Transcript of conversation with Johnathan Healy 
(who was sitting in for Pat Kenny)

Johnathan Healy:
Pat McArdle is the owner of dream beans coffee in County Louth. Hello Pat. How are you?
Pat McArdle:
I’m very well Jonathan How are you?
Johnathan Healy:
I’m good. You’re growing coffee in Co Louth now, are you?
Pat McArdle:
Well no, we’re not. We’re roasting and we’re selecting it. We’re making it and we’re turning it into terrific coffee.
Are you a coffee drinker, Jonathan?
Johnathan Healy:
I’ve got to have to plead the fifth on that because I’m a well known coffee philistine.
I drink tea until it’s coming out my ears but I am not proficient in the world of coffee.
What makes yours work?
Pat McArdle:
Well, ours is terrific. It’s different from most coffees that you can buy in Ireland and the reason is very simple.
The reason is that we have blends, rather than single origins for the most part, and we roast each blend separately.
We roast each variety separately, I should say. And this makes all the difference.
Most roasters will, if they’re blending coffees, will take the different varieties, they mix them together
and then they’re all roasted together at the same temperature for the same duration.
And you’ll get good coffee but you won’t get the absolute top notes, the things that make the coffee magical,
you won’t get it like this. You know, if you go to dreambeanscoffee.ie,
any of the coffees there, really, they’ll change your day. They’re that good.
It’s such a big surprise when you try it.
Johnathan Healy:
Can I ask you a question? How do you select the beans? That that is one of the great mysteries.
A bit challenging during COVID because you can’t travel to the plantations,
but what is your criteria for a good coffee bean?
Pat McArdle:
The criteria is ALWAYS quality. Like, of course, you can’t make great coffee without great beans.
But the thing is experience, Jonathan. Pat Grant, who is the Master Roaster in Greenbean Coffee
has been doing this for 30 years. And the man, it’s just, it’s uncanny his ability to look at (a blend).
Even the starting point. We would taste together all the time, we would be blending and mixing and
trying and so on, but Pat will start and he will know which beans to select,
which cuts out a huge amount of (trial and error). It’s just an incredible skill.
It’s just this ability to imagine a blend before it even exists, and…
Johnathan Healy:
That’s a skill in its own right. What’s the website? Sorry Pat. What is the website?
Pat McArdle:
It’s dreambeanscoffee.ie, dreambeanscoffee.ie.
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