We are delighted to announce that we will be joined at Tamper Tantrum Live on March 31st by the indomitable Rasmus Helgebostad who’s flying in from Norway to be with us on the day.

Rasmus’ was a co-founder of Kaffemisjonen in Bergen which has grown, along with its sister cafes, to be counted amongst Europes finest coffee destinations. He is a former captain of the Norwegian barista team and as accomplished and seasoned a competitor as you’re likely to find.

Rasmus’ contribution to coffee extends to his work with the SCAE and also as a significant contributor online. We are delighted and honored to have Rasmus with us and can’t wait for his talk.

Tickets are still available here but shifting fast!

Undoubtedly one of the worlds most respected baristas, John Gordon of Square Mile Coffee ticks many of the boxes that a great barista should. A two time UK Barista champion and former UK Latte Art Champion, John is also an accomplished machine engineer and roaster to boot. 

On top of all that John is also a purveyor of fine hand made tampers and recently organised the hugely successful auction in aid of Safe House Coffee at Prufrock in London.

John is also what we like to call an honorary 3FEer and has always been not just a great friend to us but also a wonderful example to baristas everywhere. To say we’re excited about his presentation would be to put it mildly. 

Tickets are disappearing and are available here

More speakers announced soon!!

Col

The specialty coffee community is consistantly focused on ethics and good will and never materialism or greed. Therefore, in what is a refreshing change from the norm we’re starting with the prizes!

1. Nuova Simonelli Musica Espresso Machine

2. Mahlkonig Pro-M grinder

3. Hasbean 12 week subscription

4. Custom hand-carved 3FE Tamper

Now, those prizes are incredible and because we are restricting ourselves to 8 competitors you have a 12.5% chance of winning if you enter. All you have to do is sign up HERE and you’re away.

Obviously we would love to have as many international competitors as possible so if you’re considering taking the trip consider that there’s also the following on at the Twisted Pepper that weekend;

Irish Brewers Cup

  Tamper Tantrum Live

Irish Cup Taster Competition

The event is called the WORLD home barista championships because its open to everyone so we’re looking forward to a wide range of competitiors. The idea is basically to serve 2 espresso, 2 cappuccinos and 2 filter coffees using your own home equipment and we’ll look favourably on those making the most of their equipment.

Competitors will receive a full run down of the rules but in short, here are the main ones outlined below. If you’re interested, sign up ASAP. Its going to be an amazing weekend and if you win people will like you more as you will own lots of cool stuff.

Col

Hasbean World Home Barista Championships @ Brew Ha Ha Dublin 2012

Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1. April 1st 2012

1. Entry is open to people from any country

2. Entrants cannot be currently working as a barista or have done so (i) in the last 3 years or (ii) for a period greater than 2 years

3. The term “barista” can be taken to mean any person who has worked within the coffee service industry or an associated business (e.g. Water boiler geek with cup-tasting experience)

4. Non-disclosure of relevant information can lead to disqualification.

5. Disclosures can be submitted to hello@3fe.com for appraisal.

Competition

1.  
   1.  

      1. Participants have 10 minutes in which to make 2 cappuccinos, 2 espressos and 2 cups of filter coffee.

      2. There are 2 sensory judges and 1 technical judge.

Scoring

Technical score 0-10 (Three times) 30

Sensory score 0-30 (Three times) 90

Presentation score 0-30 30

Resourceful score 0-30 30

Coffee knowledge 0-20 20

Score x 5= /1,000

http://www.eventelephant.com/hasbeanworldhomebaristachampionships

I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone we’re absolutely delighted that Colin and Lorraine placed first and second (respectively) at this year’s Irish Barista Championship. As someone who can constantly see the training room from her desk, I can certainly attest to the fact that they both put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort into their presentations. It was wonderful to watch both of them from start to finish (although Col was a bit secretive leading up to his presentation in the final) and really delightful to see such hard work pay off for both of them.

To celebrate, Steve has secured us a world-exclusive coffee from a very small farm in Costa Rica. The farmers, Maria Eugenia and Juan Luis, only produced ten green bags of coffee this year, eight of which they sold unprocessed in order to be able to pay for their very own coffee mill. They processed the remaining two bags with their brand-new mill themselves, and it’s these two bags that Steve discovered while blind-cupping about 80 small-lot Costa Rican coffees.

