Paris Insights - The Blog

Dose Café has been operating on rue Mouffetard for several years now. Selling coffees, teas, and pastries, it has an open window for take-out service, a sheltered sidewalk terrace, and a tiny space inside for sit-down service.

I entered recently to find out what espresso they were preparing for the day. The server at the counter told me that I could have L’Assemblage de Max, an espresso made with a blend of three grains, or Brésil – Ferme Rio Brilhante, an espresso made from a single-origin grain.

I selected the latter.

I also purchased a 250-gram bag of the roasted Brazilian coffee beans for 9.90€. The server told me that the coffee was roasted in Paris by The Beans on Fire, a coffee shop and roasting facility located in the 18th arrondissement.

When the espresso was served, I was pleased that a nice crema covered its surface. I tasted the beverage and thought I could detect the orange aroma to which the tasting notes printed on the bag referred. It is a pleasant-tasting coffee that does not require sweetening with sugar.

Taking the beans home, I prepared a brew with my 9Barista stove-top espresso machine. I was happy to be able to replicate the crema, the delightful orange aroma, and the agreeable robust flavor of the espresso that I experienced at the coffee shop.

Dose
73, rue Mouffetard
75005 Paris

Cofftea & Shop lies off the beaten tourist circuit on rue Berthollet in the 5th arrondissement. I entered the other day to taste the espresso served there.

At the left side of the room is a serving counter where one can find a selection of beverages and pastries as well as hot dishes for lunch. Customers order at the counter, pay, and then sit at a table to wait for the food and beverages to be prepared.

Overall, the shop is a pleasant place in which to relax. The staff is friendly. The main room has butcher-block style tables with a big family-style table in the middle. A long wooden wall bench stands against the wall to the right, where there are individual tables. Tall, wide windows admit ample natural light, but there is also spot lighting on the ceiling. Framed abstract art decorates the walls. There is a cozy little tea room in the back. The day that I entered, the music of Jimmy Reed was playing over the sound system.

The espresso served that day was Honduras – San Andrés Lempira.   It is supplied by Ivan Alfaro, a coffee roaster located in the 14th arrondissement. I looked up his name on the Internet and found that he has been in the coffee business since 1986. Caffea & Shop is one of the four enterprises listed on his website where his coffee can be purchased.

The espresso that I was served was aromatic with a honey-like sweetness. I purchased a 250-gram bag of roasted beans to take home to brew with my 9Barista stove-top espresso maker. Information printed on the bag indicates that the coffee expresses hazelnut, cacao, and honey notes. The espresso that my machine produced was full-bodied and naturally sweet.

Cafftea & Shop
8 rue Berthollet
75005 Paris

We entered the coffee. on rue Cardinal Lemoine last week to try their espresso and hot chocolate. This coffee shop is part of a world-wide franchise that, according to its website, has twelve coffee shops in Paris.

The manager told us that the coffee. was founded by two Portuguese brothers who were inspired by the severe decorative style that they saw in Japan. Indeed, the interior of this shop is stark, with bare walls and minimalist design.

The manager stated that the coffee bean used for the preparation of their espresso comes from Brazil. The bean is roasted in Portugal, then packaged in a white bag that is sold to customers who want to make their own espresso at home.

According to the company’s website, the bean is Amarillo Bourbon (Bourbon Yellow), produced in the Mantiqueira de Minas region of Brazil.

I ordered an espresso and my partner a hot chocolate. I found the espresso to be robust and slightly sweet with notes of chocolate. My partner enjoyed her hot chocolate but stated that it was not as rich (i.e., creamy) as she would have preferred.

I purchased a 250-gram bag of the whole-bean for 11.60€. I took it home, where I brewed a cup of espresso with my 9Barista stove-top espresso machine using 18 grams of finely ground coffee and 120 grams of low-calcium spring water. The resulting beverage was agreeably similar to the espresso that I tasted in the coffee shop.

the coffee.
77, rue du Cardinal Lemoine
75005 Paris

On November 11, a day when most roasted coffee distributors were closed, my partner and I went to L’Arbre à Café. Located on carrefour de l’Odeon in the 6th arrondissement, the establishment opened about two months ago.

The interior is handsome and spacious. My partner and I took a seat at a tall table while the manager prepared a cup of hot chocolate for my partner and an espresso for me. He was serving two types of coffee that day. One was a blend, the other a single-origin café. I ordered the latter, which is called Gédéo. It comes from Ethiopia.

The espresso had a fruity flavor and tasted slightly sweet. I was unable to detect other aromas. I did not add sugar.

I purchased a 250-gram bag of whole-bean coffee for 16.90€, took it home, ground 18 grams, and brewed an espresso with my 9Barista. The coffee that I pulled tasted much like the one that I had just experienced at L’Arbre à Café. The following day, when I ground the coffee to its maximum fineness, I tasted a more pronounced fruity flavor. The package indicates that it is slightly acidulous and characterized by aromas of red fruit, vanilla, and cane sugar.

L’Arbre à Café
15, carrefour de l’Odéon
75006 Paris

My partner and I went to Synapse on Sunday to taste the espresso it was brewing that day and to purchase a bag of roasted coffee beans.

The café is located about two blocks from the Jardin des Plantes in the 5th arrondissement. We go to that area from time to time to purchase fruit preparations that are made without cane sugar from an organic grocery store in the vicinity. There is also a great cheese shop nearby where we sometimes purchase whisky-flavored cheddar cheese from England.

Synapse is a small café with only a few chairs and low tables. When we entered, most of the seats were taken, so I ordered the espresso to take out. Mexican coffee from Córdoba, Veracruz was the shop’s selection of the day.

