3FE Menu

www.3fe.com

Third Floor Espresso Menu Printed 29/05/2013 · Yours to keep

Drinking Our menu board will have a list of coffees available.

Pick a coffee from

Tell us how you’d

All you need to do is pick one and tell us how you’d

the menu board.

like it to be made:

like it made. You can choose to have your coffee as

Let us know if we

Espresso / Steamed

espresso, with steamed milk, or as a filter.

can help!

Milk / Filter.

Enjoy!

Coffee Tasting

5

Filter Tasting Two different coffees

4

served side by side If you’d like to indulge in a bit more of a coffee

Espresso Tasting Two single espressos of two different coffees.

as filter.

experience we also have a short tasting menu. We’ve always believed that comparative tasting is the best way to learn about coffee, and it’s a lot of fun too!

6

Trio The same coffee served

3+

Espresso Set Pick an espresso from

three ways; neat, filter

the board to be served

and with steamed milk.

two ways; neat and with steamed milk.

Retail

We sell all the coffees we serve in 250g bags for you to take home. There is always a wide choice of coffees at all different prices and usually something to suit every taste. Our baristas will be happy to talk you through which coffees will best suit your palate and brew method.

All the bags are wholebean on the shelf but we can grind them for you to suit your needs so that the freshness is retained for longer.

See over to learn more about why our coffee is different and check out our buying guide!

How to Buy Coffee

What makes our coffee different?

At 3FE, we change our coffee offering weekly depend-

Third Floor Espresso

ing on what’s in season. We will always have at least three coffees on bar at any one time and a variety of ways that they can be brewed. We’re happy to choose for you or talk you through your options. It’s our aim to have something safe, something risky and something in-between so let us know if you’re feeling up to something different.

Our coffees range in price depending on what we’ve paid for them ourselves. We buy most of our coffees directly from farmers and try to build relation-

We always have a wide choice of coffees available that change with seasons. This means that if you find something you love it will probably be gone the next time you come back. This may seem strange at first, but the very reason we love these coffees in the first place is because they are small high-quality lots and ‘in-season’, so they are in short supply by their very nature.

The first thing to do is to let us know if you’ve ever bought coffee from us before.

If not we can start you off on something safe and tasty. If you have been before, letting us know what you’ve liked in the past is a great way to help us recommend you something similar. The important thing is to ask for help, we’re always happy to oblige.

Coffee Buying Checklist: • Check the Roast Date • Avoid dark roasts • Pick coffees that are in-season • Opt for freshly ground/wholebean • Get a resealable bag • Go for Farm/Variety Specific if you can

The story of 3FE begins as my story, and along the

at the time). I had the machine installed in my

Scandinavia trying to learn as much as I could about

way some really wonderful people came on board.

spare bedroom complete with custom made tables,

coffee and specifically, how it was served. I received a

I was working as a trustee officer for professional

replicas of those they use on WBC stage. I knew that

few job offers on my travels but my ambition to open

investment funds in Dublin’s Financial district

becoming familiar with the competition stage was

a shop in Dublin never changed.

when I slowly began to realise that I had chosen

essential, so having a replica at home would give

the wrong path. A four year degree in Business and

me a huge advantage on the day.

ships that are mutually beneficial and always ensure the coffee is the best we can get our hands on.

The coffees we buy are often small-lot produce, so they don’t last very long. If you don’t see the coffee you liked last time we can always recommend something similar. It’s sad to see great coffees go but there’s always something fresh and excellent to replace it.

The most important thing for us though is that you leave with a coffee you’ll enjoy so please make sure you ask as many questions as you like. Coffee is a very subjective thing so there’s no such thing as a stupid question.

The Story So Far Colin Harmon

Legal Studies had led me to a very lucrative career

I also decided to contact Steve Leighton at

In late 2009, I was testing some coffees in my third floor apartment when a friend popped by and introduced me to his friend Trevor O’Shea who owned

in finance and although I worked with amazing

Hasbean Coffee and ask him if he’d be interested in

two venues, The Bernard Shaw and The Twisted

people, they and I both knew that it wasn’t for me.

roasting coffee for me for the competition. I’d been

Pepper. Trev was fascinated by the lengths I had gone

buying his coffees online for some time at this stage

to in pursuit of the perfect cup and I told him about my

just from researching online, I’d gotten to a place

and was hugely impressed with his offering. Steve’s

plan to open a shop in Dublin. I explained the problems

where I could make a better coffee at home than I

coffees were amongst the best in the world and it only

I was having raising finance and the costs associated

could buy on the high street. I had a small espresso

took one visit to see him for me to be convinced that

with ensuring a quality product was delivered.

machine in my kitchen, a list of coffee forums on the

he was the guy to help me.

