Paris and Specialty Coffee: A Scene Growing Up

France has historically been associated with dark-roasted, bittersweet coffee — the espresso served in small cups at zinc-topped café counters, the café crème poured over dark grounds. The specialty coffee movement arrived in Paris later than in Scandinavia or the UK, but it arrived with intensity. A cluster of serious roasters — Belleville, Terres de Café, Kawa, Brûlerie des Batignolles, Tanat, People Possession (Blog #11), and Klover — has established Paris as one of Europe's most interesting specialty markets, combining the French capital's cultural appetite for quality food and drink with the global sourcing networks that specialty coffee requires.

Klover operates within this scene with a sourcing-first philosophy that distinguishes it within the French specialty landscape: the emphasis is less on roast style or brand identity than on the quality of the green coffee and the directness of the relationships with producers. Of the six lots available at BrewFusion, the most significant is the connection to Honduras's Finca El Puente.

Finca El Puente: Why This Sourcing Relationship Matters

Finca El Puente — the operation of Marysabel Caballero and Moisés Herrera in Marcala, Honduras (Blog #109 in BrewFusion's product catalogue) — is one of the most celebrated specialty coffee farms in Central America. The farm has placed in the top 10 at the Honduras Cup of Excellence in every one of the seven years it has entered; in 2016 it placed first. Its primary roasting partner is Stumptown Coffee Roasters, who have maintained a direct-trade relationship with the farm since 2006 — 19 years — after Stumptown's founder Duane Sorenson visited with Gesha seeds and recognised in Marysabel and Moisés the dedication and attention to detail needed to grow the world's most demanding variety.

Klover's sourcing relationship with El Puente places it in distinguished company. The other roasters carrying Finca El Puente lots include Onyx Coffee Lab, Fuglen Coffee Roasters (Tokyo), Ditta Artigianale (Florence), and Whimsy Coffee Roasting — a cohort that represents some of the world's most discerning specialty buyers. Klover's Catuaí washed lot from El Puente is the classic Honduran expression of what this farm does: Marysabel's carefully managed washed processing of the Catuaí variety at 1,580–1,600 metres in Marcala's volcanic highlands, producing the mandarin orange, cranberry, and raisin profile that Drop Coffee and others have associated with El Puente's identity.

"Finca El Puente has placed in the top 10 at the Honduras Cup of Excellence in every year it has entered. In 2016 it placed first." — BrewFusion, Finca El Puente (Blog #109)