Three Spoons

Three Spoons is a tea and coffee shop on Market Parade, off St Patrick’s Street in Cork, and as far as we can establish it is the one place in Ireland where you can walk in and buy Argentinian yerba off a shelf, Monday to Saturday. For anyone in Cork who wants mate today rather than in three days, that alone settles it.

Online, the terms are straightforward and among the friendlier ones here: flat €6.95 DPD delivery anywhere in Ireland, free over €65, arriving in one to three working days. That €65 threshold is the lowest of the three Irish specialists, which helps mid-size orders.

The limits are range and price. Around 8 yerba brands is a fraction of what the two online specialists carry, and stock is uneven — Taragüí con palo in both sizes, Cruz de Malta 1 kg, Canarias Traditional 500 g, Amanda Elaborada and La Merced de Monte were all unavailable on the day we checked. Where products are in stock, prices sit noticeably above Almacén Argentino and yerbamate.ie: Taragüí Sin Palo 500 g at €8.00 against €6.40–€6.50 at the specialists, and Canarias 1 kg at €14.90 against €12.50.

That is the honest positioning. Three Spoons is a good general tea and coffee shop that also stocks yerba, not a yerba specialist, and it prices accordingly. Use it for convenience, immediacy and a physical counter; use the price comparison when you are stocking up by the kilo.