Blas na hEireann is often described as the Oscars for the Irish Food Industry and included over 3000 submissions from a wide range of artisanal and specialist food producers.

Of the two categories for coffee (multi-origin and single origin categories), our Green Ocean Carrickwee won the Gold with a 1^st place win for the multi origin coffee. The Green Ocean Dorinish, which is a single origin from the Mutwiri coffee plantation in Kenya, won the silver medal with a second place win, and our Woodland Tibradden, which is also a single origin from Kenya came in with a 3^rd place win.

Speaking about the result, David Lawlor of Watermark Coffee said “We are really delighted that these wonderful coffees have performed so well.  In a very competitive market, with a lot of contenders in the competition, winning 3 out of 6 possible coffee awards is a fantastic result.”

The Green Ocean Carrickwee blend is a medium roast of speciality grade arabica beans sourced from Central America, Brazil and Kenya.  We designed this coffee recipe to reflect the increasing sophistication of Irish consumers but also to ensure it has maximum appeal.  It is not a huge surprise that it received the coveted first place win.

The Dorinish single origin from the coffee estate of Charles Mutwiri is a medium light roast but the earthiness of the Kenyan coffee gives more body with a nuanced sophisticated citrus and herbal flavour.

The Woodland Tibradden single origin coffee from Mt Kenya is roasted to medium light.  This speciality grade coffee has been a huge success since it was launched in 2022.

Producing fantastic coffee with a meaningful environmental purpose is the essence of what Green Ocean Coffee and Woodland Coffee stand for.

If you would like to find out more about these excellent coffees, or to arrange a coffee tasting for your business or office, then please let us know by calling 01 4666 000or dropping us an email on info@watermark.ie

1 Origin

There are over 70 counties that produce coffee and these are located between the tropics Capricorn and Cancer and the largest producer is Brazil at 2.6m tonnes followed by Vietnam at 1.5m tonnes.  The coffee that ends up in our espresso based drinks is principally grown from the two plant varieties of arabica and robusta, for the most part high end speciality coffee tends to be dominated by beans from arabica plants.  The most recent addition to the Woodland Coffee family is Tibradden coffee which is a single origin arabica coffee from Kenya.  Crone and Djouce coffees are blends that includes arabica beans from Brazil, Honduras, Costa Rica Sumatra and Ethiopia.

The methods of farming coffee impact the colour of coffee, for example our Tibradden coffee is prepared using the washed method, which gives it a crisp feel, a bright and fruity flavour with a sweet aftertaste.

Indian malabar coffee beans have the unique attribute of being allowed to dry under the humid monsoon winds which lightens the coffee bean and reduces the acidity giving it a spicy nut flavour.

Brazilian coffees on the other hand tend to be grown at lower altitude which gives it an earthy, rustic taste and brown colour.

2 Quality

There is no uniform standard grading framework across the coffee producing world; different countries govern their own grading system and these include aspects such as screen size (size of coffee bean), altitude, number of defects, or botanical variety.  All of our Woodland coffees are made from 100% arabica coffee of speciality grade., As our coffees come from several different coffee producing nations, we continually monitor the consistency of the coffee bean size to ensure uniform roasting, a low level of defects (such as broken beans).   Most importantly though is by the constant tasting of our coffees on a daily / weekly basis.

3 Altitude

Altitude has a powerful impact on the quality of coffee, typically most high quality coffees are grown at altitudes of over 3500 feet or 1060 meters above sea level (masl).  The reason why elevation matters is that the beans grow more slowly creating more flavour.  Unfortunately, the higher the altitude, the more difficult it is to farm and consequently the more expensive the coffee tends to be.

4 Roast

The roasting process has the largest impact on the colour of the coffee and the longer the coffee is roasted the darker it gets.  A Lighter roast retains more of the original flavour that the coffee has to offer. It contains multilayers of flavors with acidic brightness that gives fruitiness and sweetness to the coffee. It also has a lighter body because it hasn’t been roasted long enough to produce caramelized oils and sugars.  The key here is getting that balance right, coffee without body can taste bland and overpowered by milk and added water in the case of Americano.  Our Woodland coffees are a combination of light to medium roast coffees but with enough body to work well in espresso based beverages.

