Java Republic Roastery

A trip to IKEA saw us diverting to Java Republic cafe for a look at their setup. Wow it is amazing out there, the factory is impeccable, with bright yellow machines doing the biz. We didn’t get to see too much but enough to envy the creators. Himself was not too impressed with the coffee but I think it’s because he makes stronger coffee at home. My hot chocolate was good: milky with a decent chocolate taste (not creamy and sweet) and beats Starbucks into second place. It contains 40% cocoa, Green & Black’s Drinking Chocolate contains 60%.

HoneyB was thrilled with her Mammut stool from IKEA … but the leg keeps falling off. At 18 months she was a sponge and absorbing everything we said. Now she is an intelligent sponge so can say things at the right times … e.g. leg falls off and she says ‘f*cksake’. Sorry HoneyB – I’m a bad mommie ;-)

My star buy at IKEA was a Raritet two layer food storage box which I can use to transport double the amount of truffles … only at IKEA can you get these sorta gadgets.

A trip to IKEA saw us diverting to Java Republic cafe for a look at their setup. Wow it is amazing out there, the factory is impeccable, with bright yellow machines doing the biz. We didn’t get to see too much but enough to envy the creators. Himself was not too impressed with the coffee but I think it’s because he makes stronger coffee at home. My hot chocolate was pretty good though and beats Starbucks into second place. A long way to go for cocoa though so I’ll stay loyal to the ‘Bucks in Blackrock.

 

HoneyB was thrilled with her Mammut stool from IKEA … but the leg keeps falling off. At 18 months she was a spongs and absorbing everything we said. Now she is an intelligent sponge so can say things at the right times … e.g. leg falls off and she says ’f*cksake’. Sorry HoneyB – I’m a bad mommie ;-)

My star buy at IKEA was a Raritet two layer storage box which I can use to transport double the amout of truffles … only at IKEA can you get these sorta gadgets.

http://www.javarepublic.com/iopen24/product_info.php?cPath=0_76&products_id=1247

http://www.javarepublic.com/iopen24/index.php

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/15937-2?pageNumber=A trip to IKEA saw us diverting to Java Republic cafe for a look at their setup. Wow it is amazing out there, the factory is impeccable, with bright yellow machines doing the biz. We didn’t get to see too much but enough to envy the creators. Himself was not too impressed with the coffee but I think it’s because he makes stronger coffee at home. My hot chocolate was pretty good though and beats Starbucks into second place. A long way to go for cocoa though so I’ll stay loyal to the ‘Bucks in Blackrock.

HoneyB was thrilled with her Mammut stool from IKEA … but the leg keeps falling off. At 18 months she was a spongs and absorbing everything we said. Now she is an intelligent sponge so can say things at the right times … e.g. leg falls off and she says ‘f*cksake’. Sorry HoneyB – I’m a bad mommie ;-)

My star buy at IKEA was a Raritet two layer storage box which I can use to transport double the amout of truffles … only at IKEA can you get these sorta gadgets.

http://www.javarepublic.com/iopen24/product_info.php?cPath=0_76&products_id=1247

http://www.javarepublic.com/iopen24/index.php

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/kitchen/15937-2?pageNumber=0

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We’re all going on a Summer Holiday …

Well actually Sir Cliff we are just back from our summer holidays in Killarney and would definitely go back again. There’s so much to do and I must mention the excellent Kennedy’s All Weather Pet Farm (the important words here being ‘all’ and ‘weather’!), bike hire from the friendly O’ Sullivans, and the NP.

The jarveys were out protesting against horse nappies … HoneyB was definitely on their side saying ‘horsies no wear nappy mom, nooh’. The disruption increased our drive to Lorge by 20mins but it was worth it. A small cottage at the side of the road in the middle of the countryside we found Lorge happily chocolatiering.

We tasted some excellent truffles, my favourite was the Dark Chocolate and Lime and a very close second was Valrhona Guanaja ganache. The truffles had a thin coating which allowed the filling to take center stage. So unlike many mass produced confections, the filling was not hidden under a thick shell of chocolate. They were delicate some dipped, some molded. The praline was strongly nutty with a sweet hit, rather than vice versa. But they were so fresh … the freshest truffles ever.

And if that was not enough, we had to have a Hot Chocolate, with a hint of Ginger. It shortened the trip home ;-) Himself wiled the time away taking photos of the truffles balancing on the gear stick!

