Pups and cups at Brosef: ‘It’s not just coffee, it’s an experience’

At Brosef, Letterkenny’s new espresso bar, “it’s not just coffee, it's an experience.”

Hailing from Glenties, Paddy and James Molloy are the brothers behind the pet-friendly coffee shop.  In six weeks, they single-handedly transformed the premises from a tattoo parlour to a cosy coffee shop, painting and designing it themselves. 

The entrepreneurs felt inspired as “there's nothing else like it around here,” Paddy told DonegalLive. “I love coffee and James is very good at mixology, he is meticulous, so I thought why don’t we look into a coffee shop.”

From there the brothers began to purchase the equipment and finely select the bean that would be used for the speciality coffee. On June 7, Paddy and James held a complimentary opening ceremony to get to know their customers and their pets. 

“We aren’t just pet friendly, we encourage it and we love dogs. We want to have a place where people don’t have to worry about their pets, bring them in,” Paddy continued. 

Inclusivity is at the forefront of the black-and-white-themed shop, as the brothers want everyone to feel welcome, “We like to accommodate people as much as we can and make them happy,” James told DonegalLive. 

“It's all part of the package of Brosef, we want to sell great coffee but we are as much of a product as the coffee, we like to bond with our customers. We genuinely love what we do. We want people to remember their stay and it to have a personal feel.” 

Paddy, who is 33, has been a music teacher at Errigal College for the past four years and 30-year-old James has a decade of experience in the hospitality industry. “We find it a good contrast between my experience in hospitality and Paddy is more business orientated, so we mixed the two things,” James added. 

The brothers play to their strengths, with James handling the precision and customer service and Paddy at the helm of the social media and branding. 

“We just trust the process and we get on well together, we may look alike but we’re very different. We both share a love for coffee and putting out quality products, taking pride in every cup we put out,” Paddy added.

The brothers also wanted an air of uniqueness to the branding, “The name Brosef reflects the fact we are brothers and friends, it's like a colloquial slang term. We sat on it for quite a while and it really grew on us. We just wanted something unique, it is different and stands out. We can’t believe the amount of support we have received so far from just people walking in off the street to local businesses, it has been wonderful,” James said. 

Ethics and sustainability are at the forefront of the brand - with the coffee and the cups all ethically sourced and compostable and a portion off for using keep-cups

Open seven days a week, Brosef serves all speciality coffee, sourced from a single-origin Colombian bean along with freshly baked goods daily such as cakes, buns and doughnuts. 

The premises located at 55 Port Road, Letterkenny is open weekdays from 8am to 4pm and Saturday and Sunday from 10am until 3pm.