WATCH: Official opening of The Old Barracks coffee retail store in Limerick city

A LEADING Limerick-based coffee brand is looking to add a new experience-focused flavour to takeaway coffee in the city.

The Old Barracks, which has soared in popularity with Limerick people since coming to Birdhill, Tipperary, has added a brand-new coffee experience roastery on the Dock Road, in Limerick city.

The aim of the new retail and experience store is to demystify the complexity of coffee, owner Alan Andrews told Limerick Live.

"We have created an in-store experience where we can talk them through how to make coffee using a range of our beans and explain how some beans may react different to other others," Alan, who also owns Guji Coffee Bars in Nenagh and Cork said.

The store, which marked an official "soft-opening" on Saturday, November 26, sees the launch of its in-store experience, which includes the sale of a number of coffee machines, where customers will be able to call in and experience a demonstration before deciding to make a purchase.

The Limerick city store now features an education centre, roastery, coffee bar, retail space, and will soon add tasting and training rooms as well as a coffee lab.

Mr Andrews believes that the ground-breaking coffee experience store will improve the overall coffee quality across Limerick city.

"What we are doing here is making people more aware of what a better coffee tastes like by giving them access to people that will give them answers to questions like why their coffee tastes sweet or bitter," he stated.

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The goal is also to add an extra layer of transparency on how both farmers and the store get coffee and how consistency and quality is achieved in each and every cup, Mr Andrews added.

Access to parking in front of the store along one of the main arteries in and out of the city has been a key pulling point for customers so far.

"For us as a business we now have space to scale. We employ over 40 staff across our four sites between The Old Barracks and Guji," Mr Andrews explained.

"Next year we are looking to develop this into a much bigger store and bigger experience through our roastery and coffee roasting bar, which will be a much more immersive experience with education and retail ideas," he concluded.