Middletown CoffeeCo

Middletown Coffee Co sits on Lower Mill Street in Ballymena, opened in 2015 by Jonathan and Emma. The counter treats coffee as the point of the visit rather than an afterthought, with no instant option on the menu and traybakes baked on site each morning. On Fridays at 12:15 the team runs a free cupping, setting out six to twelve coffees from different growing countries for customers to taste side by side. The room is plain, better suited to regulars working through a laptop than to passing tourist trade. Breakfast and lunch dishes change with what came in that morning, and the kitchen shuts half an hour before closing on quieter weekdays. It remains one of the few cafés in the town centre built around sourcing and roasting rather than food as the main draw.