Recipes And Joie De Vivre At The French AeroPress Championship

On Monday, March 9th, Paris’ coffee crowd gathered at the funky and eclectic Le Comptoir General for the second annual French AeroPress Championships, organized by Reseau Baristas de France.

The prize up for grabs was a round trip to the World AeroPress Championships in Seattle in April, thanks to sponsors Art of Coffee by coffee importer Belco and Modderne Paris, an accessories brand that makes lovely coffee paraphernalia, all of it 100% made in Paris.

The judging team was made up of: Laura Plaineau of Caféothèque; Raphaël Prime, the first Q-grader in French history; Antoine Péron, roaster at Esperanza Cafe; and as head judge, Jeff Verellen, perennial Belgian AeroPress champion and two-time World AeroPress Champion.

Competing with a washed Ethiopian Sidamo Shilicho roasted by Esperanza Cafe, no fewer than 18 contestants ground, poured, mixed, and plunged in front of a packed and energetic crowd. After stiff competition, Thomas Clément, of Cafe Cuillier in Galeries Lafayette, was declared the winner, giving him the chance to represent French baristas and the burgeoning French specialty coffee movement at the World AeroPress Championship in Seattle this April.

Here are the top three recipes from the 2015 French AeroPress Championship. These recipes are optimized for you to play along from home (although finding water from St. Georges or Montcalm elsewhere in the world might be tough). As always, we’re on the hunt for more AeroPress competition coverage as it happens around the world; check out this feature for more details.