Unique coffee is Belfast down to a tea

A unique coffee developed using leaves from coffee trees growing in a Northern Irish public park has won a top international award.

The coffee was created by aspiring barista Mark Ashbridge and roasted by Bailies Coffee in Belfast, one of Ireland's leading ground coffee suppliers to foodservice organisations. The coffee gained a top ranking for Ashbridge, a civil servant, at the Irish National Barista Championships in Dublin.

Ashbridge used leaves from coffee trees growing at Botanic Gardens, one of the city's most popular public parks, to create a 'coffee leaf tea' which he brewed together with coffee specially roasted by Bailies as his 'Signature' drink for the competition.

"Coffee has been my passion for many years," Mark, says. "While I am a part time barista at coffee tasting events I've organised over the past year I wanted to try my hand at the national awards.

"To stand a chance against other professionals I had to come with something innovative and unique. I had heard about the coffee trees at Botanic Gardens and decided to talk to Derek Lockwood, one of the Head Gardeners there.

"They were immensely supportive and helped me to harvest some of the leaves for my experiment in coffee production. There weren't enough beans on the trees to be serving a 'Belfast coffee', so I had to see what I could do with the leaves. Ross Kane at Bailies was keen to bring his company's roasting expertise to the project. His knowledge of coffee and overall support was immensely important.

"What we did was to create a tea by drying the leaves, then infusing them in water. This coffee leaf tea was then used alongside a fantastic coffee, Kagamoini sourced from Kenya and hand-roasted especially for the competition, to create a distinctive taste experience. The judges seemed to appreciate the novel approach which gave the coffee a distinctively different and very enjoyable flavour. It was a coffee with a flavour of Belfast," he adds.

Ross Kane, business development manager at Bailies Coffee, says the company was delighted to assist Mark Ashbridge in creating the new coffee. "It was certainly a novel idea to incorporate leaves from coffee trees harvested at Botanic Gardens in a signature drink. As most coffee farms are found in the equatorial climates of Africa, Asia and America, I think it raised a lot of eyebrows amongst the judges when Mark announced Belfast as the origin!

"Mark's success at the competition is a very impressive achievement, but what's more is the style he did it in. Mark put a lot of research into flavour and roast profiles, and worked very hard to become a proficient barista in a very short space of time. We were delighted to have our Belfast-roasted coffee represented so well at the competition, and being able to use Belfast-grown coffee alongside it was a real buzz for us.

"We share Mark's passion for great coffee. Bailies is dedicated to producing coffee that's always "finer, better and fresher". We are passionate, for example, about sourcing single origin and single estate coffee beans that ensure full traceability back to the farm and farmer, wherever possible," he says. "This also includes a commitment to source and roast Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Organic coffees. We achieve this by means of the close working relationship we've developed with ethical suppliers who have a strong focus on sustainability.

Bailies Coffee Company was founded in 1993 by managing director Russell Bailie, an entrepreneur who recognised the growing demand for quality, freshly roasted and traceable coffee among customer becoming more knowledgeable and discerning about the coffee being served in Northern Ireland. As a result of this devotion to quality, the company, which now employs 11 people, has become a key player in the development of Ireland's coffee culture.