At the time I knew very little about coffee but

internet, and a desire to learn as much as I could.

I got my first coffee job as a barista at Coffee

The day I flew in to see him, he had told me

The next week Trev brought me to see the Twisted Pepper on Middle Abbey Street and pretty

that he’d ‘swing by’ the airport to pick me up. I only

much offered me the space. It wasn’t being used

Angel in the IFSC financial district, located in the

realised after that it was a 90-minute journey but for

during the day so Trev told me to take it, turn it into

shadow of my former office building. It was freezing

Steve it was no hassle at all. His generosity, drive,

a cafe, and if it started to make money I could start

cold hard physical work and involved a 4.50am start,

and knowledge were clear from the moment I met

paying rent. If it failed, I would only have lost a couple

but Karl Purdy who ran the business was a former

him and we pretty much hit it off from day one.

of grand and a bit of pride. I knew it would be hard but

Irish Barista Champion and gave me an excellent schooling in coffee quality and service.

Six months later, I entered and won the Irish

We chose the coffee and set about training for the competition and I put a huge amount of hours into

it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

I wanted to keep the ethos that I employed in

my preparation. Going to the World Championships

my training room and apply that to a retail setting.

Barista Championships in the RDS in what was as

was like going to the World Cup for me, but where

I knew that dropping quality and trying to focus

much as a shock to me as it was to everyone else.

everyone else had football idols I had barista idols, and

on volume too quickly would put me on the same

I had created my own blend and worked tirelessly

I’d be competing against them. Coffee luminaries like

playing field as the major chains and that was a fight

over the cold winter in an inner-city lockup to perfect

New Zealand’s Carl Sara, Canada’s Sammy Piccolo,

I was never going to win. On the 5th December 2009,

my routine. Although I came to the competition as

UK’s Gwilym Davies and Mike Philips of the USA were

I opened 3FE (Third Floor Espresso) in the lobby of

a complete outsider, I reaped the rewards of all that

all lined up as favourites and to me it was a dream

the Twisted Pepper nightclub and set about seeing if

effort on the day.

come true to compete on the same stage as them.

Dublin was ready for specialty coffee.

The national champions of each country

I again managed to cause quite an upset that

The first day coincided with a music fair so I

are invited on to the World Championships, so the

year by placing 4th at the World Championships

took in about €250, which equated to about 150 drinks.

very next day we began preparations for the 2009

in Atlanta. The top six competitors that year made

The Monday after I was hit with a reality check when

World Barista Championships (WBC) in Atlanta. The

finals and when they called out my name all the Irish

I sold a grand total of 16 coffees and 10 of them

previous year the WBC had been won by the London-

contingent there went crazy. It was like our Italia ’90,

were to my friends. I wasn’t disheartened though,

based Irish champion Stephen Morrissey, so I knew

beyond all our wildest expectations.

because I made sure every drink was tasty and that I

all eyes would be on me at the competition.

I knew I needed to raise my game, so I took

After the dust had settled from Atlanta I knew I needed a new set of goals, so I left Coffee Angel and

made everyone feel welcome. I knew that was reason enough for them to come back.

some pretty drastic action. I sold my car and built

began working for myself as a trainer and consultant.

a replica of the competition stage in my third floor

Most of the work I managed to get was outside of

business up cup by cup and trying to grow whilst

The next 12 months were spent building the

apartment with a competition-spec machine to

Ireland as specialty coffee hadn’t really taken off yet.

still maintaining quality. Soon enough, I was starting

practise on (the only one of its kind in the country

I spent a year travelling to Europe, Japan, USA and

to do larger volumes and Pete, Jordan and Ger were

Events

We’ve built our reputation on coffee so people are

This is Coffee

3FE Quarterly

often surprised to find that we’re a little obsessed

We do many different types of training and events

Every few months we run an event designed for

with our food too. Everything is made from scratch on

but our most popular class has come to be known

those who are really getting into their coffee. Steve

the premises—soups, salads, brownies, sandwiches,

as ‘This is Coffee’. The idea is that we sit you in a room

comes over from Stafford and joins Colin in showing

and even the marshmallows are made by 3FE for 3FE.

with a small group of people and start at the beginning.

photos, videos and coffee samples in a presentation

The only thing we don’t make ourselves is the bread.

