About The Bald Barista
It is what it is
68 Aungier Street
Dublin 2 · since 2006
Behind the machine since day one.
Runs the business, does the baking.
Buzz has it tattooed on the side of his head, in case anyone misses the point. He pulls the coffee. Monika does the baking and runs the place. It isn’t a slogan we bought — it’s how the café works.
- Opened
- 2006
- The concept
- Keep it real
How it works
A café built around people
The Bald Barista Café opened on Aungier Street in 2006 and has been pouring coffee and serving beverages there ever since. It is small, cosy and often loud — especially at eight in the morning. When our customers walk in half asleep, we’ve already had two espressos and have been up and running for a bit, getting the place ready for you guys. It is run by two people who never got round to making it fancy.
Buzz is always behind the machine, and he will remember your order long before he remembers your name. Monika runs the business and does the baking and cooking. She is the reason the place has structure rather than just charm.
Between the two of them, they have built a place that tourists, once they walk in, always seem to come back to — and that locals treat as an extension of their kitchen. Regulars get a nod. First-timers get talked to. Nobody gets a script.
“Our hospitality concept is a little bit different, as many of you know. Keep it ‘stupid’ simple & real — that’s Buzz’s famous phrase. We have a café built around passion for coffee, good simple food and people with heart.
We thank each and every guest who walks through our doors. And here comes another one of Buzz’s famous phrases: ‘If not for you guys, there would have been no doors.’”
The place, the plates
Have a look around
Photos from the café. Nothing staged, nothing borrowed.
Coffee
Cappuccino, from above 
Mocha 
Latte with a rosetta 
A swan in the foam 
The cup, outside the door 
Aungier Street, from across the road 
A cup on the window ledge
Breakfast
Breakfast ciabatta 
Scrambled eggs and bacon croissant 
Ciabattas, wrapped and ready 
Croissant, eggs, bacon
Sweet
Monika's cake counter
Lunch
Roast beef sandwich
The café
The counter, mid-morning 
The wall of mismatched pots 
A full room 
The queue, from the door 
Buzz, handing it over 
Every table taken 
Thumbs up over the coffees 
Buzz and a few visitors 
The long table, full 
Everyone ends up in a photo with Buzz
Behind the machine
The part you don’t see
Ask Buzz what people get wrong about this job and he doesn’t mention latte art. He talks about precision, and about keeping the equipment right — most of the work happens before anybody orders anything. When the machine decides otherwise, the call from behind the counter is battle stations.
Want to judge a café in three seconds? Look at the steam wand. If it’s caked in old milk, turn around.
They’ll tell you their own biggest mistake without being asked: for years the café stayed open far too long each day. It was generous. It also didn’t add up, and eventually the hours had to change.
And at home? Stop complicating it. Buy a decent grinder before you buy anything else, and skip the cheap machine entirely.
- Coffee through the grinder, weekly
- 45 kg
- Best seat for watching the street
- The tall table
- Best sound in the room
- A full café over the music
Before you come in
What you’ll find inside
A ground floor, an upstairs with 36 seats, a garden that fills up very quickly on a good day, and a wall of pots that Buzz has been collecting for longer than he admits. Bring yourself, bring a dog — we love dogs. Bring your own cup and take twenty cents off.
- Free Wi-Fi
- Outdoor seating
- Wheelchair accessible
- Dogs welcome
- Card payments
- Toilets
- Power sockets