Origin of the Belfast Blend
BELFAST COFFEE CO
SAMSON AND GOLIATH
Coffee is consumed widely across Northern Ireland, especially in Belfast, where this tradition stems back to Harland and Wolff dockyards in the 1800s. Thousands of workers were employed to build grand ships, the most famous being the RMS TITANIC of the White Star Line. Large ships built in the Belfast yard were constructed with sh
eets of steel, held in place by iron rivets. Each rivet was heated red hot and then driven in place by two men wielding hammers on either side of the steel plate. The ‘fire boys’ were responsible for maintaining small coal fires throughout the ship, used to heat the rivets and also preparing coffee. Coffee was prepared several times throughout a shift, that lasted up to 12 hours per day. Raw coffee beans were widely available, having been traded for linen and rope. Belfast was home to the largest rope works in the world and exported to the world's shipping industry. Robert Allan, a Belfast shipwright, blended the coffee with various traded spices to give it a unique flavour. This process is still used today by the 4th generation Allan Family and is what makes our coffee taste so unique. Traditional Belfast coffee is a strong, full-flavoured coffee, which was the order of the day in the 1800s. By maintaining the Belfast coffee tradition and refining our coffee to represent the modern Belfast taste profile, our Belfast coffee is still today, expertly roasted in the shadow of our two yellow gantry cranes ‘Samson’ (804 tonnes) and ‘Goliath’ (760 tonnes) that dominate the Belfast skyline. Enjoy our small batch coffee, roasted with pride in Belfast, from us to you. If you are as passionate about our coffee as we are, share your experience with us and connect with us on our website & Instagram: - www.belfastcoffee.com
