It’s been a pretty big year for the French city of Limoges here on Sprudge. Back in June we published our first-ever coffee guide to Limoges, which was very well-received—it turns out people are quite hungry for French cafe content outside the well-traveled streets of Paris. Who knew? And now today, our very first Build-Out feature from Limoges, focused on a charming, “human-sized” cafe with serious baked goods (as one does in France). This is Brème Patisserie.
The 2024 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by Ceado and Dona. The 2024 Build-outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Acaia and Ghirardelli.
As told to Sprudge by Benoît Guichard.
For those who aren’t familiar, will you tell us about your company?
Brème Patisserie is a small, human-sized coffee shop in the Limoges downtown.
With the love of good products and a the curiosity of the terroir, Zakary and his team want to offer the best in the plate and also in the cup. In a deconstructed French style mood, we select, grind, brew, and serve delightful coffees from roasters all around the world.
Using our main roaster Fève Coffee in Paris, we are trying to reach a strong mouthfeel in a sugary aroma and a fruity tasty for our daily customers. For experienced tasters or adventurers, we also have a monthly selection in collaboration with The Coffee Vine to offer diversity and more complexity in other cups.
We are a very small team with Zakary, the owner and fine pastry chef trained by Cyril Lignac, and Benoît, experienced head barista with a unique approach in coffee dial in.
Deconstructed and tasty, this is just a place to have a nice cup of coffee downtown Limoges City!
Can you tell us a bit about the new space?
The aim of the new space is to have a better production place for pastries and outside events. In addition, there is a space available in the same place, just in front of our current location. We would like to open a more French coffee shop with simple and affordable catering on a specialty coffee background.
This project started from the will of three person, matching their state of mind.
Theo Desprat: barista teacher and catering trainer, wanted to make his techniques work in his own shop.
Zakary Lagerige Loireau: businessman and pastry chef, who worked for Cyril Lignac, and wanting to expand on lots of different and tasty ways to learn more and more.
Benoît Guichard: roaster and barista, wanting to touch a roaster again, sourcing products, and making coffee recipes. This occasion is to apply everything he has learn over the past 10 years.
What’s your approach to coffee?
At Brème, around the coffee, we are aiming to make people discover other cultures through roasting. We try to select our cups with no roast defects, and focus mostly on single origin coffees. We don’t want to make the coffee world complex; we just want people to walk in and discover our universe through our brews. We try to approach coffee our own way, that makes us unique.
For me, coffee is always moving, placing the perfect extraction spot in a different place, at a different time. The way of trapping this spot is like a hunt where you leave no stone unturned. That is my point of start with a new coffee: where is the point I’m after and how will I get it to be in every single cup I serve.
Any machines, coffees, special equipment lined up?
Grinder: Mahlkönig EK43S with Turkish burrs
Espresso machine: Lelit PL92T Elisabeth, double-shot La Marzocco portafilter, VST 18g basket
Water for Espresso: Volvic (130ppm)
Puck Prep: Flat inox tamper, Substance Hog (coffee puck irrigator from Barista Hustle), Nutating
Kettle: Brewista 1L
Dripper: Cafec Flower ceramic 2T, Cafec T83 washed paper 2T
Vacuum Pot: Hario Syphon 4T, Brown circle syphon paper Hario
Scale: Timemore Mirror
Water for Drip Coffee: 17% volvis/83% Rosée de la Reine (for a 50 ppm water solution). We will start to craft our own water soon.
Coffees:
Fève: our main roaster, with a simple out of classical terroir for our daily brews and milk beverage.
Coffee Vine: for our premium brews but it will change in July
Coffee Roaster Calendar: In July will start our coffee calendar with different world roasters with 2 crops and a decaf for a roaster per month. We will try to work with: Tim Wendelboe, Somos Puchero, Fathers Roastery, The Barn, Calendar, Sumo Coffee, Barista Map Osaka, Luna Coffee Roasters, etc.
Ephemeral Coffees: On extra for our pleasure and make our customer discover excellence, we will also have a small offer four months a year with rare coffee (from Untitled Coffee, The Picky Chemist, Mame, etc.)
Here is our present way of working and we will stick to a simple way for the new place:
As there will be a stronger customer flow, we will go on our new place with a La Marzocco Linea classic, Malkönig E64S with SSP Burrs (high uniformity), PuqPress, controlling scale from Timemore Mirror, and a Moccamaster for drip coffee.
How is your project considering sustainability?
Recycling and no waste philosophy is already in place. We are constantly trying to make sustainability and respect of environment and people in the center of our preoccupations.
Working with local businesses and producers, sourcing coffee from strong professionals, and creating a social work flow in the inside for the comfort of the employees is all a part of this picture.
What’s your hopeful target opening date/month?
1st of July 2024
Are you working with craftspeople, architects, and/or creatives that you’d like to mention?
As we will make most of it on our own (Theo Zakary and Benoît), we don’t know yet. Still our graphic artist is a cool person named Studio Bysshe!
Thank you!
Thank you a lot for this opportunity and we hope everything will be for a better coffee world!
The 2024 Build-Outs of Coffee is presented by Ceado and Dona. The 2024 Build-outs of Coffee is sponsored by Pacific Barista Series, La Marzocco, Acaia and Ghirardelli.
