It’s been a while since our last blog post on here. Regrettably, over a year! And oh, how much has changed in a year for all of us. Life these days at Root and Branch is looking rather different. With the streamlining of the business, came a streamlining of our team, which now consists of Simon, Finley, and Philippa. With Finley heading up all things roasting and production, and Philippa heading up all things social media and brew bar, Simon has been freed up to explore ways in which this next stage of Root and Branch can be the best yet.

So, what does this look like? The selling of the Ormeau Road and Ormeau Baths cafes has allowed us to focus on growing the wholesale side of the business, with new accounts existing from Sketrick Island, all the way to Dunfanaghy. With these new accounts has come a new partnership, alongside our friends at 3FE in Dublin, with Victoria Arduino. As Northern Ireland representatives of an espresso brand of such pedigree in both sales and service, we’re thrilled that our wholesale clients have the opportunity to experience our coffee on such innovative and environmentally conscious machines, such as the Eagle One Prima. In other exciting news, in October the Roastery saw the upgrading of our canning system. So, what does this mean for both customers and wholesale clients? Without getting too technical, an increase in volume in both cans and ring pulls has allowed us to drop our prices, while the introduction of a new can sealer remaining environmentally sustainable and keeping your coffee fresher for longer. What a treat to be able to hand that discount over to you.

To the delight of many, we finally started roasting our first ever decaf coffee. And it must be said, none of us here have ever been decaf drinkers, but the conversion is nigh! The hesitant nature of our long-awaited foray into the world of decaffeination has often been led by the environmental consequences as a result of such processing. Enter Santa Fé, from Mexico. The farmer, Jorge Arreola Nava, has a real passion and focus for organic farming methodologies, and so choosing his coffees to be part of the Mountain Water process meant that the process has an environmental light touch from start to finish. So far, this coffee has been a total hit. Pop into the roastery to give it a go.

Perhaps the biggest news we’re able to provide is the imminent arrival of our new roaster. In regards to opening up the business and the team to an array of new opportunities, this will be a gamechanger. Until then, we’re riding this lockdown wave the best we can.

The three of us are excited for what the coming months and years hold for us here at Root and Branch, and we hope you’ll be joining along on the journey. If you’re local, come and visit us at our Portview Roastery and Brew Bar, Monday through Friday. If you’re a friend from afar, remember our online shop is still live and kicking, and we hope to keep you up to date with all the happenings at Root and Branch through our new monthly newsletter. See you soon, and happy brewing!