We’re going to showcase this remarkable coffee—the Costa Rica Farami—in our shops the week of March 4th - March 11th. To kick things off, we’ll be cupping the coffee in our Lower Grand Canal Shop this Sunday, March 4th (details to follow). We’ll also be doing some small little things throughout the week to celebrate, as well, so keep your eyes open! There should be at least one opportunity to sneak out of your office for some Farami-flavoured fun…

FARAMI is a totally 100% integrated farm concept, in which Maria Eugenia and Juan Luis raise animals such as pigs, goats, sheep, turkeys, and chickens, and then collect their manure for the coffee farm. They sell the pigs, milk the goats, sell the eggs, and now, they can also process their own coffee. When it comes to the cup, Farami delivers a lovely citrus, lemon and lime to keep it light and long, with an underlying chocolate sweetness, which gives the Farami a bit of body and a lovely mouthfeel.

We’ll have Farami as long as it lasts in both shops on espresso and filter. Stop in, say hello, and have a taste!

xjenn

Hey coffee lovers, our new courses for March are up and ready for booking. This month should really put a spring in your step with 3 new classes available. Our fact-loving Pete Williams wants to share some of his wonderful top coffee tips with you! Places in both our “home brewing” and “exacting extraction” classes are limited to ensure that quality time and knowledge is filtered to everyone involved. With lunch and as much coffee as one desires provided along  with a special bag of Has bean coffee (we have a little something special this month) be sure to book your place ASAP.

Saturday home-brewing:

March 3, 2012 / March 17, 2012 / March 24, 2012

Sunday Espresso Course:

March 18, 2012

Lorraine

Why, hello there! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? You might have noticed that it’s nearly February. It’s often a difficult month to deal with, not just because you have that funny little holiday in the middle or because the weather generally tends to be complete and utter crap (and you’re DYING for summer), but also because somewhere in your brain, there’s a tiny little voice going ‘already?!? What the heck happened to January?’

But, I’m digress from the main point of this blog post: we’ve got some really cool stuff going on to perk up your February. 

First things First: Brew Classes

For the whole month of February, all of our ‘brewing coffee at home’ courses are going to be offered on Saturdays. What’s with all the switching of the days? That’ll be explained shortly, along with the second thing. So, instead of staying in on a rainy Saturday and moaning about the cold and wet—or is it only me that does that?—you can pop into the Grand Canal Street location where we’ll have lunch and delicious, delicious coffee waiting for you, at which point you’ll also get to learn how to replicate that awesomeness at home (reserved for the following Sunday morning, when it’s still cold and wet, only now you don’t need to leave your house because along with all that new coffee-brewing knowledge, you’ll have gotten a 250g bag of beans with which to ensure amazing coffee from the warmth of your own kitchen/couch). 

Second things Second: Sunday Espresso Class

It’s near, it’s here, and it’s bound to give you espresso face (in the best possible way)! We have been running private, one-on-one lessons with an espresso machine pretty much ever since Col opened the doors of the little lobby shop in the Twisted Pepper. Nowadays, we’ve got this really nice training room that would—finally—be the perfect space in which to host a group espresso lesson. Our private courses run for two hours and cost about 250EUR per person, but these new group courses will run for six hours and cost 125EUR per person. We’re limiting them to six people per course (to ensure that everyone gets ample, hands-on time with the machine) and we’re only offering two for the whole month of February. We’ve already had a load of enquiries, so we’re pretty sure those twelve places will disappear pretty quickly. We’ll also be providing (as usual) lunch, treats, and a 250 g bag of coffee to every student, making it a fantastic way to spend a potentially-rainy Sunday. 

This month, instead of releasing course tickets one week in advance of the actual class, we’ve decided to open up booking for all of February’s classes so that everyone will be able to find something that suits their schedules. Besides, what better way to make February bearable than to have something to which you can look forward? 

Here’s to a Fab Feb! xjenn 

Want to book a class? Click on one of the dates below to be taken to an event elephant page where you can secure your place. :)

Brewing Coffee at Home (Filter Coffee): 

February 25, 2012

Exacting Extraction (Group Espresso): 

February 19, 2012

In the two years that 3FE has been open, we’ve grown from one man at a counter to 14 people running 2 shops and a wholesale/training business stretching all across Dublin (and a bit of Wicklow!).

This, as you can understand, is quite a lot of growth in a very short amount of time and in truth, most of that growth has happened in the last 12 months.

Although this is obviously great news, it also concerns me for two reasons: firstly, will the quality of what we do suffer and, secondly, will the quality of what we do suffer?

Yesterday, we went to visit our latest customer who will be opening up in Dublin 1 in mid-February. It’s a beautiful shop run by two really passionate people and it’s incredibly important to me that we help them do a great job. 

We also have Cup opening on South Leinster Street, Roasted Brown opening in Temple Bar (both in the coming weeks) and Cinnamon is still very much in its formative stages, although extremely busy formative stages.

