As my fellow “geriatric millennials” and I will tell you, coffee culture in Ireland is a relatively new phenomenon. Growing up, adults didn’t offer coffee during a visit – they offered tea. People didn’t flock to that new coffee place during their lunch break for an extravagant coconut milk decaf cappuccino. No, instead we drank tea. And for those of us who grew up in the country, we drank tea by the bucket load.
But over the last couple of years, the dominance of tea as our national hot beverage has been superseded by coffee. Even the smallest villages now boast a cafe offering barista coffee. At home, we’re no longer content with powdered instant coffee, replacing it with elegant French presses or coffee pod machines. This isn’t just speculation; Bord Bia has confirmed that sales of fresh coffee are growing year on year, while instant coffee sales continue to decline. So, our coffee consumption is growing, and so is our demand for quality coffee beans that create a more sophisticated flavour.
This begs the question: Why has Ireland become such a coffee culture? To find out, we spoke to Coffee 47, a business at the forefront of Ireland’s booming coffee industry.
Coffee 47
For Coffee 47, the journey to a perfect cup is rooted in the bean itself – a fundamental belief that exceptional coffee starts with the finest raw material. As Irish coffee roasters, their approach centres on procuring premium-grade beans from ethical and sustainable farms in diverse regions worldwide. Rigorous quality control measures are applied to every bean before it reaches the roasting drums.
At their facility in Edenderry, Coffee 47’s dedicated team employs a meticulous small-batch roasting methodology. This technique is crucial, providing precise control over each roast’s flavour development. The outcome is coffee that not only honours the inherent qualities of the beans but also accentuates the subtle, complex flavour notes cherished by serious coffee enthusiasts.
The Postive Outcome of Travel on Irish Coffee Culture
Our modern caffeine obsession can be loosely traced back to the Celtic Tiger era. During those halcyon days of the ’90s and early ’00s, significant numbers of Irish people travelled outside of Ireland for holidays, exposing them to the established coffee culture prevalent across mainland Europe. Simultaneously, as Ireland’s economy boomed, many Irish emigrants returned home, bringing with them a cultivated taste for higher-end coffee. This newly created market fuelled a response from Irish businesses; slowly but surely, we witnessed more and more cafes offering barista-quality coffee springing up. This trend steadily spread outwards from the major cities into smaller towns and villages. Consequently, by 2025, finding a cafe serving great coffee is possible just about everywhere.
That Need For a Quicker Pick Me Up
It’s undeniable that life in the last 20 years has accelerated significantly. Smartphones have connected us all, information arrives instantaneously, and social media has us recording and sharing almost every aspect of our lives. Compounding this, in Ireland, there has been a slight increase in the average number of hours we work each week. Interestingly, the growth of gym culture has also paralleled the rise of coffee consumption. All of these factors place greater demands on our time, and when we need a little boost to keep pace, we often reach for a caffeine-rich cup of coffee. While tea also contains caffeine, it tends to release more slowly compared to the caffeine found in coffee. Thus, to help maximise the hours available in the day, more and more people are enjoying the unique and natural pick-me-up they get from coffee.
Better Quality Coffee
In all likelihood, a primary reason for coffee’s continued rise in Ireland is the significant improvement in the quality of coffee that is now readily available. Thanks to dedicated companies like Coffee 47, the Irish market can access carefully sourced coffee beans that undergo modern, precise roasting techniques to create truly aromatic and delicious coffee. So, whether you’re a seasoned coffee aficionado or a complete coffee novice, we encourage you to check out their site and take advantage of the fantastic selection of coffee beans they have for sale.
| Address | Longford |
| Telephone Numbers | +353 86 384 3252 |
| Website | www.coffee47.ie |