Celebrating Wins for Green Ocean Coffee

We were honoured to receive not one, but two awards at the 2025 Guaranteed Irish Business Awards in the Mansion House — Sustainability Champion and Irish Food & Beverage Supplier of the Year. These accolades are a proud moment for our team and a testament to the collective impact of everyday sustainable choices, made local and community-first.

As awareness of Green Ocean Coffee continues to grow, so too does interest and support. We’ve seen a steady increase in coffee sales — each cup contributing directly to real-world ocean restoration.

While the Green Ocean Foundation leads the restoration work, Watermark Coffee remains its biggest supporter — providing funding from coffee sales, along with time, energy, and resources. We’re also excited to welcome four new business sponsors who have recently come on board to support upcoming restoration projects. The ripple effect is growing!

Community Engagement That Inspires

Over the past few months, we’ve deepened our community connections in meaningful ways. From presenting at a Climate Conference for 500 Transition Year students in Co. Wicklow (hosted by Codling Wind Farm), to expanding our engagement with third-level institutions like Trinity College, DCU, UCD, and Dundalk Institute of Technology.

But one standout moment? A visit to 4th Class at St. Brigid’s BNS in Killester, where we were welcomed by the wonderfully enthusiastic principal, Yvonne Emerson. The energy and curiosity of the students reminded us exactly why this work matters. It’s these moments — full of questions, wonder, and hope — that keep us pushing forward with purpose.

Dublin Bay – Phase 2 Update

Since relocating our oysters from Tralee to Dublin Bay in October, Marguerite and I have made several visits to check on their progress. The good news? The oyster gardens are settling in well. Growth has been modest, which is expected at this early stage, but things are looking positive as they continue to adapt to their new home.

What’s Next for Green Ocean?

We’re preparing for a significant expansion in the coming months — the installation of 16,000 to 18,000 oysters in Dun Laoghaire Harbour. This ambitious step marks the beginning of our efforts to create a living biogenic reef along the breakwater walls, boosting biodiversity and improving water quality. We’ll be sharing more updates on this as plans solidify.

Later this year, we’ll also be launching a pilot project in Greystones Marina — a key step in testing and verifying the approach in a new location with its own unique challenges.

If you love what we’re doing — or if you’re a business interested in being part of something that delivers real, measurable environmental impact — we’d love to hear from you.

Together, small actions can create big change.

If you’re looking to get more involved in fighting climate change, using nature based solutions to enhance biodiversity, sequester carbon dioxide and reduce the impact of coastal erosion?  Then you’ve come to the right place!

Our oysters are ‘mini engineers’ that collectively will bring this significant positive environmental change over their lifetime, and ours too hopefully!  This is meaningful action right here, right now!

What’s involved?

Our oysters live in ‘Oyster Gardens’ that hang from marina pontoons.  The Oyster Gardens are marine boxes that allow the oysters filter water and maximise their spawning potential as the fertilised oyster larvae can pass through the boxes and attach on to any hard substrate in the vicinity of the garden every July / August.

As you would expect, the oyster garden attracts other marine species like sea squirts and biofilm that needs to be cleaned off from the outside and inside of the boxes from time to time; starfish and other creatures can be released back into the water.  The oysters themselves stay fairly clean but we need to inspect them and make an assessment on health.

There is no heavy lifting required and there should be no risk of falling in.  But care is always needed when beside deep water.

We will also give you an explanation and overview of the Green Ocean Project.

What you’ll need  

Warm clothes (and some more just in case as it can get chilly) and sun protection cream.

Older clothes that you don’t mind getting a bit dirty; might be better not to wear your Sunday best!

If you can bring reusable kitchen rubber gloves.  We will have single use rubber gloves available, but we try and reduce using single use plastic as much as possible.

What will be provided

We will provide the cleaning sponges and hoses etc are on the marina.  Handwashing / changing facilities are available in the marina changing rooms after the session.

When and Where?