In addition to the espresso, I purchased a 250-gram bag for 11.50€ of the roasted coffee beans. Notes on the bag indicated that the coffee expressed flavors of walnut, dried fruit, and caramel. When I sipped the espresso, I thought that I detected the flavor of dried fig. My partner said that the aroma reminded her of roasted almond.

I took the bag of coffee beans home, ground a small quantity, and brewed a shot with my 9Barista. The coffee was strong and very slightly sweet, with a faint aroma of almond. I did not detect dried fig this time. There was no bitterness, so I did not add any sugar.

Synapse roasts its coffee at its coffee roasting facility on Cour Damoye at 12 place de la Bastille.

Synapse
2 rue du Fer à Moulin
75005 Paris

My partner and I entered Grains de Génie recently to taste and purchase coffee and tea. The coffee roasting facility is located next to the entrance to the Censier-Daubenton métro station (Line 7) near the popular Mouffetard market street in the 5th arrondissement.

I ordered a cup of Guatemala / Finca Brême espresso while my partner ordered a cup of Rooibos tea.

Bags of tea and roasted coffees are displayed along the wall, while outside there is a sidewalk terrace for sitting down.

I purchased a 250 gram bag of the of the Guatemala / Finca Brême and took it home, where I ground the coffee finely and brewed a cup in my 9Barista stove-top espresso machine.

Sipping the coffee carefully, I noted that its aroma was similar to almond. I did not, however, detect the other aromas that were listed on the bag: milk chocolate, orange, biscuit, and green apple.

I was pleased that the coffee was not at all bitter, which permitted me to enjoy it without adding any sugar.

Grains de Génie
45 rue Daubenton
75005 Paris

I recently purchased a 9Barista stove-top espresso machine and put it to use immediately.

From Loutsa Torréfacteur on rue Bazeilles, I purchased 250 grams of Santa Rosa roasted coffee beans from Costa Rica.  I ground 18 grams of the beans (finest grind in my De’Longhi KG520.M grinder) and brewed them with 120 grams of water (Volcania brand mountain water from Auvergne).   The result was a strong espresso with frothy crema that tasted much like the espresso I purchased the day before at Loutsa (see my blog dated October 23). 

I could not distinguish any of the aromas or flavors (clementine, honey, almond, chocolate, and caramel) that the coffee reportedly expresses, but I did enjoy the assertive coffee flavor of this strong beverage.

I enjoyed making the brew with the new machine.  There was no fuss after an initial period of learning the steps of the brewing procedure and there is minimal clean-up afterwards.  Easy and fun!

9Barista – Made in the UK

Last week, my partner and I entered Loutsa Torréfacteur, a coffee roaster and café on rue de Bazeilles, to purchase an espresso coffee.  I was curious to see if I could identify the aromas associated with one of the café’s specialty roasts.

A coffee roaster sits to the right of the entrance.  Next to it, a shelf displays 250g airtight bags of the café’s recently roasted limited edition specialty coffees.  The multi-hued colors of a package of Santa Rosa roast from the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica caught my eye.  The package label indicated that this roast is characterized by aromas and flavors of clementine, honey, almond, chocolate, and caramel.  Could I, I wondered, identify any of these intriguing elements while sipping a freshly-pulled espresso made from this bean?  I decided to order one to test my ability to distinguish them.

I ordered the coffee at the counter, found a table at which to sit, and waited while it was being prepared.

After the barista placed the espresso on the table, I took small sips, trying to determine which flavors I could recognize.  Alas, the only thing that I could identify was the very strong flavor of…coffee.  Try as I might, I could not distinguish any of the characteristics that were indicated on the package.  The only thing I could say was that the brew tasted slightly bitter and sour.  I was not greatly disappointed, though, because I do enjoy the flavor of coffee. I persuaded my partner, who does not like coffee, to take a sip, but she could go no further in the taste test than I had gone in my experience.

Not ready to abandon my quest, I purchased a 250g bag of Santa Rosa coffee and took it home to try my hand at making espresso with a  9Barista stove-top coffee maker that I had recently purchased. Would I be able to capture those illusive aromas and flavors at home with my new espresso machine?

Santa Rosa Pure Origin Limited Coffee – 16.20€/250g – Loutsa Torréfacteur – 1 rue de Bazeilles – 75005 Paris

On Saturday, October 12th, I had the occasion to attend an open house at a photo studio located in the Boissière quarter of the Paris suburb of Montreuil.

The studio was founded in 1951 by an Arminian refugee, Varastade Kasparian, and has been operated by his family ever since. One of the sons of the elder Kasparian, Roger, went on to become a celebrated photographer, renowned for his images of popular singers and bands that performed in Paris during the 1960s. Today, the studio is operated by Maccha, the daughter of the second-generation Kasparian, and her daughter, Nelta, who divides her time between Paris and London.

It was fascinating to watch the mother-daughter team work together. Nelta took portrait photographs of open house attendees and Maccha developed the film.

Studio Boissière
265 boulevard Aristide-Briande
93100 Montreuil
studioboissiere.com

View of the Ecole des Mines from the Luxembourg Garden
The sculpture commemorating the abolition of slavery stands to the right.

Visitors to the Luxembourg Garden sometimes wonder what the building is that overlooks the edge of the garden near the three-link chain sculpture (on the right in the photo between the path and the sign) that commemorates the abolition of slavery.  It is the “Luxembourg” wing of the Ecole des Mines, an engineering school that was founded in 1783 and initially located on quai de Conti. 

Since 1816, the school has been located on boulevard Saint-Michel next to the garden. The “Luxembourg” wing that can be viewed from the garden was constructed in 1861-1866 to house laboratories during a period of physical expansion of the school.