If you would like to find out more, please drop us a line on info@woodlandcoffee.ieor call us on 01 4666000.

Research conducted by the John Hopkins Institute (as well as a host of other studies) points to the positive impact of antioxidants in coffee as well as the effect caffeine has on our body’s health.  In summary, some of the findings are:

You could live longer

Having 2 cups of coffee daily reduces inflammation in the body which reduces the instances of heart failure, kidney disease and type 2 diabetes.

Parkinson’s disease

Regular intake of caffeine also reduces the instance of Parkinson’s disease and improves mobility with those who suffer from the condition.

Coffee helps to protect your liver

Research shows that coffee drinkers are more likely to have liver enzyme levels within a healthy range than people who don’t drink coffee.

Alzheimer’s disease and dementia

2 coffees a day may provide significant protection against developing the condition. Research has found that women aged 65 and older who drank two to three cups of coffee a day were less likely to develop dementia in general.

Stronger DNA

Research shows that darker roasted coffee strengthens DNA reducing breakage which helps to ward off cancers and a host of other nasties.

Coffee makes us feel good

Feeling good helps prevent suicide, depression and other neurological conditions.

Research from Harvard School of Public Health recommends that coffee should be considered as part of a healthy diet rather than as a prescribed cure to a medical condition.  So how much coffee is enough or too much?  Personally, I think that when we listen to our bodies, the answer becomes clear.  For me, 2 double shot coffees a day before midday is good for me.  For others that might be less or more.  Our body’s ability to process caffeine seems to vary considerably with some people happy to drink a double espresso before heading to bed for the night.

The Tibradden blend is a single origin coffee sourced from the Kirnyaga region of Kenya on the slopes of Mt Kenya.  The coffee is a high grade ’85’ Arabica coffee bean.  This coffee has been sourced ‘direct from farm’ which is located 1,600–1,700 meters above sea level.  Here the temperature is cooler allowing for a slower growth of the coffee cherries, and with less interference from pests such as coffee leaf rust and coffee berry bore makes for better quality coffee with less inherent defects.

The acidic soil in the highlands of central Kenya with just the right amount of sunlight and rainfall provide excellent conditions for growing coffee plants. Coffee from Kenya is of the ‘Colombia mild’ type, and is well known for its pleasant aroma with notes of cocoa. High grade coffee from Kenya is one of the most sought-after coffees in the world.

Sourcing the coffee ‘Direct from Farm’ bypasses the large coffee exchanges to ensure that a better price is paid to the farmer as the coffee is less commoditised.

The roast profile of the Tibradden blend is light and the tasting notes feature a good body with winey, milk chocolate and floral notes and a slight citric acidity.

We are very excited about this new blend that gives a different dimension to our range in the form of a single origin light roast coffee.  If you would like to try, let us know by dropping us a line at info@woodlandcoffee.ie

Cinnamon

A classic Christmas aroma and flavour, simply sprinkle some ground cinnamon to your ground coffee before brewing and voila.

Whipped Cream

This adds a decadent texture to coffee as the aerated cream melts into the coffee to give a truly luxuriant flavour, dust off the top lightly with hot chocolate or ground nutmeg.

Wild Peppermint

Peppermint adds a zing to coffee or hot chocolate. Simply add a 15ml dash of Shott Peppermint syrup to get amazing results as the peppermint and coffee flavours stand out and become more vibrant.

Flamed Orange

Shott is a New Zealand Company that specialise in making the most vibrant syrups without adding artificial flavours, colouring or sugar.   Pump 15ml of Shott Flamed Orange into your coffee and hot chocolate and garnish with finely grated orange zest.

Butterscotch

A flavour that brings memories of childhood.  Like caramel, butterscotch is a cooked sugar and the sweetness of butterscotch paired with coffee makes for a great combination.  Just add 15ml of Shott Butterscotch to your coffee and finish off with whipped cream.

If you’d like to find out more about our range of Shott syrups just drop us a line or give us a call on 01 4666304.

In the meantime, we wish you a safe and happy Christmas from all of us at Watermark.

It seems that just about every cost is rising around us at the moment, fuel, electricity, milk, flour – you name it; it’s going up in price.  It looks like a good dose of inflation is on the cards for everyone but what, if anything, should you do about it?