Our next available scheduled volunteer session at Dun Laoghaire Marina is at 19:00PM until 21:00PM on Wednesday 26th June 2024.  If you fancy getting involved please get in touch by emailing us or completing the sign up form below.

Details of the meeting point will be sent by email to those signing up.

How?

Please  SIGN UP HERE FOR JUNE  and we will be in touch to confirm the final details.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch by dropping us a line on info@greenoceancoffee.ie

The objective of this project is to establish an oyster brood stock in Dublin Bay so that the stock of oysters will naturally expand and regenerate forming reefs in the environs of the Bay.  Oysters are a keystone species in terms of promoting habitat biodiversity and stabilising the sea floor to allow sea grass and other sea weeds to propagate.  This in turn provides an excellent environment for fish and other marine life to spawn and seek shelter.

Each Oyster filters approximately190 litres of sea water a day feeding on algae, plankton and nutrients in the water which helps to clean the water allowing sun light to penetrate the seafloor which in turn fosters the propagation of seagrass and seaweeds.  Seagrass is a powerful carbon sink as it sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide at a rate of 35 times faster than an equivalent area of tropical rainforest.

This project, which we are running with UCD Marine Science Department, has only been possible with the co-operation of the marina operators, Dun Laoghaire Marina, Malahide Marina and Poolbeg Marina as well as the local councils of Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, Fingal and Dublin City Council.

We have had a lot of encouragement and advice from many different stakeholders including Tony Legg of Jersey Sea Farms, Bord Iascaigh Mhara, National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Marine Institute and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and the EPA.  We are very grateful.

While getting to this stage has been a great milestone, pushing this project to the next level requires the involvement of the wider community of businesses, individuals, and community groups.  So, if you would like to be apart of this meaningful action orientated climate action project then please let us know!

Blas na hEireann is often described as the Oscars for the Irish Food Industry and included over 3000 submissions from a wide range of artisanal and specialist food producers.

Of the two categories for coffee (multi-origin and single origin categories), our Green Ocean Carrickwee won the Gold with a 1^st place win for the multi origin coffee. The Green Ocean Dorinish, which is a single origin from the Mutwiri coffee plantation in Kenya, won the silver medal with a second place win, and our Woodland Tibradden, which is also a single origin from Kenya came in with a 3^rd place win.

Speaking about the result, David Lawlor of Watermark Coffee said “We are really delighted that these wonderful coffees have performed so well.  In a very competitive market, with a lot of contenders in the competition, winning 3 out of 6 possible coffee awards is a fantastic result.”

The Green Ocean Carrickwee blend is a medium roast of speciality grade arabica beans sourced from Central America, Brazil and Kenya.  We designed this coffee recipe to reflect the increasing sophistication of Irish consumers but also to ensure it has maximum appeal.  It is not a huge surprise that it received the coveted first place win.

The Dorinish single origin from the coffee estate of Charles Mutwiri is a medium light roast but the earthiness of the Kenyan coffee gives more body with a nuanced sophisticated citrus and herbal flavour.

The Woodland Tibradden single origin coffee from Mt Kenya is roasted to medium light.  This speciality grade coffee has been a huge success since it was launched in 2022.

Producing fantastic coffee with a meaningful environmental purpose is the essence of what Green Ocean Coffee and Woodland Coffee stand for.

If you would like to find out more about these excellent coffees, or to arrange a coffee tasting for your business or office, then please let us know by calling 01 4666 000or dropping us an email on info@watermark.ie

The Robusta varietals of coffee beans, as the name suggests have a more robust flavour, and are grown at a lower altitude and typically have a higher caffeine content when compared to arabica coffee beans. Vietnam is the worlds largest producer of Robusta coffee and a lot of this makes its way into instant coffee.

Arabica coffee varietals on the other hand originated in Ethiopia and have spread across the coffee growing world, which is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

Arabica is typically grown at higher altitudes of above 1800 masl (meters above sea level) is generally considered to be of higher quality than Robusta. Arabica coffee has more sweetness and smoothness with a combination of flavour notes such as chocolate, citrus, soft spice. etc (there is a taste wheel to pinpoint these flavours.) Brazil is the largest producer of Arabica coffee.

