Moving from bean counting to coffee beans

Accountant Alan Phillips left behind a long career in pharmaceutical finance two years ago to open a coffee roastery on the east coast after travelling to the Netherlands to learn his craft.

Phillips established the Studio Coffee Roasters in February 2017 in Bettystown, Co Meath, and began trading six months later.

“Coffee roasting is a lot more complicated than people realise,” he said. “I went to Amsterdam to train with Kees Kraakmann at ...