Dealing with a rising cost base is a little frightening because you’re always left with the niggling feeling that if you raise your own prices then you’ll loose or alienate those loyal customers you try so hard to please.  Unfortunately there is no hard fast rule as to the correct course of action but there are a number of things you can do to help you arrive at a conclusion that suits your business.

• Your business produces sales data every day, capture this and understand how your margin is performing.  Focus on the higher margin lines but understand the relationship and interdependent items on your menu.
• Coffee is an inelastic luxury good, we don’t strictly need coffee to survive and we can definitely make it at home more cheaply, but we still choose to buy coffee at a café.  Visiting a café is about lifestyle and experience meaning that the actual price of the coffee is secondary to the experience. So if you need to put up the price of coffee, then do it.
• Visiting a café is about the customers’ experience not yours as a café owner or your barista.  Beware of faux coolness, trend setting or my pet hate ‘educating the customer’.  The experience should be meaningful to them, understand what this is and you’ll be able to deliver in spades.
• Quality is key, it doesn’t matter what menu item you’re selling if it doesn’t deliver on quality then you’ve missed a trick.  Continually taste the coffee as this practice will help to make sure the grind is set correctly, the machine is clean or if it needs servicing.  It is our experience that deterioration in coffee quality more often arises due to poor calibration of equipment, pour execution in coffee preparation and equipment in need of a little TLC.
• If you are looking to put though a price increase, consider a product bundle so that you can soften the blow for the more price sensitive as well as increase your average spend.

My thoughts on whether to put a price up or not: Squeezed margins give rise to poor cashflow in later periods.  Over doing a price increases is not such a good option either as we all know when someone is having a laugh at our expense.  If you choose to do nothing, run your numbers and make a conscious decision to do nothing. Perception matters, it may be abundantly clear to you why you are changing a price just make sure your customers understand your situation too.  There is a balance in determining the right course of action that can be found with a little enquiry.

At Watermark we have years of extensive experience in advising the cafe sector, please drop us a line or all us on 01 4666000 if you would like to have a chat on how we can help you grow your business and make it more resilient.

The majority of coffee bags are made up of a non-recyclable plastic film that is similar to a stronger form of Cling Film and those coffee bags that are not made of this material often require specialist processing that is not commonly accessible.  It a bit like when you get a new TV, the cardboard goes in the green bin and the polystyrene goes into the black bin; very sad 🙁 .  For me, proper recyclability of an item must satisfy the condition that it is accessible and reasonably convenient for the end user, so this means that the bag can be placed in the green recyclable kerbside collection bin,

Our Woodland Coffee bags are made of No.4 LDPE recyclable film which is accepted in the kerbside green bin and its recyclability journey is something like this:

The Woodland coffee bag is collected by the kerbside collector and sorted in their facility into the different recyclable streams.  Next the LDPE film is shredded into flakes with the use of grinders. Once in flake form, the plastic is cleaned removing dirt, contaminants, and other debris. The newly cleaned bits are then dried, melted and pelletized for ease of transportation. In pellet form, the LDPE is either used on its own or combined with virgin LDPE material to produce new end-products. Many manufacturers use recycled LDPE to produce piping, sheeting and films for building and agricultural applications, composite lumber, and other products.

Making the choice to use a recyclable bag makes a significant impact in diverting waste away from landfill over time.  At Watermark, we are continually looking at ways in which we can make better quality decisions that minimise our environmental impact; a small choice today that leaves a legacy for generations to come in the form of a cleaner and healthier world for all.  Would you like to make a difference with us?

At this time of the year, I like to try and get things going in the garden and also start something new. My green project this Spring is to start composting all organic waste from our household in a new thermal composter, it will require a little bit of adjustment to how we do things but the benefits are immense.

One of my past Spring projects that I think has yielded the most amount of satisfaction and joy year after year was sowing a wild flower garden 6 years along a very ‘challenged’ section of our garden that is very dry due to the overhang of trees sucking up moisture and creating lots of shade.

