Introducing the Green Ocean Foundation

The Green Ocean Foundation CLG is a newly incorporated ‘not for profit’ community based organisation that will manage and deliver marine environmental projects with local impact in Ireland. Its a bold step in addressing climate challenges through actionable, community-driven solutions. Building on Watermark Coffee’s sustainability legacy, this dedicated platform is designed to expand our efforts and protect the marine environment while inspiring individuals, businesses, and organisations to join forces for a better future.

The Foundation is founded on two core objectives:

• Restoring Marine Biodiversity: Utilising nature-based solutions to rebuild ecosystems, improve water quality, and sequester carbon.
• Raising Ocean Awareness: Educating and engaging communities to emphasise the ocean’s critical role in combating climate change through involvement in impactful initiatives.

Why “Green Ocean”?

The name “Green Ocean” reflects the interconnectedness of life, climate, and ecosystems. Recognising that meaningful climate action demands a collective effort far greater than what we can achieve alone, the Green Ocean Foundation aims to become a scalable platform for broader impact. It will serve as a hub for businesses, schools, and community groups to contribute to sustainable projects while amplifying their reach and effect.

This is more than an initiative; it’s a call to action for collaboration that turns individual contributions into waves of change.

What the Green Ocean Foundation Will Do

The Green Ocean Foundation will focus on four key areas to drive real and measurable change:

1. Climate Action Projects

Our projects are designed to revitalise marine ecosystems through innovative, nature-based solutions. By focusing on rebuilding lost biodiversity, enhancing water quality, and increasing carbon capture, we aim to create thriving, resilient marine environments.

These initiatives are thoughtfully managed and delivered along Ireland’s coastline, ensuring a profound local impact while contributing to a significant global environmental dividend. Through these efforts, we strive to not only protect but also restore the vital ecosystems that underpin life on Earth.

2. Education and Awareness

Creating lasting change begins with understanding. Through talks in schools, hands-on workshops, and participation in public events, the Foundation will equip the next generation with the knowledge and tools to become champions of sustainability.

3. Community Collaboration

Collaboration is at the heart of our mission. The Foundation will work closely with local councils, businesses, and community organisations to co-design projects that bring tangible benefits to both people and the planet.

4. Transparency and Impact Reporting

To ensure trust and accountability, all Foundation initiatives will be measured and publicly reported. This transparency will allow stakeholders to see the direct impact of their contributions and motivate ongoing participation.

How You Can Get Involved

The Green Ocean Foundation is a collective effort, and we invite everyone to play a part in shaping a sustainable future:

• Businesses: Partner with us on innovative projects that align with your values.
• Schools: Host an educational talk or involve students in our hands-on initiatives.
• Individuals: Volunteer your time at community events or support climate action campaigns.
• Organisations: Collaborate with us to create custom programmes addressing specific environmental challenges.

Together, we can transform small actions into big changes.

The Future Starts Now

The launch of the Green Ocean Foundation is more than a milestone—it’s the beginning of a movement. By coming together, we can create a future where sustainability is a shared responsibility and where every action contributes to protecting our planet for generations to come.

For more information on the Green Ocean Foundation and how you can get involved, visit GreenOceanFoundation.ie

Let’s make a difference!

Coffee in the global village

Soaring global coffee consumption is good news for the economies of the countries reliant on the trade, also known as origins. In a growing market where there is huge demand for new flavours.  Coffee origins are key to flavour profiles and have become distinct in their own right, similar to that of wine producing regions.  This has allowed many smaller producers, like Charles Mutwiri, who produces the single origin beans for our Green Ocean Dorinish coffee, gain an international foothold enabling them to sell direct to businesses like ourselves.  Selling directly allows producers to bypass the commodification of their harvest in the futures markets and coffee bean dealers of the stock exchange.  We have labelled this process ‘Direct from Farm’.  There is a clear line from the farm to the cup which improves transparency and providence as well as giving farmers like Charles Mutwiri visibility on future orders which is key for him in making investment decisions.  Our focus with ‘Direct from Farm’ is to support developing communities by proving opportunity for them to grow and prosper.

What is coffee?

A coffee bean comes from inside a coffee cherry, which grow on coffee trees from a region of the world known as the coffee belt (between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn).  We use Arabica coffee beans in all of our Woodland Coffee and Green Ocean Coffee brands. Arabica coffee beans originate from Ethiopia and accounts for over 60% of the world’s coffee. Usually grown at higher altitudes and in mountainous areas under a variety of different conditions like shade / partial sunlight etc which impact the flavour of the coffee.  Much like wine, coffee flavours reflect their ‘terroir’ of climate, soil type and geomorphology.

What makes some coffee stand out?

