There’s something magical about Alchemy

BARRACK Street is an area steeped in history and rich with cultural vibrancy. It’s an appropriate backdrop for a café equally rich with personality; that café is Alchemy. The street, the people, the café; they all seem to be intertwined in a way that’s unique to this particular area of the city.

Coffee lovers of all kinds congregate at Alchemy; the solo book readers, the dog walkers, the friendly catch-ups, the work-related meetings, the parents with strollers… everyone is welcome and you feel it when you’re there.

Hosting events and inviting different kinds of artists through the doors is a regular occurrence. You can see a different selection of crafts that are sold to help local artists.

The branding on their retail coffee bags is currently displaying the design of a guest artist, which is set to regularly change to provide a springboard for local artists.

Alchemy feels like it’s a café for the people – with, of course, some of the city’s most beloved coffee.

I caught up with owner, Eoin Hurley, for a chat about the café.

Can you explain the origins of your name, Alchemy?

Alchemy is the magic that goes into creating the best cup of coffee; using weighing scales for the correct dose of 18 grams, exact timed extraction of 27 seconds, with a completed espresso of 36 grams. Clean water also plays a huge part, so we filter all the water going into the machine.

With all these aligned you’ll get a beautiful cup of coffee so it’s a bit science-ish and there’s a bit of chemistry, but that’s how we do it and how we keep the consistency.

How long has your café been open?

We’ve been open for eight years now. The building is so old we had to get in a ghost-buster to clear some spirits that were stuck in a loop and causing damage to the premises. Lots of history on Barrack Street, with the Fort next door, Nancy Spain’s burial ground, and the Gallows where lots of executions took place – all this led to a few spooky stories in Alchemy.

Your café seems to be closely tied to the local arts scene…

We like to give the arts a platform to perform, with art exhibitions, lots of quiet gigs, we sell lots of jewellery and stuff like that to give back to our customers and help them get their creations out there. The events are based around the staff and customers. Most of our staff are creatives and part of the arts scene in Cork. It makes work easier if you know you have an opportunity to push your own work and see people’s reactions.

Can you pinpoint how you fell in love with coffee?

I fell in love with coffee when a good friend, Ronan, introduced me to Filter Café on George’s Quay — it was incredible!

After that, I had another buddy who was working in a café in Dublin called 3fe, and when I visited I was blown away that coffee could actually taste this good! Must be ten years ago now.

What espresso machine do you use?

We have an Ascaso Big Dream, but it’s about to be sold as we got a new La Marzocco! So if anyone needs a second hand machine call me — its only three years old!

How do you choose your espresso blend and how often do you change it?

We usually don’t use blends; we stick with single origin coffees which are usually the ripest coffee from different origins, depending on seasonality.

We could have a Nicaraguan on for a month or so, then we might have a Brazilian or an Ethiopian.

Usually, what most people would go for is a washed processed coffee with nutty, milk chocolate notes, which generally works best with milk.

Whereas a natural processed coffee would be fruitier and work better as an espresso, a filter coffee, or an Americano.

What are your three best-selling drinks?

1. Flat White 2. Iced Mocha 3. Latte

What’s the favoured drinks amongst your team of baristas?

Baristas tend to go for the batch filter coffee as it’s not so heavy and it’s still nice when it cools.

Beibhinn, our barista, has made up a cocktail list of special iced coffee drinks which are very popular.

What’s an ideal barista to you?

Someone friendly, quick on their feet, good at multi-tasking, and a little bit mad and funny.

What’s your ideal morning café playlist to get the blood flowing and the punters happy?

The Frank and Walters all day.

What’s your daily caffeine limit, and do you have a cut-off hour?

I used to do the dog on it! But you pay the price for it with the jitters, so these days two is my lot and I usually have them done by 11am.

How would you describe the spirit of your café?

Pure Cork and a little bit hippy.

One final word to your customers and the people of Cork city…

Take it handy… You can find Alchemy and their delicious coffee on Barrack Street.