14 of the Best Coffee Shops in Paris (2022 Edition)

Paris has joined the third wave coffee movement with a vengeance. discover more than a dozen Parisian cafes where you can drink very good flat whites instead of expensive cloudy water. we include an extra selection if you like to combine specialty coffee with pancakes.

It’s not a new trend, Parisian coffee culture dates back to the 17th century, when coffee first arrived from the new world. Historically, however, the Parisian café experience was more about style than substance.

Reading: Best coffee shop in paris

Paris coffee culture

Over the years, movies like Amelie and Midnight in Paris have idealized Parisian cafes for the masses. Ideal for intimates and people-watching, these fictional cafes always seemed to have cozy wood-panelled interiors and alfresco sidewalk spaces with street-facing tables millimeters apart.

In real life, iconic paris cafes include café de flore, les deux magots, and le procope. without a doubt, these cafes provide the atmosphere that most travelers dream of when they dream of Parisian cafes. however, the coffee served at these cafes is a different matter.

specialty coffee in paris

For over a decade, the paris specialty coffee scene has been seeping full steam ahead. While established roasters like brûlerie de belleville and lomi fuel the city, a new generation of baristas is breathing new life into cups of Parisian coffee.

This obsessed French city wastes no time when it comes to the art of cooking, and finally, coffee is no exception to this rule. flat white and matcha latte are now as accessible as the muddy water we used to drink in cafes in paris.

even stalwarts like shakespeare & the company cafe now serves specialty coffee. this is not to say that the city still does not have touristy and expensive cafes. the trick is knowing where to go for the good stuff.

our favorite parisian cafes

after spending €5 on an awful cup of coffee at a traditional cafe near our paris apartment hotel in early 2019, we made finding good coffee in paris our personal mission. We started at Cullier (now closed) and quickly found a thriving specialty coffee scene hidden in plain sight.

For a year and over four separate trips, we drank a lot of specialty coffee in districts across the city from 1 to 15. Many cafes served us buttery croissants and classic French pastries.

1. substance coffee

It’s no understatement to say that the love of café de morceau is an obsession: it even refuses to serve its fancy drinks with sugar or in to-go cups. beverage options include double espressos, macchiatos, cappuccinos, flat whites, and filter coffees, as well as rotating coffee specials.

morceau, whose entertaining and infectious vocal passion matches his exquisitely fluffy brown hair, justifies his higher prices with the quality of his coffee. let the French appreciate coffee like a fine wine. coffee authorities like morceau are at the forefront of this movement.

During our visit, we sampled two different beverages, both made from Ethiopian beans from Hong Kong’s urban coffee roaster. Morceau used washed beans to prepare the complex and shareable filter coffee. however, she used natural beans to craft an extraordinary flat white with subtle flavors of blueberries and cheesecake.

Although we have drunk hundreds, if not thousands, of flat whites around the world, this is the first time a barista has insisted that we stir the coffee before drinking it. we learned an important lesson about the taste and consumption of coffee. this drink was worth an extra stir.

2. the cafeothèque

la caféothèque is credited for being the first specialty coffee shop not only in paris but in all of france. however, despite its pioneering status, this coffee is as relevant today as ever.

gloria montenegro opened soluna cafés (the original name of the caféothèque) in 2005. operating in its original location, the café has expanded over the years to include multiple rooms, space for roasting beans, and its school of caffeology .

Since the caféothèque doesn’t allow laptops, we were more than happy to sip our flat whites while we chatted and checked email on our phones. our only stress was selecting a table in the cozy yet sprawling space of the caféothèque.

Although we were tempted by a room full of comfortable furniture and a piano, we ultimately chose the tropical room (pictured above). the sun coming through the windows was impossible for us to resist as was the colorful mural in the room and the hanging plants.

