Our brand, our story & our future Java Republic began life with a simple ambition: To share our passion for fresh, handroasted coffee – and to achieve new ethical standards in the coffee industry. This document gives you an introduction to how our business has grown since 1999, to the quality standards we achieve with our products, and to the ethical beliefs that have sustained our growth.
David McKernan, Founder, CEO.
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Our products have been consistently recognised for their outstanding flavour. In competitions such as the International Great Taste awards, we’ve been judged in blind taste tests - against major brands and cottage industries alike. We are consistent winners at this event, with over twenty-five medals awarded for our handroasted coffee.
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Contents PAGE
Believe In The Best Coffee With A Conscience The Best Handroasted Coffee In The World Ten Reasons Why Our Coffee Is Better Premium Private Label Real Leaf Tea Real Leaf Speciality Teas Single Origin Kenyan Tea Organic Loose Teas The Best Hot Chocolate Supporting The Brand Our Distributors Our Story In Vision
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Believe in the Best We can write at length on why our coffee is uniquely great: We can explain how we source beans to balance ethics and flavour; we can describe how we developed a roasting process that makes a genuinely better coffee; we can detail the steps we take to ensure our high standards are maintained right up to the point you serve our coffee to your customers. But what’s more important is just how good our coffee tastes. Short of giving you a fresh cup, it’s hard to describe just how wonderful it tastes.
Fast facts Did you know that many other coffee roasters plunge their just-roasted beans in water to speed up the natural cooling process? Apart from sneakily adding 5% in weight, it also increases oxidisation and fades the flavour.
When an experienced Barista pulls a shot of espresso made with our fresh handroasted beans, you get a true sense of how coffee should taste: a concentrated, dark and almost sweet flavour that delivers on the first promise of its enticing aroma.
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Coffee with a Conscience Java Republic was started with two key principles: Create a coffee that was unmatched for quality, freshness and flavour – and destroy the amoral practices that have tainted this industry for generations. Green coffee beans are traded as an international commodity on volatile international markets - which leads to dramatic price fluctuations. When the price is low, millions of farmers and pickers live in awful conditions, making barely enough to survive. Yet even when the price rises, it’s very unlikely that the extra you pay for a double-shot latte will ever reach the grower. Our promise of “Coffee with a Conscience” is our attempt to break that cycle: To help those who farm our coffee, we give 11% of our net profits to projects in coffee growing regions – and we only buy from recognised ethical traders or directly from sustainable co-ops. To help those in need at home, we’ve partnered Focus Ireland to fund community initiatives in Ballycoolin. Our long-term aim is to set up a dedicated foundation to pursue our own projects to benefit those who farm our coffee, tea and hot chocolate.
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G R O U N D S
F O R
H O P E
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Roasting with a conscience Our Roastery is a further example of how we challenge conventions to keep our conscience clear. It was designed and built as the first step in our goal to become a genuinely carbon neutral coffee company.
Our eco-friendly wood-pellet boiler that provides heating and hot water.
The building uses innovative design and high efficiency materials to reduce energy consumption, and features a wood-pellet boiler to provide heating and hot water. We purchase carbon credits to offset the emissions from our gas-fired roaster, and we are continually investigating new technologies to eliminate this need. Finally, where possible we pursue local sourcing for all our consumables: This keeps jobs in Ireland, and minimsizes the carbon footprint for products we need to import.
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Building a home for our brand Our Roastery
Fast facts In our first decade, we roasted enough beans to serve 264 million cups of fresh handroasted coffee.
Since 2008, we’ve been able to share the alchemy of our handroasting coffee with our customers. Built to expand our roasting capacity and to create the ultimate brand showcase, our Roastery allows us to present the art and magic of our handroasting techniques, showcase the results of our ethical programmes, and mentor our foodservice clients. For our customers, we’ve reinvented the café experience by giving them a front row seat to the theatre of handroasted coffee. What might simply have been a facility to increase capacity instead becomes a tangible, memorable and emotional experience.
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The Roasting Room This large central space contains the engines that drive our business – our two Roasters. We have the original 60kg roaster that roasted every bean we sold for the past nine years – now serving a happy retirement roasting our organic varietals. We also have a bespoke 150kg roaster that was commissioned for The Roastery. Our roasting capacity now reaches 1929 tonnes per annum on a 24 hour shift based on a 50 work-week year. While it was built to accommodate our artisan handroasting techniques, it also has the luxury of a fully automated system for loading the green beans, and for transporting the handroasted roast to the next stage. Both roasters were installed beside the double-height windows that allow our coffee house customers to experience the full atmospherics of our artisan handroasting techniques. After each varietal roast has been tasted and approved, the other facilities in this room play their key roles: blending, grinding and packing.
