Made By A Family, Not A Factory
Red Rooster Coffee
We get our coffee beans from Red Rooster Coffee roaster, located in Sligo. It is owned and run by William Davenport and his wife Cindie who started the business back in 2012.
The couple started out with zero coffee experience but through intense research the Davenports solidified their choices for the coffee origins they wanted to roast and the blends they wanted to create. This is where the story began!
Their motto is “Made By A Family, Not A Factory” – and you can taste that in the different roasts! Nothing is done in a rush or with big sales numbers in mind.
Let’s Take it S-L-O-W
Coffee Roasting
It takes William and Cindie a lot longer to roast a batch of beans than most other roasters out there. Why? When you’re roasting coffee you’re basically cooking food. Think about cooking a big roast, say a ‘Housekeeper’s Cut’. What gives you the best taste, a quickly cooked piece of beef or one that slow cooks for hours?
The answer is clear. And the same is true with coffee. You can “flash roast” and get the job done, or you can love your beans and your customers and put in the work necessary to make a remarkable cup of coffee. Red Rooster have chosen to go the love route and both them and us trust you can taste that love in your cup.
Roasted slowly, smoothly and evenly
Cast Iron Coffee Roasting
Another reason for the intense flavour of these beans is the machinery they use at Red Rooster. Red Rooster use a cast iron roaster — the only one in Ireland — instead of a steel roaster. This makes a HUGE difference in the roast.
Steel drum roasters are prone to hot spots and tipping, a term the coffee industry uses for slightly burning the beans in spots. On the other hand, a cast iron roasting drum heats slowly, smoothly, and evenly, so tipping (and other negative steel drum roaster issues) isn’t a concern.
Our Silkie Smooth House Blend
3-Bean House Blend
We owe this marvellous blend to a recipe suggested to William by an old coffee roaster from America. A crowd pleaser of a blend but still unique in its smoothness and intensity. We mainly use this blend in store as it is so consistent and rich, and it’s truly delicious in both milky and black coffees.
Combining Sumatran Mandheling, Colombian Bucaramanga and Costa Rican Honey Processed coffee beans this coffee is truly a ‘cup of excellence’, as Fan likes to call it!
The ‘Barnyard Boogie’
Ethiopian Sidamo
Red Rooster calls this coffee ‘Barnyard Boogie’… And the name is in the taste! Historians tell us that the original coffee plants were found in Ethiopia. Maybe that is why this coffee tastes so good.
We find all kinds of tastes in this coffee. You can go from floral to fruity and citrusy and then on to berry and caramel and chocolate and honeysuckle. It has a rich, full body (mouthfeel), and low acidity. William, our roaster, loves this coffee. As Red Rooster say on the bag, it will make you dance…the barnyard boogie coffee dance!
Grade 1, Triple Picked Deliciousness
Sumatran Mandheling
Then there is our Sumatra coffee, grade 1, triple picked. Coming from the Indonesian island of Java, it is bold and earthy with a great mouthfeel, low acidity and a semi-sweet taste.
The volcanic soil it is grown in gives it a brightness without going over the top (like a Kenya bean might do). The combination of that bit of bright punch coupled with the earthiness and herbal, chocolaty aromas make for a fantastically unique coffee.
Just A Good Cup of Coffee
Colombian Bucaramanga
This bean from the Bucaramanga area in Colombia is especially versatile and makes for a superior cup of coffee. It is high grown at about 1800 meters and a hard bean. It makes a fantastic ‘please everyone’ cup of coffee. Not too dark, not too light.
Red Rooster double roast the beans, one batch lightly roasted and one roasted medium to bring out the particular flavours that go into making a classic Colombian roast. You will get a subtle, sweet aromatic coffee with a medium body, gentle notes of chocolate, lime and nuts. Clean and consistent. The perfect cup for people who say, ’I just want a good cup of coffee’.
A Lot of Hard Graft Went Into This
Costa Rican Honey Process
Harvested and milled in Hacienda Sonora, Costa Rica, these beans have been processed using a labour-intensive system known as honey processing. This produces a very delicate coffee with notes of red apple, dried plum and a sugar cane sweetness.
