Paris Coffee Beans, your picks
 

Someone mentioned bringing home coffee as a perfect souvenir of Paris and I agree. While I can taste the chocolate and “feel” the fabrics I will buy, with coffee I am flying blind. I would hate to come home, grind the beans and be under whelmed; discovering that I had purchased the “Chock Full O Nuts” of French coffees. Please what brand do you recommend?

ttt for betty

When I stay in an apartment in Paris I buy Carte Noire coffee and make it in a French press.

I warn you however, it's not particularly exotic, in fact it's now owned by Kraft. I buy it at the local supermarché.

BettyBoop, as much as we love the taste of coffee in cafés and restaurants in France, we have had a lot of difficulty finding coffee beans we liked when we have been staying in houses or apartments. The best we ever tracked down was at a torrefacture in Avignon. (We asked for something "riche et foncé"; I'm not sure that we used the right words, but the owner gave us a great blend of beans.)

I hate to say it, but on our last four trips we have taken our favourite coffee beans with us to France. