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The Claire Byrne Show

How do you make the perfect cup of joe?  

18 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.887 - 6.548 Claire Byrne

The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.

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9.65 - 23.667 Clare Byrne

Now, many home baristas share the same frustration. Despite investing in the expensive fancy machine, the premium beans, all the latest gadgets, their coffee never seems to taste quite as good as the one served in their favourite cafe. So how do you do it?

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23.888 - 34.561 Clare Byrne

Alan Andrews is here, owner of the Old Barracks Coffee Roastery and the founder of the Bird Hill Coffee Festival, which is coming up in the weekend after next, is it?

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34.581 - 35.843 Alan Andrews

Yeah, 26th, 27th, 28th.

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35.963 - 37.024 Clare Byrne

For the third time...

37.072 - 37.573 Alan Andrews

Third year, yeah.

Chapter 2: What common frustrations do home baristas face?

37.633 - 38.535 Alan Andrews

Third year going, it's great.

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38.555 - 42.082 Clare Byrne

Is Birdhill very, very much the... Birdhill is the mecca of coffee.

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42.102 - 44.025 Alan Andrews

Connoisseur of coffee when it comes to sounds.

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44.366 - 52.041 Clare Byrne

And listen to me, we all want to make that perfect coffee at home, but I really do think it's very difficult to do, to match what you're getting in there.

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52.081 - 55.367 Alan Andrews

Yeah, it is. Look, you know, in coffee shops, typically they're investing 20 grand in...

55.347 - 79.718 Alan Andrews

coffee equipment so that's training bristas you know for us like we're buying the coffees ourselves in the farm we're roasting it ourselves we've complete control over every part of the journey let's say um of what goes into the eventual cup um when you're at home it's a different ball game altogether you're trying to get out you have a school run you know you just want something that's going to be convenient and quick and then people end up with god-awful nespresso pods or something like that you know so

79.698 - 81.38 Clare Byrne

Not to your taste, I take it.

81.5 - 84.704 Alan Andrews

Well, you know, there's a convenience, you know, I guess that's it.

84.724 - 90.551 Clare Byrne

Listen, you've loads of stuff that you've brought into me here today. So what's going on? What am I to do?

Chapter 3: What makes coffee from cafes taste better than home-brewed?

101.825 - 104.688 Alan Andrews

So there are two of them are the same and one is different. And just, yeah, just have a taste.

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104.768 - 106.33 Clare Byrne

So I have to taste it when I smell the person.

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106.31 - 115.504 Alan Andrews

Yeah, smell and taste and see if you can get anything different. Oh, I think it's that one. But you've done two so far. It could be. So these are just three coffees.

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115.685 - 116.809 Clare Byrne

No, I think it's this one.

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117.11 - 129.101 Alan Andrews

So you've got to taste them. Is this warm? Is this cold? No, that's actually lukewarm. I made them an hour ago at this stage. So just taste. They're really light brews. They're probably called cupping brews. So we brew coffee like this for quality control.

129.642 - 130.202 Clare Byrne

Tastes strong.

130.402 - 143.995 Alan Andrews

Yeah. To my mind now. Yeah. So we just brew these like this and then we taste them. And what we do at the festival is people can come along and they can taste the nine cups in total. And whoever gets the most correct in the fastest time wins 500 quid worth of coffee goods.

143.975 - 146.564 Clare Byrne

But all I have to do is find out which one is different.

146.584 - 147.789 Alan Andrews

One out of three, yeah. Okay.

Chapter 4: How can you achieve café-quality coffee at home?

153.205 - 154.427 Clare Byrne

Now I'm completely confused.

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154.667 - 155.468 Alan Andrews

Yeah, that's what happens.

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155.628 - 157.911 Clare Byrne

I think this one is different to those two.

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158.112 - 158.352 Alan Andrews

Yes.

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158.692 - 159.133 Clare Byrne

Am I right?

159.233 - 177.137 Alan Andrews

Yeah. So that's Brazil Guarda. It's like Garda. And it's a coffee, a natural coffee from Brazil that we roasted. And the other one is Brazil Lagoinha. So they're just two coffee farms. So it's the exact same coffee variety. Just think red apples, green apples. They're all red apples from a different farm and they taste completely different.

177.117 - 178.68 Clare Byrne

And what have I got here in this little tub?

178.7 - 188.395 Alan Andrews

So I've just brought you a little bowl of actual raw green coffee beans. So this is what coffee beans look like when they're raw. They're green and they're hard like peanuts and they smell like peas or green.

188.736 - 191.921 Clare Byrne

If you give it a good shake, you might... I think it smells like cocoa.

Chapter 5: What is the Taste Off competition at the Coffee Festival?

219.98 - 225.329 Alan Andrews

Just cook it. So then we have to grind it. So I ground this one for you so you can smell those. They all smell very differently.

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226.351 - 228.775 Clare Byrne

Oh, gosh, that's really strong.

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228.755 - 240.539 Alan Andrews

Yeah, so I just ground that fresh outside. That's a coffee from Colombia. It's called La Victoria and it's really, really fruity and loads of flavour in it. And then the other one that I gave you is our Costa Rica.

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240.58 - 249.997 Clare Byrne

Kind of addicted to smell it, even though it's really, really strong. And I don't know if it's that pleasant, but... But I keep wanting to go back and have another go.

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250.017 - 264.036 Alan Andrews

Yeah, because you're trying to kind of smell what's in there. You know, what's the actual smell? And then the other one I gave you, the actual big beans are, this is a micro lot that we sell in our shop. It's 20 euros a cup for that one. Yeah, the whole bean. Oh yeah, the whole bean. The whole bean that I gave you, yeah.

264.136 - 269.443 Alan Andrews

If you smell that one, put the lid on it, give it a shake and you'll get some fruity smells off it. And that's a really expensive coffee.

269.423 - 277.294 Clare Byrne

And I'm just intrigued by the notion of a coffee festival in Birdhill in Tipperary. So who's going to this? Who are your audience?

277.314 - 289.592 Alan Andrews

So we have people that come from all over the country that are actually just interested in making great coffee at home. It's really simple like that. We've got Sage Coffee Machine guys there doing demonstrations and helping people make better coffee.

289.572 - 306.195 Alan Andrews

We have people coming that even have coffee shops and they're sending their staff to do little workshops because we've workshops going on upstairs in the main building all day Saturday and Sunday learning to pour latte art. And I just met Shane, a guy, one of our customers on Thursday who was there at the first year and he won a coffee machine at the festival.

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