernibly better than I can make with an french press at home.

Good coffee can be made anywhere. A few weeks ago I had one after dinner at Koh- a common or garden thai restaurant of Jervis st. Man it was a delicious. Made from an unremarkable machine by a guy who didn't look as if he gave a fiddlers about the finer points of bean extraction. Heston Blumenthal serves Nespresso instant capsules after his 400 euro tasting menu at the Fat Duck. This is a man with an eye watering level of attention to quality .

quadrifoglio verde

ror_74 wrote: »

LOL@Spacey. Spot on sir. That, or I arrived with a brake on my fixie (I have a brake on my fixie ). Insomnia do a mean double espresso, and their lattes with egg and bacon sambo for a fiver a treat on a winters morning.

@quadrifoglio verde - no doubt that freshly brewed beer, like freshly brewed coffee tastes lovely, better than the mass produced stuff , no contest there. What I'd like to know, beyond keeping their equipment clean, is how do these independents make coffee that is so superior to the brand chains, and yet not discernibly better than I can make with an french press at home.

Good coffee can be made anywhere. A few weeks ago I had one after dinner at Koh- a common or garden thai restaurant of Jervis st. Man it was a delicious. Made from an unremarkable machine by a guy who didn't look as if he gave a fiddlers about the finer points of bean extraction. Heston Blumenthal serves Nespresso instant capsules after his 400 euro tasting menu at the Fat Duck. This is a man with an eye watering level of attention to quality .

A mixture of ingredients such as top quality beans, the correct water temperature, the correct timing, the right amount of water, the right amount of coffee and a good barrista all contribute to it.

I mainly use one of these when I'm brewing coffee at home.
http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm
Plus the same coffee that goes into my cup is the beans used in coffee angel.
While what i brew at home in my opinion is better than most of the coffee available in the major coffee chains, its still no where near as good as the coffee that I get in Coffee angel. Yet I follow their method exactly. So obviously the skilled training that their staff has as well plays an important roll.

However if I was served Nespresso capsules in Hestons, id be fairly put off, because there is a difference, a major difference between nespresso and aeropress or chemex.

Do you add milk to your coffee? Generally I find its a lot nicer than without milk. If I was you, id be heading into Karl in Coffee Angel to get more info. I can't come close to doing justice on the subject. Im only a pleasure drinker, not an expert in the field of this like he is.

jack presley

Muahahaha wrote: »

I remember years back the Simpsons did a piss take of Starbucks where Bart was walking down the street and every shop he passed was a Starbucks with the last shop having a sign saying 'Starbucks, Opening Soon'

I thought it was a bit over the top but having seen their recent expansion in Ireland I can see where the Simpsons writers were coming from !

Here's that clip

http://s1010.photobucket.com/user/chiraag87/media/Simpsons-Starbucks.flv.html

Little Britain did something similar too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAAIQpUgwjM

ScottSF

ror_74 wrote: »

...and yet they all buy coffee beans from the same wholesalers, who stock from the same imported container down the docks, which has spent the same amount of time travelling along the shipping lanes, and use the same equipment to process these beans?

You seem to imply that the ground coffee is the exact same product across all coffee shops in Dublin. That is definitely not true.

There are a number of top quality coffee roasters in Ireland that source their own beans and roast them in their own facilities to their own specifications. That makes a huge difference to flavor and aroma regardless of how the coffee is brewed at the cafe. As an extreme example, the Coffee Kiosk in Ballsbridge roasts the regularly changing raw beans in the minuscule kiosk!

Here are some examples of Irish coffee roasters. When you pass by a coffee shop, look in the window to see where they get their beans from.

Badger & Dodo
Ariosa Coffee
Silverskin (Coffee Kiosk)
Pónaire

I always thought the very popular Hasbean was based in Ireland, but found out they are actually located in the UK.

ror_74

I can't really explain the reasons why my taste buds reject the brand chains coffee! They just do. There is something horribly acidic about Starbucks coffee and Costa et al, it just tastes 'rough'.

Maybe they use cheaper lower quality beans. I've had LIDL coffee and I thought it was horrible, literally tasted of the ground.