Many Italian coffees tend to use a combination of Robusta and Arabica in the same blend to give a unique Italian coffee flavour.

Green Ocean Coffee uses only arabica coffee that is certified by the SCA (Speciality Coffee Association) as of ‘Speciality Grade’. Speciality Grade is the status given to the best of the best Arabica. If the coffee scores 80 or higher on the Speciality Grade Scale then it qualifies as speciality grade and this grading is carried out with reference to size, colour, taste and a comprehensive measure of defects which are classified as either primary or secondary.

Why is this important?

Put simply the better the coffee, the better the taste. But since taste is very individual, this also translates into improved consistency of flavour as uniform quality allows for improved roasting and brewing. For example, a coffee that is roasted to medium / light and brewed at 92 degrees centigrade will be much more consistent if the green bean coffee is of a particular quality and size at the start of the process.

The demand for speciality coffee grade is by far the fastest growing area in the spectrum of coffee consumption as consumer tastes have become increasingly more sophisticated and discerning. Our Green Ocean Dorinish Coffee is a single origin speciality coffee from Kenya and and our Green Ocean Inisheeny coffee is a speciality coffee from Brazil with some Kenyan added for extra brightness.

Insight into the Mutwiri Coffee Farm, Kenya.

Charles Mutwiri is the owner and driving force behind this thriving coffee estate. Charles was only 17 when his father gifted him 150 coffee bushes. Tree by tree, he has expanded his farm and now he owns an impressive 30,000 coffee bushes in Nthimbiri, Central Imenti. In addition, he has his own factory where he mills his produce which range from 150,000 kilos to 200,000 kilos a season.

Charles Mutwiri picking his coffee

Charles Mutwiri is a man with a vision to transform his community and inspire future generations of coffee farmers, the development of his farm is testament to his hard work, quality product and resilience. He comes from a line of coffee farmers and his two daughters are also involved in coffee, one of which is a coffee farmer and the other is in college pursuing a degree in coffee management and farming.

The coffee of the Mutwiri estate is grown on rich, volcanic soil and after selective hand picking, is hand processed in fresh water. Full of sweet complex flavours, lively acidity, and rich velvet body that carry a distinct terroir that some call classic Kenyan flavour. Here the climate is very like a European summer and much of the coffee grows in the shade of the forest canopy.

Insight into the Tres Porteiras Farm, South Minas, Brazil

Owned and operated by Pedro and Maria Helenain in the Ingia region, South Minas, Brazil. Pedro who is an engineer and Maria Helena who is a doctor came to the region in 1989 with a dream to live and work the land. Giving up city life, they took the decision to move to an underdeveloped region of Brazil to grow coffee and follow their dream. Over 30 years later with many ups and downs they have created a wonderful coffee plantation that employs three families who live on the estate. Coffee output is roughly 1000 bags per year and has a SCA speciality coffee rating of 83.

Pedro and Maria Helenain, coffee is dried for 30 days in the sun to improve flavour

The coffee is grown at 1000 to 1045 MASL and the farm employs cultivation techniques that enhance insect biodiversity to organically control pests by planting wind break trees, tall grasses called brachiaria or bread grass and bananas to give additional protection.
The coffee is dried for 30 days with tasting notes that include fruit, acidity and sweet balanced, notes with caramel and sugar cane.

The end result is….

The mix of Kenyan and Brazilian coffee gives a bright coffee (coming from the Kenyan) with soft chocolate flavours (coming from the Brazilian) which is roasted to a light profile to give a modern and sophisticated flavour.  This is an ideal cafe blend for those outlets that want to serve nuanced delicate coffee.

What we really like about these two producers is that they are real and viable businesses that demonstrate the drive for success, commitment to quality and a respect for their communities. I am proud to count these two families amongst the stakeholders of Green Ocean Coffee