Once the coffee cherries are harvested (when they turn bright red) they are dried and graded. As you would expect, grading is critical to the blending and roasting process and is carried out with reference to the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) rules.  Once a coffee achieves a grade of 80 or above, it is categorised as speciality grade arabica.  Both Green Ocean and Woodland Coffee are all specialty grade, and this has been a key reason why we won 3 out of the 6 prizes in the two coffee categories at last year’s Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards.

Woodland and Green Ocean Coffee

Each of the coffees in the Woodland and Green Ocean ranges offers difference, the flavours are contemporary, balanced and nuanced. Roasted in Ireland, all of our coffees proudly carry the ‘Guaranteed Irish’ logo and both Woodland and Green Ocean fund real environmental projects here in Ireland which deliver long term measurable benefits in terms of carbon sequestration and biodiversity improvement on land and in our coastal seas.

If you fancy finding out a bit more about our award-winning coffee that makes the world we live in a better place, then please get in touch!

More about Woodland Coffee here

More about Green Ocean Coffee here

Would you like to find out more or would like to get more involved?  If so, we are running volunteer sessions (usually on a Friday afternoon at about 2:30 once a month). These sessions are being run with the Marine Ecology group which is part of the School of Biology & Environmental Science in UCD.  Under the supervision of a Master’s student, we will be gathering data to evaluate the impact of the project and determining the health of the oysters.  This involves measuring and weighing the oysters and inspecting them for overall health. We will also be examining the gardens to see if they have recruited any other marine ‘hitch hikers’ that like the company of our oysters.  Before we return the gardens to the water, we will wipe any silt / bio film off the baskets to enable sea water to flow freely through the baskets.  There will be no heavy lifting required and you will hopefully gain an appreciation of the potential that this project has in rebuilding nature and combating the negative impact of climate change.

To find out a bit more, please check out www.greenoceancoffee.ie or drop us a line on info@greenoceancoffee.ie

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

From Woodland Coffee (and 27,000 trees later)

Buoyed on by the success and response to our Woodland Coffee initiative, launched in 2020, I felt that I wanted to do a project that involves my love of coffee and the sea.  After 3 years, which involved a lot of research, planning, scrapping plans, starting over, more research, negotiating, refinement of ideas, the output of this process is a new coffee brand called Green Ocean Coffee.

Making Green Ocean Coffee a reality!

While getting to this stage has not been straightforward; the idea behind Green Ocean Coffee is simple; for each bag of Green Ocean Coffee purchased, 1 square metre of seabed will be restored to promote the development of oyster and sea grass reefs in Clew Bay Co Mayo, Ireland.  We have partnered with Clew Bay Oyster Co-Op to restore 180 hectares of ancient fishing grounds in Clew Bay which are now closed to fishing and are designated as special areas of conservation (SAC).  The restoration involves creating a habitat that allows for oysters, and in turn seagrass to re-establish.  This habitat is wonderful for expanding biodiversity as oyster reefs and seagrass beds provide excellent nursery grounds for juvenile fish and marine invertebrates.   Below is a video introduction on Green Ocean Coffee.  There is a lot more information on the website www.greenoceancoffee.ie (Click here to link)

The Coffee itself

We have selected a different style of coffee for our Green Ocean blends favouring more medium and lighter roasts that are a combination of single origin and multi farm blends.  The coffee is sourced directly from the coffee farmer, and we have chosen these based on quality but also for the progressive production and sustainability values that the farmers represent.   I invite you to read about these farmers like Charles Mutwiri in Kenya who is a changemaker in terms of developing a profitable business that provide opportunities for his community while also championing female participation in the coffee industry.

Apart from amazing coffee, this is a truly wonderful project on so many levels.  The oceans play such an important role in regulating the earth’s temperature and in absorbing atmospheric carbon.  Sea grass and shellfish play a pivotal role in sequestering carbon at a speed which is unrivalled by the rainforest or anywhere else in the natural world.  A healthy coastal habitat is critical in decarbonising food production and provides a focal point for tourism that benefits everyone.

We have had tremendous help from our friends in Ocean Divers, namely Monica Schaefer, Willie Siddel and Brian Murphy, Geoff Robinson in Bord Iascaigh Mhara and of course Alex Blackwell and Michael Mulloy of Clew Bay Oyster Co-Op. Their enthusiasm and knowledge have helped make Green Ocean Coffee a reality.

Green Ocean Coffee is a positive environmental action initiative aimed at ‘changemaker’ businesses that want amazing speciality grade coffee but also want to make a meaningful and measurable difference.  If you think Green Ocean Coffee would suit you and your office or cafe, then we would love to hear from you so we can arrange a coffee tasting and you can find out more about us and Green Ocean Coffee. If you just want a bag to try at home then click here for the shop.  I really hope that you can get behind this super project and be apart of this exciting journey.

David Lawlor, CEO

Like to get involved?  This is why you should!