A Thirst for Good Coffee Transforms Paris Cafe Culture

A Thirst for Good Coffee Transforms Paris Cafe CultureParis might be synonymous with cafeteria culture, but artisanal coffee shops have been apparently another matter entirely. That distinction might now be diminishing, however, as expat entrepreneurs from the coffee-loving United States, Australia, New Zealand and beyond have been bringing to the city on the Seine their taste for boutique beans and bespoke brews, offering up lovingly amidst the spare aesthetic some describe as Brooklyn.

Yes (er oui?), according to the Washington Post, hipster New York-and-Seattle-style coffee shops have been apropos de rigueur in Paris.

The only thing really wrong with the cafeteria culture is the coffee, Nico Alary recentlytoldthe Post. Alary is the Melbourne-trained French barista who opened Holybelly, the single of the flourishing series of featured item coffee shops in Paris, and the single of the couple of where you can get your coffee in an actual mug.

Perhaps you have been surprised that the city where quietly sipping cafeteria au lait, munching the croissant and watching the beautiful people stroll by wasnt really all that into high-end coffee before?

While Paris had the robust caf culture, until recently the city did not have the coffee culture, at least not the single focused on the peculiarity of what was in the cup, Anna Brones, founder of the website Foodie Underground and author of the book Paris Coffee Revolution, wrote final month in Fresh Cup Magazine. Shots were harsh, bitter, and over-extracted, made of coffee sourced from French industrial coffee giants. In the culture known for painstakingly focusing on the food served on the plate and the wine poured into the glass, how could the peculiarity of the coffee be so bad?

How indeed? In any event, its all changing.

In recent years, Paris has embraced higher-quality coffee, Brones, who is originally from Oregon,notes in Fresh Cup. She adds, Today Paris leads the way in the French featured item coffee scene, influencing alternative cities around France, and around the rest of Europe.

However, the Post observes, Paris coffee shops have been bringing their own French twist to their filtered cups. Because wages have been aloft and volume is lower, the good cup might price the bit more than it does in the U.S. But the little of the shops, including Alarys Holybelly, have been anticipating their economic equilibrium by offering their business an array of food options to order along with their java.

A good cup of coffee with the side of yummy French food? Cest magnifique!

Photo courtesy of iStock