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Where the science of tasting meets the craft of roasting As the name implies, the Barista University is also used to train those who will serve our coffee. We ensure that our foodservice customers have the artistry, skills and experience to make the perfect cup before we supply them with our handroasted beans. P.10
Quality Training As part of our “better than perfect” quality controls, this room serves many essential functions. Centred on a custom-built circular tasting table, the Barista University is used for the “cupping” ritual that ensures each unique varietal has been roasted to perfection before they join one of our signature blends. Java Republic offers a suite of training programmes to turn you or your employees into fully-fledged coffee experts:
Macchinesti Training Refine your knowledge of grinding, tamping, extraction times and dosing skills; master your flow procedures and milk texturing technique. Latte Art Create the ‘wow’ factor using advanced texturing techniques with milk that is wet, glossy and absolutely shines with perfection – as seen below! A hybrid of science and art for the ultimate cup of coffee.
Barista Training The basics, perfected: keeping your beans fresh; how to work and clean your equipment; and how to time and texture a perfect coffee.
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Equipment & Service We never forget that the heart of any coffee business is the machine. We have forged strong relationships with Europe’s leading manufacturers to offer a choice of machines to suit any cafe, office or hotel. P.12
We offer a comprehensive choice of equipment: From simple pour-over brewers to traditional Italian espresso machines - including the latest fully-automatic bean-to-cup workstations. More importantly, we run a maintenance and service programme that ensures all machines are running at peak performance. This helps ensure your customers get a consistently great coffee, and your business gets minimal disruption.
Fast facts We have supplied, leased and serviced over 7834 machines since 1999. P.13
The Roastery Coffee House This is our platform for a rich and engaging brand experience. Customers, coffee fans, and local workers mingle in a dramatic double-height space – with glass walls that face out of the building, and into the Roasting Room. Decorated with murals that highlight the success stories from our ethical programmes, the coffee house offers casual dining and superb coffee in a relaxed, comfortable environment, or to take away.
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Over two years of research went into finding the menu and the personnel who could deliver an eating experience that matched the standards set by our coffee. Our goal was to create a menu that supported a fundamental philosophy: Support Irish grown and locally-sourced products, then prepare them simply, and while fresh, in our kitchen. Our Coffee House allows us to offer the complete Java Republic experience - directly to our fans, and to the cafe owners who serve our fans elsewhere. It gives us a unique test facility for new ideas and new products - and we gain great customer intelligence that we’re happy to share.
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Cocoa
Tea
Coffee
The Best Handroasted Coffee in the World We could spend days explaining why Java Republic coffee is uniquely great. That’s why we created the “10 Reasons Why Our Coffee is Better” – to succinctly prove that this was fact, not opinion. When David McKernan started to research a better way to roast coffee, he faced challenges for each of his goals; Starting with his intention to exclusively and ethically source grade 1 Arabica beans, through to finding a way to handroast on a commercial scale, and ending with the last step – reinventing the supply chain to treat Java Republic coffee as a fresh product, not a commodity.
Superb Flavours Online The entire family of Java Republic products is also available from our online shop. We offer exclusives like our speciality teas and signature hot chocolate, and special offers on top quality accessories like Bodum coffee grinders.
Our coffee was initially sold exclusively to foodservice venues – but it can now be found, from specialty stores, supermarkets, while our entire range is sold direct to the public at our Roastery. We also supply a complete office coffee solution to businesses across Ireland – bringing a better coffee experience to every desk.
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Ten reasons why our coffee is better
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Better Green Beans
We only use Grade 1 Arabica green beans, sourced directly from specialist growers around the world. Thats why we’re proud to show the grade and percentage of every bean on each bag of coffee.
Handroasted
We don’t use computers to roast our coffees - each of our bean varieties is handroasted by craftsmen with over three decades of experience. It takes longer, but makes for better flavour.
21 Minute Slow Roast®
We roast at a low heat, for a long time. It produces a darker, richer roast with a strong sweet flavour. Some competitors blast their beans with scorching heat for a mere four and half minutes.
Origin Flavour Lock®
We stock at least 26 speciality Grade 1 green beans from three continents; each has unique flavour characteristics, so we handroast every one of them separately before blending. P.18
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Naturally Cooled
We end our roast by stirring handroasted beans in an open tray; they cool slowly, which protects and enhances the flavour. Other roasters water quench, which fades flavour and adds artificial weight.
Date Roasted
Our coffee is fresh produce - it reaches a peak of flavour 12 to 24 hours after roasting. That’s why we handroast on demand, pack straight after roasting, and display the date and time of roasting on packs.
Unique Grinds
Coffee beans need to be ground to a specific size for cafetières or filter coffee machines; most coffee companies sell only one grind for both. This ‘multi-grind’ is a shortcut that destroys flavour.
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Fresh Valve Technology
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Coffee with a Conscience
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Because fresh roast coffee releases gases, our pack has a one-way valve. It lets the coffee breathe, yet protects flavour. Without this, other roasters must wait days before packing. How fresh is that?
Our promise of “Coffee with a Conscience” is at the heart of that ambition: We give 11% of our net profits to projects in coffee-growing communities, and we only buy from recognised ethical traders or directly from sustainable co-ops.
