Ponaire’s Story2022-05-12T17:46:08+01:00

About Ponaire

Ponaire (Irish for Bean) was established in 2006 by Tommy and Jennifer Ryan.

We are Irish owned and operated

We only buy Speciality coffees beans that are carefully selected to create a full range of options that suit different ways of making and drinking coffee.

All of our coffees are traceable and in some instances, we have visited the farms and met the farmers and mill operators.

We roast 100% of our coffees ourselves on our Diedrich IR-24 Roaster or our Diedrich IR-3 Roaster. Our Speciality coffees do not have to travel far to get to your cup!

Ethiopia Coffee Plants

We draw out unique coffee flavours

We import high quality Arabica beans from around the world and hand roast them to meticulously draw out unique flavours. We ‘cup’ all batches to ensure the highest quality and purest of tastes. We maintain roast profile sheets so we can consistently deliver the same high quality that our customers expect.

We can trace our beans from the farm to the cup or bag. When you buy a bag of our coffee you will see a batch number that can be traced back to the farm where the coffee was grown. In addition, we can trace it back to the roast profile sheet. We do not know any roaster in Ireland that does this!

In our roastery in Newport, Co. Tipperary customers can be served delicious coffees by our trained baristas. Customers can also purchase a wide selection of coffees that we roasted ourselves onsite.

At Ponaire, we can support all your coffee needs

We supply coffee to specialty food shops, cafes, hotels, restaurants and many other establishments that serve good quality coffee. We roast and package in our custom designed premises that are HACCP certified.

We supply a wide selection of whole beans, ground coffee and can advise you on a full range of equipment. In addition to our Pónaire blends, we also create custom blends for our most discerning customers.

We can find and support the right solution for your business – whether big or small.

Ponaire is committed to sustainability

Sustainability and this is an important criteria we use when sourcing our beans. As a company we are focused on superior quality and customer service.

Ponaire understands the importance of social responsibility. We support our local community in many ways – we regularly make donations to various charities including Milford Hospice, Daughter’s of Charity, or our local GAA and schools.

We often have students in Transition Year into the Café and Roastery for work experience. We also do talks to local schools and universities. As a producer, we also try to support other local producers and businesses. We also sponsor the local soccer team in El Salvador where we source some of our coffees.

What our customers are saying

We were in Adare Monor for a very very social occasion and served your coffee amazing!!! Where in cork can i purchase ???

Sheila from Cork Jan 2020

Here is what John and Sally had to say about Ponaire coffees and our team of professionals. Each year when we receive a letter from John and Sally McKenna informing us that they have selected Ponaire as a recipient of their coveted award, we are thrilled to be recognized as the quality roasters that we strive to be each and every day of the year. John and Sally have seen us grow from a small 2-person start up in a cold damp warehouse that flooded each time it rained to our custom built roastery, cafe, production facility with a coffee lab and professional Barista School. We are now a team of 8 professionals and a long list of prestigious clients. We couldn’t be happier with our steady growth and beautiful award-winning coffees. Being able to visit the farms, meet the growers and learn about the different ways of growing and processing coffees around the world is a dream come true. Coffee is a fascinating field that is constantly changing and with loads of opportunity for learning and growth.

“Their coffees are superb.  Like the best of the new generation of Roasters, the Ryans are alive to the narcoleptic potential of their beans and their roasts.”

John and Sally McKenna, 2018

A brand new roastery with a brand-new coffee shop on the main street of Newport, County Tipperary, and Jennifer and Tommy’s brilliant Ponaire bespoke coffee company marches ever onwards, demonstrating the organic, patient and logical development that characterises the best coffee companies, the best artisan enterprises. At the core of Ponaire’s success is a dogged dream of perfection, best seen by the way in which they adapt their roasts to best magnify the qualities of the beans. When they roast Gugi Highlands from Ethiopia, for example, they want to emphasise the honey sweetness of the beans, so the roast will be light in order to bring out the sweet characteristics when you make the coffee with a Chemex. With Mount Kenyan beans, they aim to pronounce the almost-wine-like berry flavours that will come forth in an espresso. This is the bespoke character of Ponaire, responding to each bag of beans, each roast, each season, each terroir, each challenge. And, now, of course, anyone travelling through Newport has a brand new destination to get that killer flat white, or that narcotic Americano,and something nice to eat that will put a pep in your step and a smile on your face. For ten years Ponaire has made people’s lives better, and we’re already looking forward to the next decade of delights from this singular and inspiring company.

John and Sally McKenna, 2016

Ponaire is one of the cult brands in Irish speciality food. Tommy and Jennifer have been working steadily, steadily since they first started roasting their selected coffee beans back in 2006, first opening their Annacotty shop beside the roastery, then opening a super outlet at the hip Limerick Milk Market, and all the while infiltrating their superlative coffees into cool restaurants and hip shops throughout the country.

One image we love tells you everything: people circumnavigating the Newport Roundabout near to the Annacotty roastery get the scent from the beans that Jennifer is roasting, and promptly make that detour to stop at the shop and get that Ponaire hit: worth the detour or what! The various blends all demonstrate subtlety and delicacy, the aromas and flavours are lingering. We know it’s ridiculous to say it, but these are feminine coffees, and they remind us of an old music joke about pianists from the 19th century: Franz Liszt may have conquered Europe, but Frédéric Chopin seduced Europe. Ponaire coffees are Chopinesque: they seduce you.

John and Sally McKenna, 2012

Their coffees are superb.  Like the best of the new generation of roasters, the Ryans are alive to the oranoleptic potential of their beans and their roasts.  They understand the volatility of the beans and the roasting process, and in playing with the process and mastering it, they capture not only the flavour and the essence of the bean, but somehow manage to package its very energy also. Magnificent artisanship, nothing less.

John and Sally McKenna, 2010

From a guest of Jo’s Cafe in Kinsale, who Ponaire Supplies coffee to:

“I went here nearly everyday they were open while I lived in Kinsale! I loved the friendly atmosphere( we came in strangers and left as friends!), the amazing baked goods, the AWESOME coffee”

Deonna Hotovec, April 15 ’19

Review From Customer at Wild Strands Cafe, Donegal. “Amazing place … organic clever local produce … innovative use of sea herbs and homegrown produce … unique . Go visit ! #Minister JoeMcHugh was visiting and supporting #Donegal too. Relaxing atmosphere · Expert baristas · Best coffee”

Noel Cunningham

From Craig Kinnear who had Ponaire coffee at Cafe Du Journal, Monkstown, Dublin: “Best coffee in Dublin!”

Craig Kinnear

From a guest to Ponaire’s Cafe in Newport, Tipperary January 2019, “Lovely Coffee.  Really nice relaxed set up.  Coffee was delightful.  Will be back for sure.  Really cool to see the roastery through the window in the cafe.”

Guest

Reviews of Ponaire’s coffee roasted for and served by Bedford Townhouse and Cafe;

“Fabulous coffee , very friendly staff, felt very relaxed and comfortable”

Eleanor Keogh

“The best cappuccino I’ve tasted in town.” (Bedford Townhouse and Cafe, Limerick)

Patricia Grimes

Ponaire’s

Regions and Farms

We import only high grade Arabica beans from around the world – India, Indonesia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Brazil, El Salvador, Honduras, to name a few.

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