‘This is what I do now, this is my baby’: Keith Earls on opening new coffee shop and retiring from rugby

Since he retired from rugby, the former Munster, Ireland and Lions winger said he has had a tough few years – and adjusting to a new routine took some time

Keith Earls at the newly opened Eleven Fourteen Coffee, at Limerick's Annacotty Business Park. Picture: Brendan Gleeson

When some customers walk into a roastery in Limerick, they are often surprised to be welcomed by Keith Earls.

“I get people up here saying, ‘What the hell are you doing working behind the coffee bar?’ “I don’t mind what people think of me. I think a lot of people are surprised that I’m serving coffee to them in my coffee shop, or I’m delivering my coffee and my roast.

“This is what I do now, this is my baby. This isn’t something I hand over,” Earls told the Irish Examiner.

The former Munster, Ireland and Lions flyer opened Eleven14 Coffee Roasters two years before retirement from his rugby career. Now, he has opened a new Espresso bar in Annacotty Business Park.

His interest in coffee came from travelling around the world with rugby, particularly in Australia and New Zealand.

Since he retired from rugby, Earls said he has had a tough few years – and adjusting to a new routine took some time. Picture: Lorraine O'Sullivan

“I didn’t really have my first coffee till I was 21 years of age. They’re well known for leading in the coffee industry. I’ve seen a roastery in 2012 when we were down there and I had it in the back of my head that maybe this is something that I might like to do.” During lockdown, Earls pulled the trigger and started messing around with a popcorn nut roaster.

Since he retired from rugby, Earls said he has had a tough few years – and adjusting to a new routine took some time.

“You know, it was odd. It’s been in incredibly tough, rugby is all I bloody knew growing up.

“It’s one of my regrets that I didn’t do something throughout my rugby career. Even the basics around education and around our own business. I suppose I wish I probably went and worked in a coffee roastery, maybe a day a week while I was still trying rugby rather than starting up the business,” he said.

If there is a lesson he has learned, it’s that the business world is not like the rugby scene.

“In the business world, I’ve only found a handful of people that I can trust and the rest are all over themselves.

“I found dealing with people in the business world the hardest. I’ve come from a place where it’s all trust. Trust was a given. And now it’s the complete opposite for me,” he said.

“I find the nicer you are to people, the more they take advantage of you. That’s has been a big learning for me.” 

Trust is one of the reasons why Earls decided to work with family. In his new coffee shop, he works closely with his sister, Jenny. And for him, honesty is the best policy.

“Some people say don’t ever work with family, but we’ve all have a good relationship and we can hold each other accountable. You just have to put in an honest day’s work,” he said.

Earls started the business without “knowing anything really about it”. At first, he hired others to “try and run” the business while he was still playing.

No more of that for Earls, who is “fairly hands on”.

“That way ended up being a disaster. If you’re gonna start a business, you have to do your own research and bloody be there yourself, run it yourself.” So far, he said it’s all working out – “slowly but surely”.

In the future, he would be open to expanding the business further – on one condition.

If there was the right opportunity, I’m not one of these fellows who want to grow and have a million shops. I’d be quite content by just having one shop,” he said.

Earls loves coffee, but he tries not to have more than three cups a day.

“I try to take it easy on the caffeine content if I can. You must try loads then you end up having like six a day. Then if it’s like tasting, you go bloody over 10.” According to him, coffee has become more popular as people – himself included – learned there is more to it than putting beans into a grinder.

“There’s a science behind it. There’s the ratio behind it. It’s a highly sought-after skill now, there’s a lot of knowledge. People forget about the basics sometimes,” he said.

Speaking of the Limerick coffee scene, he said: “All the coffee shops and roasteries, they’re all trying to bring their passion and teach people more about coffee, which is great.” As the price of coffee is now “ridiculous”, Earls makes it his mission to avoid waste while maintaining good value for his customers.

“You’re buying green coffee at a certain price, and you roast this, you lose anything between 15 and 20% of the weight then, so you have to try and find the true value of your coffee because you have waste,” he said.

So far, Earls is content with his new career.

“When I finish, I get to be home at four o’clock every day. I have three young kids, so there’s something lovely about that.”