Carbon Neutral
Our Roastery was engineered to run as a carbon neutral facility – by combining innovative specifications, an industrial-sized woodchip boiler, and a proportion of offsets that we’re continuously striving to eliminate.
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Handroasted Private Label Our Roastery has a phenomenal capacity to handroast coffee- and we use some of this to roast custom blends for key foodservice and retail customers. These bespoke coffees offer our foodservice clients unique control over taste and pricing, without sacrificing any of the Java Republic quality standards.
Fast facts We’re one of the few large-scale coffee roasters in the world who still use handroasting techniques for all our roasts. You won’t find a computer chip or a timer taking charge of our roast – every batch is still crafted, inspected and tested by hand. P.21
Just like our handroasted coffee, we’re proud to have our real leaf tea judged against the best in the UK and Ireland. Each year, we enter our Real Leaf Teas in the Great Taste awards, and we continue to win against fierce competition.
Fast facts 50% of our tea sales are speciality teas.
Java Republic teas offer the same craft, care and flavour as our coffee - but with added health benefits. P.22
Real leaf tea As our coffee business began to thrive, we noticed an anomaly in the venues where it was served: If you weren’t a coffee lover, you got a raw deal. We could recommend no supplier for tea or hot chocolate that met our standards. It became apparent that the only answer was to extend our expertise beyond coffee. After extensive research, we launched a family of teas in 2003. Our award winning teas were based on sourcing the highest quality grades of grown tea. We then ensured that whole leaves, and not dust, made it into our high-quality silky teabags and loose organic teas.
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Real Leaf Speciality Teas We offer a choice of 12 exclusive flavours in our range of Real Leaf Teas: From exotica like Liquorice, White Peony and Rooibos - to classics like Peppermint, Chamomile and Earl Grey. All varieties are made with whole leaves from Grade 1 teas, and are supplied in individually wrapped foil pouches containing our unique silk-feel tea bag. These are specially designed so the leaves can unfold and release their full flavour.
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Single Origin Kenyan Tea When we set out to create a family of superb speciality teas. We didn’t want to overlook your need for an exceptional everyday tea. Our Single Origin Kenyan Tea uses the harvest of only the highest-quality leaves, carefully dried to preserve a delicious, full-bodied flavour. For those who enjoy a traditional brew, this tea is the perfect choice: it’s refreshing, flavoursome and pure.
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Organic Loose Teas Our selection of Organic Loose Teas explores the natural flavours of black tea, green and white teas, as well as refreshing fruit and herb infusions. Our master blenders use these pure ingredients to create flavours such as Turkish Apple and White Magic, alongside traditional favourites like Green Chai. All certified by the Organic Trust, these teas are completely natural and contain no artificial flavours or preservatives. Full of antioxidants and polyphenols, these teas offer many health benefits - not least the relaxing ritual of preparing and brewing loose tea!
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The best hot chocolate needs the best cocoa For The Other Bean, our real hot chocolate, we faced a lengthy search to find an all-ethical ingredient list. Chocolate has suffered more and for longer at the hands of mass production, so the challenge was to create a recipe that matched our quality standards, but still appealed to the modern palette. The end result was a simple mix of Cocoa from Ghana and cane sugar from Malawi. It delivers an intense, rich flavour – wonderful when added to steamed milk, and almost mystical in a Coffee Mocha.
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Supporting Fairtrade We support Fairtrade through a range of Fairtrade certified coffee, tea, sugar and hot chocolate. The Other Bean proves our commitment - every ingredient is 100% Fairtrade. www.fairtrade.ie P.28
Supporting the brand Java Republic has always believed that our brand should be supported with the same passion that we invest in the products themselves. We supply a full range of ancillary products, point of sale material and display items.
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Our Distributors Java Republic has a strong team of distributors throughout Ireland: Taste the Difference: Appointed in 2001, Paul Treacy and his “Taste the Difference� team serve the east Midlands area. Perks Beverage: Malachy McMenamin is our distributor in the North East, and has been serving our customers there since 2002. Galway Bay Coffee Company: Covering the west of Ireland, David Newman has been supplying and servicing for us since 2004. The Island Beverage Company: Kieran White serves the South West region, and has done so for us since 2004. Fintan Stanley: Appointed in 2007, Fintan and his team bring 14 years of experience to getting our coffee to customers in the South East. Real Beverage Solutions NI: Run by Alan Leckey, the Real Beverage Solutions team have been bringing our products and quality standards to Northern Ireland since 2007. P.30
Our Story in Vision You’ve read about what makes Java Republic special – to get even more of a flavour of how we work, go to our website to watch a documentary on how we source our coffee. www.javarepublic.com
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Contact Details For further information please contact: Java Republic Roasting Company, The Roastery, 510 Mitchelstown Road, Northwest Business Park, Ballycoolin, Dublin 15, Ireland. T +353 1 8809300 F +353 1 8809106 www.javarepublic.com