This Saturday BEAN AND GONE will be hitting the road early and heading up north to Barcamp Derry, serving up coffee (brewed in a ridiculously large number of ways) all day. We’ll have our Espresso machine “Frankie”, Vac Pots, Moka Pots and Filter Cones and more.

Following up from the success of last months Guest Coffee (HasBean‘s Bolivia Machacamarca) we’re very happy to announce our next Guest Coffee is Ristretto’s Espresso Blend.

Ristretto are a speciality coffee roaster from Banbridge, Co Down and supply coffee to cafes and consumers throughout Northern Ireland and beyond. The blend we will be using has received a prestigious 2 Star Gold award in this year’s Great Taste Awards. In their own words their Espresso blend is:

A very special and individual blend, ethically sourced from respected family run estates in Latin America. Each component of the blend brings its own unique flavours to the final cup. The Central and South American coffees taste like chocolate and caramel – beautiful with velvety milk in a cappuccino. A very special Asian coffee adds a delicate sweetness – can you taste the hint of grapefruit?
Each component is individually roasted and then blended to create just the right balance of flavours in the cup.

Having tried this before on several occasions, I can assure you it’s a wonderfully sweet, balanced blend and I can’t wait to be serving it up beside our own coffee on Saturday.

As always we’ll have bags of Beans, and coffee brewing equipment on sale and of course will always have time to answer any coffee questions you may have, or just have a good chat.

This coming Saturday, 6th June, Castle Gardens hosts the latest Lisburn Farmer’s Market.


Rising above past criticism and terrible weather, the May market was success for all involved, both traders and most importantly customers. The summer-like weather, donkey rides, Art on the Rails and the market itself created a enjoyable experience for all and drew in new visitors, with the tent being packed all day long.

We’ll be there again this Saturday, with a wide range of BEAN AND GONE artisan coffee beans and serving drinks too. This month we’ll be selling some exciting single origins coffees that aren’t available on our website, including; Guatamala Cup of Excellence Perla Anexos and a new Kenyan coffee, Kitamaiyu Estate AA .

Hopefully the great weather will hold and we’ll see you there!

Since we started roasting and bagging our own beans we are regularly asked if our coffee is Fairtrade. I have always been a supporter of the right of farmers to receive a decent price for their crops. Fairtrade (the organisation) was originally founded to fight against the growing trend of supermarkets and conglomerates who were hammering down the price of coffee and in turn giving the farmer less and less.

Lately though I have found the Fairtrade organisation to be losing its way, paying £1 million for a logo change is hardly charitable, when that money could have been given to farmers. I feel it is becoming nothing more than a marketing tool for the very supermarkets it once fought against. Yes farmers get a “fair” price, but is it enough?

As a speciality coffee roaster, we decided to ensure that all beans we buy are not only “Fair” but are bought from sustainable farms where the farmer isn’t just taking the best price available, but is actually making a profit, which can be put back into the business,  not only improving the quality of the coffee but their way of life.