Steam Café @ The Alex - Dublin 2

You can go to as many trendy hipster coffee shops that you want, but you will never get the kind of down to earth, real, and genuinly friendly service that you get from Darius and Maria. Two guys who are just, simply put, interested in you. Coffee is brilliant too with a top of the range machine helping them do their magic. Getting a coffee is a bit of an experience and should contain both the human interaction you have and the coffee, this place has both at a high quality level.

Darius is possibly the best barista in Dublin.

Bitter, Bitter and Bitter. I drink from here quite often and every time I hope it gets better. Basics: Wet portfoilter means some of the coffee will extract in advance and not taste good. No grinder calibration, no weighing, hot water after espresso. Please, please give the time for continuous training. The reason we drink coffee outside the house is for coffee shops to get it right. Good location, lovely staff and nice design. Poor food offering. (You know.)

Appalling cup of Coffee served like it was instant coffee. Hot water just poured in.

Probably the best place to grab a lovely coffee and a sweet snack around the Merrion/Trinity area. It's around the corner from Pearse St DART and right beside Twitter.

Wife and I both really enjoyed the lattes from here