Wicklow Naturally Members Evening at Pine Cone Coffee Roasters

Pine Cone Coffee hosted a  Wicklow Naturally members network evening at their Roastery this week. On a very sunny Wednesday evening, members enjoyed a fascinating tour before an evening of network updates and an informal catch up with fellow members.

Wicklow Naturally network meetings are held regularly through the year, hosted by individual members at their premises and usually involve a tour of the facility and a talk about the business. It’s always a really interesting way for members to get to know about each other’s enterprises and this time members were delighted to accept the invitation from the Pine Cone hosts Daibhid Corish, Pierre Bourgerie and Tomás Agnew to their roastery near Wicklow town.

The evening started with a tour of the roastery, with the Pine Cone team discussing sourcing of coffee beans, roasting methods, and flavour profiles, as well as sharing insights into their philosophy, business strategy and sustainability initiatives. This was a fascinating peek into the world of coffee roasting – followed by the most important part of every tour – a  tasting which everyone thoroughly enjoyed!

Members from across the county joined the meeting with representatives including Wicklow Farmhouse Cheese, O’Hanlons Herbs, Glenview Hotel, BrookLodge Macreddin, Grá Aran, Chocolate Garden of Ireland, Coolattin Cheddar, Críoch Catering, Open Hive Honey, Caffreys Sauces, An Tairseach, Hug in a Bowl and Old McDonnells Farm, as well as Board members, Pat O’Suilleabhán, Wendy O’Neill and Martin Cullen and Wicklow Naturally Coordinator Santina Kennedy.

While enjoying  the delicious coffee, members heard of upcoming plans for the network, including exciting opportunities to meet food writers who will visit Wicklow this August, and plans for this year’s October Feast. As always, members generously exchanged knowledge and contributed ideas for future activities. Sustainability continues to feature highly on the agenda for all, and ideas for collaboration and education were discussed with great energy and enthusiasm.

It was agreed at the meeting, that in a busy world of challenging times for entrepreneurs, especially those in food, drink and hospitality, there is great merit in connecting with the local network for support, advice, encouragement and fresh thinking. Wicklow Naturally would sincerely like to thank Pine Cone Coffee Roasters for a wonderful, welcoming and successful evening.

Daibhid Corish of Pine Cone Coffee Roasters explains the process to attendees    

Various stages of the roasting process