I got a coffee in 3FE and it was disappointing. However Base Wood Fired Pizza and Kaph both serve 3FE coffee and it's just amazing. I'm surprised at how nice it is every time I get it!

ror_74 wrote: »

Please explain why the all of the brand chains are 'rubbish', the independents aren't, and yet they all buy coffee beans from the same wholesalers, who stock from the same imported container down the docks, which has spent the same amount of time travelling along the shipping lanes, and use the same equipment to process these beans? I don't understand where the huge disparity in quality lies. The best coffee Ive had was from my kitchen with beans from LIDL.

I've always had good coffee in Costa, Insomnia - hell I even enjoyed my name being called out in Starbucks. ...in fact the one time I had espresso from 3fe it was quite bitter and the atmosphere was so self consciously cool as to be slightly pathetic . And I say that as a beardy mac user with a record collection. :pac:

Aard

Some people like chain cafes, some like independents. Let's just be glad there's a market for both. The two pretty much don't interfere with each other, as the multinationals can afford the ridiculous rents of tourist hotspots, whereas most independents will tell you they prefer to be a little bit off the beaten track. Live and let live!

ongarboy

Caffe Nero opening in the IFSC in Excise walk between Milanos and Bagel Bar. That must be every coffee chain represented in the IFSC now apart from Costa.

Muahahaha

Costa opened in Finglas village about 3 months ago. I would never have really thought a coffee chain would do that well in the location but they seem to be. They also opened next to Texco Clearwater so this must be part of their planned expansion in the 'burbs.

ProudDUB

Finglas village has been crying out for a decent coffee shop for years. The area has a massive population.

AndonHandon

Donnybrook has seen Bakers and Cafe Nero open up recently. Near the office in Grand Canal there is a Lolly and Cooks which gets my business regularly.

alastair

Ole Rodrigo wrote: »

Good coffee can be made anywhere. A few weeks ago I had one after dinner at Koh- a common or garden thai restaurant of Jervis st. Man it was a delicious. Made from an unremarkable machine by a guy who didn't look as if he gave a fiddlers about the finer points of bean extraction. Heston Blumenthal serves Nespresso instant capsules after his 400 euro tasting menu at the Fat Duck. This is a man with an eye watering level of attention to quality .

Heston Blumenthal is a chef, and may well pay close attention to the food he serves in the Fat Duck, while opting for the consistency and convenience that Nespresso offers their operation, rather than the time, training, and complication that consistently good 'artisan' coffee requires. Restaurants are generally not known for serving great coffee in any case - there's generally more serve poor coffee than decent. The Michelin stars are for the food at The Fat Duck, not the drinks. So that's where his attention is going to lie.

It's entirely possible to match the quality of french press coffee from the artisan coffee shops at home - just use the same sourced, and freshly roasted, beans, a decent grinder, and take care of your temperature and timings, there's little to go wrong. But espresso-based drinks are rather more taxing on the skills and equipment front. The coffee chains will always struggle to match the best of the independents (which isn't to say that you won't sometimes get a clanger in an independent), because they can have a less rigorous roast to serve schedule, are more likely to focus on consistency over tweaking the best out of a specific bean/blend, often don't have the same level of barista skills, and all the other obvious reasons why a chain/franchise operation tend to provide competency rather than excellence, when compared to the best specialist independents in any sphere.

ongarboy

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I noticed two new coffee shops on O'Connell Street today. Esquires have opened next to Savoy cinema and Caffe Nero have opened further down towards O'Connell Bridge.

It had been in the news recently about Starbucks domination also. I checked their website and counted 50 cafes in Dublin alone (yes 50!!).

We really are loving our coffee these days by the looks of it as all the chains seem to be rapidly expanding as are new independents.

L1011

Some of the Starbucks location pins are utterly wrong (Dun Laoighaire SC is apparently on the north quays) so it may not be quite 50 in reality; however it probably is. More opening such as East Wall village.

jimmii

Was talking to someone looking at asking a unit Starbucks are after seems mad they are looking for yet more city centre locations! How do people drink so much coffee!!

cson

They don't.

It's a common tactic Starbucks use to swamp a particular location (in this case the City Centre) in order to drive out indigenous operators.