3. fringe

On the sidelines, vintage camera equipment coexists peacefully alongside a gleaming La Marzocco espresso machine, while Danish textiles share shelves with books like Lindsey Tramuta’s informative The New Paris. Located on the north side of the marais since 2016, this paris cafe has an American owner, Scandinavian vibes, and sweet aromas wafting through the air.

fringe quickly became a happy place for us in paris. Owner Jeff Hargrove is not only a professional photographer and 3rd wave coffee aficionado, he also bakes deliciously addictive cookies: thick, robust, earthy, chocolatey cylinders of yum.

4. telescope coffee

Nicolas Clerc opened Telescope Café in the 1st arrondissement with his former partner David Flynn (see above) in 2012. All these years later, Clerc is a veteran of specialty coffee in Paris and his intimate Parisian café is as popular as ever.

Small and unassuming, the telescope cafe had no tourists at the time of our visit. Clerc greeted us with quiet warmth before moving on to the serious business of crafting our cappuccino and matcha latte.

using hasbean beans in dublin, the clerk quickly whipped up our cappuccino. the matcha latte was a more complicated endeavor that involved grinding green leaves into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle.

5. loustic coffee

café loustic is a specialty coffee shop that does not have flat whites on its menu. instead, the café brews ‘café crèmes’ for those who want two shots in their latte espresso drinks. we became aware of this omission after ordering a flat white during our visit and receiving a friendly slap in the face and a cappuccino instead.

but make no mistake. loustic is an authentic specialty coffee shop that is both cozy and friendly. shelves at the front of the stylish space are stocked with buns, pastries, banana bread, cookies, and sandwiches. in the back, customers crouch as they juggle coffee in one hand and keyboards in the other.

owner channa galhenage wouldn’t have it any other way. After beginning his coffee career at Caféothèque (see above), Galhenage opened Café Loustic in February 2013, selected Caffènation of Belgium as its main roaster, and hasn’t looked back yet.

located on the western side of the marais, café loustic has a unique aesthetic that combines modern wallpaper, exposed brick and spanish tiles. somehow the disparate elements come together in a way that works. the same can be said for cafeteria menus.

despite a cafe menu featuring no fewer than seven latte options, non-coffee drinkers can choose from teas, juices, beer and wine. food options are equally extensive.

6. hexagon brown

the co-owner of hexagon café, stéphane cataldi, roasts the coffee beans in brittany. Parisian baristas brew the award-winning beans in all the typical varieties, including espressos, noisettes, cappuccinos, lattes, frappes, and filter coffee.

7. starter coffee

Don’t let the miniature size of this pretty café stop you from walking into the old fashioned shoe repair shop. instead, grab a shoehorn to brace yourself against the bar. your reward will be a selection of really good specialty coffee drinks served with sweets and some nice conversation

we felt surprisingly comfortable atop yellow and green plastic stools as we sipped cappuccinos made from Colombian beans from oslo’s fuglen coffee roasters. When it comes to Parisian specialty coffee shops, apparently taste trumps size.

8. ten beauties

Open on Canal Saint-Martin since 2012, Ten Belles immediately achieved coffee credibility thanks to co-owner Thomas Lehoux’s award-winning barista skills. Two more locations followed, including a large bakery near the Bastille.

using beans from belleville brûlerie, also co-owned by lehoux, baristas brew espressos, cappuccinos, noisettes, cortados, and filter coffee. non-coffee drinkers can choose from a variety of non-caffeinated beverages, including hot chocolate and cold lemonade.

Expect a diverse breakfast and lunch menu, plus treats like lemon cake and donuts at ten belles. just don’t expect wifi. you can get it at your hotel or apartment in paris.

9. costume cafe

we had wanted to visit coutum ever since we enjoyed great coffee and cake at the coutum cafe in osaka. sadly, that japanese location has closed. However, fashion is going strong in France with several Parisian cafes and a roastery.

antoine nétien and tom clark opened the original coutume cafe on rue de babylone in the 7th arrondissement in 2011. today, staff members provide table service while brewing specialty coffee using v60, chemex, and aeropress extractors, as well as a espresso synesso syncra machine.

coutume offers a coffee menu with a variety of beverages including espressos, double espressos, cappuccinos, batch brewed coffee, filter coffee, lattes, cortados, flat whites, cold brew and a coffee flight. Priced at €9.50 at the time of our visit, the flight includes a single origin coffee prepared in three different ways: espresso, cappuccino, and filter.

