Badger & Dodo

Badger & Dodo has roasted in Cork since 2008, and the discipline shows in what it won't buy: every lot has to clear a Q Grading score of 85 or higher before it's allowed near the roaster. That floor rules out filler and leaves a rotating list built from named farms and regions — a Colombia El Tambo, a Brazil Rio Brilhante — rather than anonymous "South American blend" bags.

Where the roastery gets more adventurous is in processing. Its cherry co-fermented Colombian lot is the clearest example: cherries fermented together under controlled conditions before drying, a method the roastery describes as full-on flavour experimentation rather than a safe, traditional washed or natural process. It's the kind of lot aimed at drinkers who already know what they like and are curious what a different fermentation does to a familiar origin.

The coffee reaches customers through two retail shops in Cork city, stalls at the Midleton and Douglas farmers markets, and a subscription program, alongside a coffee academy that turns the roastery's own grading standards into public education rather than trade secrets. A loyalty scheme, BadgerCoin, rewards repeat buyers at a flat rate per euro spent. Multiple 2025 award placements — golds, an honorable mention, a national win — sit alongside a claim of more than 40 years of combined specialty-coffee experience among the team, the kind of institutional memory that a Q-score floor alone doesn't guarantee.