L1011

Starbucks International don't have much involvement in the Irish stores anymore; having sold the entire damn lot to Leisureplex about 4 years ago.

ProudDUB

jimmii wrote: »

Was talking to someone looking at asking a unit Starbucks are after seems mad they are looking for yet more city centre locations! How do people drink so much coffee!!

It's not about the coffee. It's about having somewhere to hang out, meet your friends, have a cuppa, surf the net on free wifi, have a snack, wait until the rain stops, read the newspaper and so on....and do so in an easy, relaxing, non threatening, comfortable environment, at very little cost to the paying customer. The coffee usually doesn't have much to do with it.

jimmii

ProudDUB wrote: »

It's not about the coffee. It's about having somewhere to hang out, meet your friends, have a cuppa, surf the net on free wifi, have a snack, wait until the rain stops, read the newspaper and so on....and do so in an easy, relaxing, non threatening, comfortable environment, at very little cost to the paying customer. The coffee usually doesn't have much to do with it.

Its still a lot of cuppas no matter what way you look at it. No matter why people go you would think there were enough for now there can't be many more needed for peak cafe to be reached surely!

ProudDUB

No. I don't think that there can ever be enough decent places for people to congregate and socialize, especially in a city of Dublin's size. They add to the fabric of the city centre, especially, when the alternatives are 2 euro shops, dodgy mobile phone shops, grubby arcade game casinos, even grubbier pubs that haven't seen a lick of paint in 30 years, fast food outlets and boarded up buildings. I'd much rather a home grown coffee shop, over a Starbucks, but I'd prefer a Starbucks over a boarded up building, or yet another Centra.

jimmii

ProudDUB wrote: »

No. I don't think that there can ever be enough decent places for people to congregate and socialize, especially in a city of Dublin's size. They add to the fabric of the city centre, especially, when the alternatives are 2 euro shops, dodgy mobile phone shops, grubby arcade game casinos, even grubbier pubs that haven't seen a lick of paint in 30 years, fast food outlets and boarded up buildings. I'd much rather a home grown coffee shop, over a Starbucks, but I'd prefer a Starbucks over a boarded up building, or yet another Centra.

True anything is better than yet another euro shop at least the payday places are thinning out. As you say it would be nice to see a home grown product but it's better than nothing.

deandean

.....aaannnnddd another Starbucks.

East Wall Road opposite LIDL.

Ciaran_B

There's a second one on the Rathmines Road now. I've not been in yet but the big one on the Rathmines was always nice to spend an hour in before or after the cinema.

whiskeyman

deandean wrote: »

.....aaannnnddd another Starbucks.

East Wall Road opposite LIDL.

Not open yet though?
'Coming soon' along with a McDonalds right beside it, no doubt with a 'McCafe' part.

ProudDUB

My sister lives in Seattle. There, they are as proud of their Starbucks, as we are of our Guinness. I know. Go figure. :rolleyes:

There is a downtown street corner, that is famous (or infamous?) because you can see no less than nine, yes NINE, different Starbucks outlets from it.

We've a way to go yet folks !

whiskeyman

ProudDUB wrote: »

My sister lives in Seattle. There, they are as proud of their Starbucks, as we are of our Guinness. I know. Go figure. :rolleyes:

I never got that when there - I reckoned they are far more proud of their coffee and coffee culture / independent shops.

Synode

Ciaran_B wrote: »

There's a second one on the Rathmines Road now. I've not been in yet but the big one on the Rathmines was always nice to spend an hour in before or after the cinema.

Rathmines is absolutely flooded with coffee shops now

ProudDUB

whiskeyman wrote: »

I never got that when there - I reckoned they are far more proud of their coffee and coffee culture / independent shops.

I meant that they are proud of a Seattle company, becoming such a global success story, not that they think that Starbucks coffee is the bombdiggidy, per se. I've been visiting there for over 20 years. The hipster/indie/counter culture coffee vibe may be more trendy now, there is still a lot of respect for what a small, local company achieved

L1011

Seattle, producer of behemoths of questionable virtue - Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks.

WarZ

Synode wrote: »

Rathmines is absolutely flooded with coffee shops now

Coffee shops and barbers. There are 6 barbers in Rathmines Village alone.