Once a wasteland for good coffee, the city of Paris is today home to one of the most vibrant specialty coffee scenes in the world. From the Left Bank to Canal St. Martin, we’ve covered the Paris coffee scene extensively on Sprudge, with content directed by our Paris staff writer Anna Brones.
Our Paris tag is a wonderland of content from this marvelous city, but here’s 10 of our most favorite Paris features pulled from the Sprudge archives—a great place to start for visitors and coffee enthusiasts alike. Merci!
Now Open In Paris: Hexagone Cafe, In The 14th Arrondissement
Specialty coffee in France—indeed throughout continental Europe—has been influenced by other countries who came to specialty coffee a bit earlier, but as the scene in France grows, it is most certainly learning how to define and distinguish itself from its early influencers. These passionate individuals are now starting to spread out beyond the well-known coffee hubs, where the initial coffeeshops have worked hard to change the local culture. This is where the future of the French specialty coffee scene lies. It is an enormously exciting transition to watch, and it’s happening right this very moment in the streets of Paris.
Feature by Anna Brones.
A Chic Outdoor Cafe, Nestled In A Paris Courtyard
Honor Cafe’s coffee comes from Coutume, which makes sense, since the idea for the cafe is partly thanks to Coutume’s co-founder, Antoine Nétien. He and Warburton met when Warburton was working at Climpson & Sons in London and Nétien came in. They stayed in touch and eventually Nétien tipped him off to an available Parisian space: a courtyard that was ripe for an outdoor cafe. Boucher and Warburton were game to give it a try and open up their own place.
The courtyard, while in the heart of haute couture shopping, is also surrounded by apartment buildings, and its tenants now have a new spot to get their morning coffee. “The locals we have met so far are really embracing it,” says Boucher. “It’s a hub.”
Feature by Anna Brones.
At Blackburn Coffee In Paris, Cozy Trumps Trendy
At first sight you might think that Blackburn had intended to go for a Scandinavian vibe, something that’s currently a bit of a trend in Paris, with many stores and cafes pulling Nordic inspiration, but here it’s quite par hasard as we say in French. For Blackburn, the interior design was born out of a desire to work with wood. Why wood? “Because it’s noble and not that expensive,” says Sofiane, Blackburn’s owner and barista, “Et ça fait cozy.” (“It makes it cozy”)
See, even the French call “cozy” “cozy,” proof that there’s not really a word in the French vocabulary to describe the feeling.
Feature by Anna Brones.
CREAM Joins The New Crop of Paris Cafes
On one wall sits a shelf full of Belleville Brûlerie beans for sale. Next to it is a record player. When I was there, Fleetwood Mac was playing. “We invested only in analog machines,” says Armand. You won’t find an mp3 player anywhere, but you will find the usual gamut of high-end coffee equipment. Doing the renovation themselves and using materials available to them instead of buying new allowed the pair to save money for quality machinery.
Throughout the day you can buy homemade baked goods, and at lunch there is a selection of sandwiches and soups, all made in house. You could say that Armand is an advocate for slow food, coffee, and life in general. “We love doing things that take a little more time, but that you have to do well,” says Armand, speaking about making coffee. “People have to learn to wait a little bit more time for something that’s really good.”
Feature by Anna Brones.
A Coffee Day In Paris
In 2011, a draft of coffee wind came through the city and started to change things. Café Coutume opened its doors to international attention. David Flynn [founder of Belleville Brulerie, pictured] was busy, along with then-business-partner Nicolas Clerc, with the planning stages for Telescope. This came to fruition in March 2012 followed by the opening of Ten Belles that same year. Just like Berlin before it, slowly but surely, the specialty industry arrived in Paris.
Feature by Vic Frankowski.
Paris: A Guide To Some Of The Best Cafes In Canal St. Martin
Holybelly has become a staple for locals, expats and tourists alike. Owned by a young French couple–Nicolas Alary and Sarah Mouchot–who spent time in both Canada and Australia, the seasonal cafe menu is a mixture of cuisines and the house specialty is eggs, done in a multitude of ways.
Alary is devoted to making good coffee, and he’ll chat you up while he brews your espresso or makes your filter coffee. We profiled Holybelly previously in our Build-Outs of Summer series, and it’s great to see this beautiful cafe up and running.
Feature by Anna Brones.
Paris: A Guide To Coffee In The Marais
The first time I met Loustic’s owner Channa Galhenage we gushed about Stumptown. This was just after he had opened and before the coffee explosion had hit Paris with full force. Galhenage is committed to not only serving good coffee, but creating a cafe environment that’s a community hub and local hangout. There’s a print on the wall that says “make coffee, not war,” and if Loustic was in charge of the world, we would all be peaceful beings downing well-pulled espresso shots—made with beans roasted by Belgium’s Caffenation.
Feature by Anna Brones.
The Best Of France’s Roasting Scene At Matamata Paris
Gérald Arek discovered the world of specialty coffee like many French people tend to do: while traveling in Australia. Upon his return he trained as a barista, and until he and his business partner Gaël Soucasse opened Matamata in Paris in the early fall of 2014, he could be seen pulling shots and keeping customers entertained with his bright attitude at Cafe Craft.
At Matamata, Arek and Soucasse want to help their customers discover the world of French coffee, which means that they are regularly rotating through roasters like Parisian favorites Cafe Lomi, Coutume, Belleville, and Brittany’s Caffe Cataldi.
Feature by Anna Brones.
Paris: A Good Coffee Guide To The Left Bank
Closer to Saint Germain and the university hub, you’ll find Coutume Instituutti, a collaboration between Coutume and the Institut Finlandais, the Finnish cultural center. If there’s one thing to know about Scandinavian countries, they drink a lot of coffee, and that makes the Institut Finlandais the perfect spot to have a space devoted to coffee. With its huge windows and lots of light, as well as the streamlined Scandinavian aesthetic, it has become a popular place to work, so you’ll often see people cranking away on their Macbooks. Fortunately, the first three tables are computer-free zones, reserved for people just there to enjoy their drink.
Feature by Anna Brones.
Café Cuillier At Galeries Lafayette: Très Paris, Better Than Ever
Café Cuillier’s history dates back, just like Galeries Lafayette. “Cuillier is an old Parisian roaster brand founded in 1844, with the original store on Rue St. Honore 293. They imported coffee, cocoa beans, and other commodities and they roasted them ‘à l’air chaud,’” explains Edoardo Manitto of Café Cuillier. “My team and I brought back this sleeping beauty and we aim to make it thrive again and lead it to the top of specialty coffee in France.”
Part of bringing the “sleeping beauty” back was opening the Café Cuillier cafe, which launched in September 2014. Like many of the coffee shops in town that are trying to change the French temperament towards (and understanding of) progressive coffee, a main focus of the cafe is doing “méthodes douces.” Translated as “gentle methods”, this is essentially any manual brew method, quite the opposite of France’s traditional coffee drink of choice, espresso. Filter coffee has long been branded by the general French publish as jus de chaussette—sock juice—but the new wave of coffee in Paris is trying to change that.
Feature by Anna Brones.
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