The benefits of wildflowers are well understood in encouraging insects to feed, shelter and pollinate.  Apart from doing our bit to improve our garden biodiversity, the wild flower garden is incredibly pretty in summer which different varieties of flower coming into bloom throughout late Spring and Summer, it’s incredibly easy to maintain, just cut it down to about 10cm in late September and remove the cut clippings to the compost.

There are lots of indigenous seed varieties available to buy and you can select a variety based on whether your aspect is sunny, shady, dry, damp etc.  The key components in establishing the garden are:

• Match the seed choice with your site, sunny / shady etc
• Clear the area of any existing weeds by digging them out (along with the roots if you can)
• After about 2 weeks remove any weeds that might have escaped your first attempt.
• Calculate how much seed you will need based on your area – allow about 3g per square meter
• Rake the area removing stones and breaking down larger lumps of soil into to a fine consistency.
• Try and pick a day for sowing where the soil is damp or when light rain is expected.
• Disperse the seeds by hand and gently walk on the area after planting to press the seeds into the ground

In the first season, you will get an immediate result (most likely poppies and daisies) but some varieties take a season or two to get going so there is a lot more to look forward to.  Even if you have a small area of your garden where a wildflower garden is possible, give it a go and you’ll see a noticeable increase in bees and butterflies.

Woodland Coffee is a part of rain forest alliance which means that our coffee is grown and harvested in a manner that protects the rainforest by engaging in management practices that allow both coffee and rainforest to thrive in sympathy with each other.  Coffee beans start life off as a white flower which need lots of pollinators, it’s no different in Ireland.

The holly tree makes a great choice for most gardens, they grow slowly so they are very easy to maintain. They shed very little leaf litter, so less to clean up. They attract birds, particularly the thrush, who really like ripe holly berries.  They grow in shaded areas or under other larger trees which provides additional cover for birds and mammals like the hedgehog.

If you are thinking of planting a holly tree, try and get a female one, which will produce berries, and a male one which is needed to pollinate, they typically should be spaced within 20 meters of each other to allow for efficient pollination.

The holly is a versatile tree that I think punches way above its weight in terms of decoration, maintenance and biodiversity and what’s more, it’s a native Irish tree, extra sustainability kudos!!  We hope that you and yours have a very happy Christmas and we hope that you will join us for a coffee in 2021.

#biodiversity #sustainability #Christmasholly

Espresso machine

For me this is my favourite way of making coffee.  My first coffee of the day is Americano and I look out for a grind profile that feels a bit like grains of salt to touch and has an extraction time of approximately 25 including pre-infusion. I add water that is ‘off the boil’ or around 90 degree into the espresso shot.   I use Crone or Djoice whole beans.  Pure bliss!

Cafetiere / French Press

This is my weekend treat as it takes a bit longer.  The trick here is to leave the coffee brew for 4 minutes before you plunge and another couple of minutes after you plunge.  The coffee is immersed in the water and the flavour seeps out of the coffee giving a stronger bolder flavour.  Again use water that is off the boil and the grind should not be as fine as for your espresso machine; coffee that has the consistency of granulated sugar is best here.  I like to use pre-ground Djouce blend as the citrus notes are more pronounced with the longer brewing time.

V60 / Pourover Brewer

The coffee from a V60 is lighter in body as the water passes through the coffee in the filter paper as it’s poured so the drink is more ‘tea like’ in terms of mouthfeel.  The resulting drink is lighter but there is real clarity of flavour, if you use a French press it may take a little getting used of but I find I like it later in the day or after a meal.  I like to use either Woodland coffee blend as both taste really great.

Aeropress

The Aeropress is a combination of immersion coffee (like French Press) and filter coffee using the air pressure from the plunge to help extract the coffee flavour.   What’s nice is that it’s a really quick way of making coffee and there is loads of scope for experimentation.  Again use water that is off the boil and pre-infuse the coffee first by pouring 40ml or 50ml into the coffee and leave for 30 seconds before adding the rest of the water and plunge slowly (between 15 – 30 seconds).  The result is a clean balanced flavour but with a little more punch.

For me, I like experimenting and messing around with different ways to bring out the range of flavours in the coffee.  Our Woodland Coffees are available in 500g recyclable bags of whole bean or ground coffee, give them a try and perhaps you’ll find your perfect cup!