We talk you through how coffee is grown, processed,

built around a different topic every quarter. We might

We rotate the food offering seasonally and change

shipped and roasted before you buy it. The next part

pick a farm that is doing interesting work with coffee

every few weeks to keep it interesting. The menu is

of the class is a hands-on work shop teaching you how

varieties and processing, or perhaps a variety that

small and simple and we’ll never sell anything we

to make coffee at home as well as an opportunity to try

we’re particularly keen on or maybe even use the

don’t love ourselves. We use the best stuff we can

a number of different brew methods.

event to discuss why we buy the coffees we buy.

get our hands on and do everything in our power to ensure it’s as tasty and fresh as it should be.

This class is suited to both professionals and

The event is built around a coffee tasting, or ‘cupping’,

home users alike, and covers a wide range of coffee

and each participant gets a gift pack to take away

topics. The only requirement is that you like coffee. The

with them. Check the website or ask any of the staff

class is also designed to be fun and interesting and

about the next event. = C 50, see www.3fe.com for bookings

includes lunch and a goody bag for every participant. = C 75, see www.3fe.com for bookings

www.3fe.com

Food

Barista Class

Awards

This Class is aimed at those who are either going down the professional route or just plain obsessed with coffee and everything that comes with it. We

World Barista Championships 4th 2013, 3rd 2012, 4th 2010, 4th 2009

go through the basics of coffee and fundamentals of brewing but go a lot more in depth with measuring extraction and the variables involved therein. We also

Irish Barista Champion 2013, 2012, 2010, 2009

spend a lot of time getting you hands-on with one of our espresso machines pulling shots and steaming milk. = C 175, see www.3fe.com for bookings

Restaurant Association of Ireland Coffee Experience Award 2012 McKennas Guide 2013: Featured

brought on board to help me out. I also realised that

kinds. I’ve been fortunate enough to win the Irish

best quality coffee to the streets of Dublin. We have

Steve Leighton at Hasbean was paying a fortune in

Barista Championships on four separate occasions

a roastery, more shops, events and coffee equipment

shipping to get coffee to me. I wanted a scenario

and have finished 4th, 4th and 3rd in the World

design in the pipeline and many other interesting

where we could both benefit, so I decided to give him

Barista Championships. We’ve also had latte art

projects too. Build it slow, build it steady, build it

half of the business and in return, 3FE became the

champions, a brewers cup champion, and even a

strong. Just like we always have.

exclusive distributor for Hasbean coffee in Ireland.

(two-time) Slovakian barista champion amongst

This meant that we’d have access to the best coffees we could find and he’d get something back too. More than that, it presented an opportunity for

3FE started with an ethos of ‘make nice coffee,

our staff and although these are individual awards,

be nice to people, see them come back’. As we grow,

there’s always a collective effort behind them.

we always look back to this starting point and look

In February of 2013 we also stepped away from

forward with that same intention.

the two of us to work together and create something

the Twisted Pepper shop and handed the reigns over

in Dublin for coffee lovers to appreciate.

to Tom and the crew at Vice Coffee Inc. Tom had been

Colin is the founder of 3FE.

working with us for over a year and the opportunity

Follow him on Twitter

and Byrne, one of Dublin’s busiest and most prestigious

arose to pass the business on to him and gain a new

@dublinbarista

cafes and set about building a wholesale business. The

wholesale customer and everyone has benefitted

and the shop itself @3fe

owners took a huge risk on us becoming their suppliers

since. Today Vice has become one of the destination

as we had no experience and although the coffee was

cafes to visit in Dublin.

In November 2010, we started supplying Fallon

incredible, it was very different to anything they had used before.

Fallon and Byrne was a huge success for both

The Next Chapter A Dublin-based Roastery

We continue to forge strong, mutually beneficial relationships with our suppliers, wholesale clients and customers. We’ve worked with everyone

We are currently setting up our own roastery here

us and them and the quality being delivered was

from Jameson to Nuova Simonelli to Dairyland and

in Dublin so that we can supply all of our customers

a real joy for us to see. We’d managed low-volume

everyone in between, but always with a focus on

from an Irish based facility. 3FE is 50% owned by

quality at 3FE, but this was a whole new level. They

promoting the best coffees we can get our hands on.

