La Caféothèque, Paris

Coffee seeing the forest for all the trees.

Located next to La Cité Internationale des Arts, an artists residence in the 4th arrondissement, La Caféothèque is considered a pioneer of specialty coffee scene in Paris. Here you may enjoy some of the best brews in the French capital with picturesque views of the Seine.

This café is a labour of love by Gloria Montenegro, a former Ambassador of Guatemala. Lamenting the lack of good coffee in her adopted city, she started her own café and roastery, and ultimately started her own movement.

Today, La Caféothèque offers coffee from over 20 different countries, all of them single estates (no blends) and all roasted in-house by experienced roasters. This is sort of a Parisian coffee mecca where enthusiasts come to attend intensive industry courses while more casual coffee lovers are sipping their brews innocently in the outer salons.

And what rooms! You may consider La Caféothèque as an intimate network of intertwined salons, each with its own unique personality. The slightly dark backroom is a cave – a trunk in one corner filled with children’s toys, a piano in another. Rows of drawers offer samples of green coffee beans from around the globe.

There is a cosy lounge where pages of paperbacks are turned slowly, almost like a private library. The bar is where the action is; baristas finetuning their craft in brewing and pulling shots.

The jungle room is a city-bound sanctuary that recalls the rainforests of her original country. We sit here and enjoy the natural sunlight on a chilly spring morning. The furniture is made from rescued wood, with old paint chipping off artfully. Our coffees arrive accompanied by little pieces of dark chocolate. I bite into my pain au chocolat and it’s delicious, just like this café, this experience.

在感歎巴黎好咖啡難求下，前任的瓜地馬拉駐法大使Gloria Montenegro；
於七年前開了這麼一家叫La Caféothèque的咖啡館。
咖啡館位於巴黎第四區；前方就是塞納河；距離巴黎國際藝術城不遠。
除了提供來自不同產地的豆子并進行自家烘焙外，
這裡還有一系列的課程，算是巴黎精品咖啡業的先鋒之一。

咖啡館裡頭可以劃分為幾個小區域。
稍微暗一些的擺放了鋼琴、吉他還有一些小孩的玩具，
在那還有著一個個的小抽屜，收藏了來自世界各地的豆子樣本。
而中間的是舒適的休閒區，
你可以在那邊看看報章、雜誌邊享用咖啡，悠閒地度過一天的時光。
最裡頭靠近街口轉角的是叢林區。
循環木製成的桌椅，斑駁的色塊充滿歲月的痕跡；
加上牆上那綠意盎然的植物，而我們最喜歡的地方。
伴隨咖啡一起送來的，還有一小塊的巧克力。
喝了一口咖啡，咬一下手中的巧克力；
這樣配搭還挺新穎有趣的。
不同的豆子，風格各異的小房間；
在這裡總能找到一杯對味的咖啡，和自己喜歡的小天地，
難怪在咖啡館林立的巴黎，這裡還是許多咖啡迷們的心頭好。