Dining options include desserts such as Japanese cheesecake and financiers, as well as a selection of savory dishes. we opted for two of the latter: blanquette de veau and savory pancakes. next time we’ll try to save room for dessert.

10. i/o coffee

we drank flat whites made with beans from the denmark goat from an i/o page menu during our pre-pandemic visit. the menu also included espressos, double espressos, black coffee, cortados, cappuccinos, and filter coffee, as well as kodama teas, hot chocolate, chai lattes, matcha lattes, orange juice, and lemonade.

11. lomi

Open since 2012, Lomi’s Cafe serves as a neighborhood hub and tasting room. their signature espresso blend, j’a deux amours combines two of their “most beloved” beans.

Located away from the tourist trail, the cafe is a worthy destination for the truly coffee-obsessed who wants to kick back with a local crowd. Some in the crowd arrive with laptops in tow and others with strollers, but all have one thing on their minds: drinking freshly roasted specialty coffee.

During our visit, we tried lomi’s espresso blend in a flat white coffee, as well as a filter coffee made with Ethiopian beans. while they weren’t our favorite parisian cafes, we’re still glad we made the short hike to lomi. We’re also happy to have European phone service since the cafe doesn’t offer free wifi.

12. kb coffee roasters

Originally called Kooka Boora (named after an Australian bird) when it opened in 2010, this Parisian coffee operation has since shortened its name to KB, opened a second cafe called Negro, and started roasting its own beans.

The original KB Coffee is still housed in a pigalle corner building with floor-to-ceiling windows and a spacious terrace. More importantly, the cafe’s baristas continue to serve serious coffee in a friendly environment.

Beverage options included cappuccinos and lattes, as well as hot chocolate and tea during our late spring visit. a young crowd filled the tony cafe and spilled out onto the sidewalk terrace, many looking at laptops and smartphones as they drank their cups of liquid elixir.

We were happy to join the crowd. After finding two seats at the cafe’s long indoor table, we savored each sip of our creamy cappuccinos as we planned the rest of our day in Paris.

13. cafe mericourt

We often choose apartments based on their proximity to specialty cafes, and that’s how we ended up spending a week in the Oberkampf neighborhood of Paris. we rightly suspected we’d love the neighborhood based on nearby cafes like café méricourt.

More than just a coffee shop, Café Méricourt’s menu features a variety of dishes including shakshuka and green eggs with feta. More importantly (for us at least), this airy Parisian cafe serves coffee from a rotating assortment of guest roasters as well as Kodama tea.

14. coffee republic

We visited République of coffee for two reasons: the coffee shop’s central location and its fun coffee menu. Remembering the charcoal latte we had enjoyed in Lyon, we couldn’t resist ordering the same drink upon entering the flashy Parisian cafe.

Made with charcoal, vanilla syrup, and milk, this charcoal latte was sweet. very sweet. too sweet. sadly the drink did not live up to our memories.

however, we recommend république of coffee for its excellent location just a few steps from place de la république. You’ll eventually need a break when on tour in Paris and this is a convenient place to rest your weary feet.

additional paris cafes

bonus – sacred womb

With two locations on the same street, holybelly serves up some of the best pancakes we’ve eaten outside of the US. Daryl is convinced the recipe was stolen from his old (now closed) favorite lunch spot in Philadelphia. but that’s not the only thing worth waiting in line at holybelly…

While holybelly doesn’t roast its own beans, it sources coffee from quality roasters like brulerie belleville (see above) and germany’s the barn. During our visit, we drank excellent flat whites made from Ethiopian beans from the iconic Berlin coffee roaster.

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original publication date: July 29, 2020