Steve Leighton of Hasbean Coffee in Stafford, UK.

soon won the coffee experience award from the

We now have a crew of fourteen people and

Steve is renowned worldwide as one of the most

Restaurant Association of Ireland and new wholesale

growing, each with a passion for great coffee, and

knowledgeable, passionate and skilled coffee roasters

customers quickly began to show interest.

each with their own individual skill set. Designers,

around. When the business was established it was

nutritionists, musicians, bakers, bikers, bankers and

done so with the intention of starting a roastery

in the Dublin region and focus our business entirely

many more professionals have come on board at 3FE

in Dublin, but we knew that building it before we

on quality-minded operations. Cafes such as Brother

and really added to what we can collectively achieve.

had customers would mean we would have to

Hubbard, Roasted Brown, Cup, Cinnamon, Fumbally and

Its always difficult to see staff move on, but we always

compromise on quality and service. Instead we

Base all soon joined us as we began to build a network of

look forward to meeting and working with new staff

decided that Hasbean would roast our coffee for us

quality-focused coffee destinations around the city.

with fresh perspectives.

until we reached the critical mass necessary to get

Today we supply a wide network of businesses

In September 2011, after 3 years of searching

We’ve never had any help from banks,

us going. We managed not only to reach that point,

and saving, we opened our first stand-alone cafe on

enterprise boards, interest groups or investors and

but did so two years sooner than we had anticipated.

Lower Grand Canal Street in Dublin 2. The premises

we often get people wondering how we can succeed

At the time of going to print (May 2013) we have just

is spread over three floors with a basement kitchen,

in such tough times. In truth it is really all down to

gotten the keys to our roasting premises and we’ll

ground floor shop and a first floor office/training room.

building relationships with our customers, staff,

keep you updated as to how we’re getting on.

We run tasting courses, trainings, brew classes and

suppliers and other stakeholders. Its been a tough job

corporate events. We also do coffee consultancy for

getting the business going but we’ve always tried to

machine manufacturers, tastings for corporate groups,

do things honestly and with a smile on our face and

and pretty much anything that involves coffee.

we’ve done pretty well so far.

As well as running the shops, we’ve managed to keep fairly involved in coffee competitions of all

As the shops become busier and our wholesale customer base grows, 3FE is focused on bringing the

We believe that you’re always a decent cup of coffee and a nice meal away from loving or hating a city so this guide will at least get you half way there. Listed below are some of our favourite cafes across Europe and in Dublin. Some we supply, some we just love visiting but either way you should be assured of a great coffee when you visit. Let us know how you get on and tell them we said hi!

Reykjavik

Bergen

Stockholm

Europe Amsterdam—Screaming Beans

Helsingborg

Edinburgh

Moscow

Copenhagen

Antwerp—Caffenation Athens—TAF

Leeds Liverpool

Bath—Collona and Smalls Bergen—Kaffeemisjonen

Manchester Amsterdam London Antwerp Bath

Cardiff

Berlin—The Barn Wadebridge

Cardiff—Waterloo Tea Copenhagen—Coffee Collective

Berlin

21 Paris

Edinburgh—Brew Lab Gothenburg—Da Matteo Helsingborg—Koppi Leeds—Laynes Liverpool—Bold Street London—Prufrock, Fernandez and Wells, Kaffeine, Work Shop Manchester—North Tea Power Athens

Moscow—Coffeemania Oslo—Tim Wendelboe Paris—Telescope Reykjavik—Kaffesmidja Stockholm—Drop Coffee

Dublin Supplied by 3FE: 1. All City Records 2. Base 3. Brother Hubbard

16

4. Cinnamon 5. Clodagh’s Kitchen 6. Cup 7. Diep

O’Co

11

ry St

en

St / H

9. The Fumbally 10. Holland’s

St

Mary

8. Fallon and Byrne

nnell

Cape l St

27

t

11. L. Mulligan Grocer

y St

Abbe

15

12. Little Ass Burrito Bar 13. Roasted Brown

21

14. Tamp and Stitch

River Liffey

14

15. Vice

1

13

29

16. WJ Kavanagh

Dame St

18. Kaph 6

19 25

t

23 17

Georg

e’s S t

8

18

Graft on S

Hig

Thomas St

17. Yogism

28

t hS

Not supplied by 3FE:

12

19. Art of Coffee 20. Brioche 21. Coffee Angel

24 20

22. Coffee Kiosk

Ste ph Gre en’s en

AungierSt

rS

no Ma

3

23. Clement and Pekoe 24. The Humble Bean 7

Kevin St

25. Food Game 26. Sip and Slurp

22

27. Third Space

9

28. Science Gallery 29. Indigo and Cloth 26

2 4

30. Urbun 5

10

30

www.3fe.com

Oslo Gothenburg

Patrick St

Third Floor Espresso

Coffee Guide