It seems everything has its own 'day' now - and coffee is no exception.

October 1st marks the first ever International Coffee Day: a celebration of diversity, quality and passion in the coffee sector.

The International Coffee Organisation (ICO) says it is "an opportunity for coffee lovers to share their love of the beverage and support the millions of farmers whose livelihoods depend on the aromatic crop".

The ICO says its 75 member states and dozens of coffee associations from around the world have joined forces to mark the day.

The campaign includes a website to feature events and other online campaigns dedicated to it.

The hashtag #InternationalCoffeeDay is being used on social media sites, and is already taking over Twitter.

As part of the celebrations, the ICO has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Oxfam to collaborate on a campaign focused around the concept of a 'caffè sospeso' - an Italian tradition of paying for a second cup of coffee to be given to a person in need.

The charity campaign will give coffee lovers an opportunity to show solidarity with smallholder coffee farmers by donating the value of an additional cup of coffee to Oxfam's work with such farmers through an online platform.

Irish events are being held at Java Republic in Dublin and Box of Frogs in Cork.

More information - including a full list of global events - can be found here