We also visited Murphy’s Ice Cream cafe on Main St. It is such a fun relaxed place, the staff are so friendly and enthusiastic. On our first visit we chose Dark Chocolate, Chocolate & Whiskey and Strawberry. The girls’ favourite was the Dark Chocolate, the boy’s favourite was the Whiskey.

Next visit we went for a tasting plate i.e. a selection of 5 ice creams: Honeycomb, Raspberry Sorbet, Peanut, Milk Chocolate, Guinness. My favourite was the Peanut … chocolate chips, peanuts and vanilla ice cream … divine. Ha ha would you believe I just checked out their website and the recipe is there !!

Unfortunately we did not get to CocoaBean and Skellig factory … next year hopefully.

Shall I compare thee to …

… a mars bar.

Below is a nutritional comparison between a mars bar and a cuppa hot chocolate. To me, a mars bar is the traditional fill-me-up calorie laden bar and I wanted to see if a hot chocolate was hiding some serious calories behind a pretty cup.

The results are clear: for my everyday cuppa I’ll be sticking to cocoa powder and low fat milk for my hot chocolate.

Brand	Name	Calories kcal	Total Fat g	Comments
Mars	Mars Bar	261	10.4
Green & Black’s	Cocoa powder	115.5	4.3	200ml low fat milk and 1 tsp cocoa powder
Green & Black’s	Cocoa powder	145.5	8.1	200ml milk and 1 tsp cocoa powder
Starbucks	Tall Classic – cream	249	9.2
Alice Medrich Bittersweet*	Hot chocolate recipe	263	18.4	Low fat milk
Alice Medrich Bittersweet*	Hot chocolate recipe	277	20.06	Whole milk
Starbucks	Tall Classic + cream	319	16.2
Twinnings**	Luxury Hot Chocolate			No info available on the tin or their website. Tut tut.
Starbucks	Tall Signature – cream	363	19.1
Starbucks	Tall Signature + cream	433	26.1	The signature drink is the most calorie laden beverage on their menu :-0
Butlers	Hot Chocolate			No info available and no response to email query. From tasting I would imagine it is higher than Starbucks Signature.
Insomnia	Hot Chocolate			No info available and no response to email query. From tasting I would imagine it is higher than Starbucks Signature.

* The recipe serves 6-8 but I only get 4 servings so figures are based on ‘my’ cups.

** I’m guessing since it’s a mixture of chocolate shavings and cocoa powder.

PS: Thanks to Starbucks for actually publishing a booklet on nutritional information.

Insomnia

‘I can’t get no sleep’ is the tune (maybe ‘tune’ is too mild a word) I always think of when I hear the word. After a ‘refreshing’ walk on the Dun Laoghaire pier we decided to relax in Insomnia (aka the cafe in Meadows and Byrne). We had two choices a) sit outside and share our drinks with the elements, dart, traffic, smokers and pigeons or b) chill inside. We chose the latter and with a bit of table manipulation we managed to squeeze the pushchair to an empty table. There were lots of empty tables … just not lots of room. It is not very well laid out compared with the fabulous Starbucks Blackrock who have set the bar very high.

Himself chose a plain old coffee and it had, as promised, 2 shots of espresso. It was very good indeed. I had a hot chocolate which should be renamed Sweetie Hot Chocolate, because it was so sweet that I don’t think I’d ever order it again. It came sprinkled with milk chocolate shavings – nice touch. When himself was ordering he said no to marshmallows for me … goodness, did they think it needed even more sweetening???

The drink has been specially formulated using a secret blend of cocoa beans from Madagascar, Ivory Coast and Ghana by the chocolatiers at Lily O’Briens (whose founder Mary O’Brien is on the board of Insomnia). Could they do a bittersweet blend please pretty please?? And for those who really want a sugar hit, how about Angel Hot Chocolate made with white chocolate. Maybe when Honeyb is older, she can tell me what it tastes like.

I do applaude Insomnia though for making chocolate an important part of their cafe culture. Lily O’Brien chocolatiers are working on a range of Fairtrade chocolate specifically for Insomnia. And indeed, maybe the next time we are in Iceland we will be warming up over a cuppa Insomnia (just this year an Icelandic company purchased a large stake in the coffee chain).