With this in mind, we have therefore decided that we will be taking on no more new customers until May 2012 at the earliest. It’s important to us at this stage that we take stock, improve quality and ultimately get really good at what we do right now before moving on to the next step.

On top of all of that, both of our shops are getting busier every week and we’re close to launching our Coffee School on Grand Canal Street. It’s been difficult to turn away potential clients in the last few weeks, but we strongly believe that quality needs to come first in every aspect of what we do.

In truth, I’m confident that the quality of what 3FE does has never wained in that 2 year period; if anything, its improved. That, however, doesn’t mean that we can’t improve what we do now even further. 

In the meantime, do check out our wholesale clients listed below and lend them your support. As well as numerous coffee shops, we also have one pub, one restaurant, one off license and one retail store on the list (and some pretty good examples of each to boot) so your choice is wide and varied.

Thanks again for all your support in 2011 and we’re ridiculously excited about improving your coffee experience in 2012.

Col

Alexis Bar and Grill, Patricks Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin

Cafe du Journal, Monkstown, Co. Dublin

Cinnamon, Main Street, Ranelagh

Cup, South Leinster Street, Dublin 2

Designist, Georges Street, Dublin 2

Fallon and Byrne, Exchequer Street, Dublin 2

Hollands of Bray, Main Street Bray, Co. Wicklow

L. Mulligan Grocer, Stoneybatter, Dublin 7

Murphys Ice Cream, Wicklow Street, Dublin 2

Roasted Brown @ Film Base, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

*TBC, Dublin 1

3FE Coffee, 32/34 Lower Grand Canal Street, Dublin 2

3FE @ The Twisted Pepper, 54 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1

The last few months have been very busy for us and lately we’ve started to see a huge upsurge in the number of people buying bags of beans to bring home. Business aside, this is a really positive step for us, seeing people making the leap to brewing freshly roasted, freshly ground coffee at home. 3FE is about many things but having an impact on the quality of the average cup in Dublin is very high up that list.

There’s a few ways we could have reacted to this upsurge but we decided we’d tackle this a little differently. What we’ve done is fan the flames, so to speak, and taken a huge chunk out of our retail coffee prices. 

Our prices in the past have been slightly higher than the online hasbean prices and that was unfortunately due to shipping costs and the overheads associated with setting up shop. In light of our recent growth, and as an acknowledgement to our customers who are incredibly loyal and supportive, we’ve decided its time to pay it back and we can now offer coffees at a price that is comparable to those that Steve has online at Hasbean.

Machacamarca for instance was €11 and with the new change it is now €8, Argentina (Washed) was €7.50 but now its down to €6.

In the coming months we will see our coffee offering change a little and there will be price rises on 2 of our drinks but not until the end of January. In the meantime we will swallow the VAT rate on the higher rate goods and we will also commit to the large reductions in the retail coffee offerings to ensure that you guys get the biggest benefit overall. We will also endevour, as always, to make your coffee tastier this year than it did the last.

Happy New Year,

Col

So every Christmas Steve at Hasbean gets slammed for Christmas orders and so ends up roasting a LOT of coffee in the days before the big day. As a consequence he’s left with a few bags surplus of all the coffees and nowhere for them to go.

So, we at 3fe decided to give them a home and so last Thursday 170 (250g) bags of retail coffee arrived on our doorstep with instructions from Steve to have some fun with them. So we will!

Tomorrow morning we open our doors and every bag of coffee on the shelves is going for €5. Some are worth €6, most are worth closer to €8 and some are worth as much as €15 but we’re selling them all off at €5 for one week only. Once it comes to Sunday, the sale ends!

This is a great chance to sample a variety of coffees, a lot of which we’ve never had a 3FE and maybe sample something you usually wouldn’t buy. As I said, theres only 170 bags between the two shops so get in and nab the hidden gems before someone else does!

Happy New Year!

Col

p.s. Please note that once the 170 bags are sold thats the offer over. In theory this could end tomorrow… ;)

3FE Christmas Opening Hours: 

Up until Dec 23: Twisted Pepper: 10:00 - 19:00 Monday - Saturday, 12:00 - 18:00 Sunday / Grand Canal St: 8:00 - 17:00 Monday - Friday, 12:00 - 18:00 Saturday + Sunday

December 24: Both shops open from 10:00 - 15:00 

December 25 - 27: Both shops closed 

December 28 - 31:  Twisted Pepper: Open from 10:00 - 19:00 / Grand Canal Street: Closed

January 1: Both shops closed

January 2: 3FE returns to regular opening hours. ;)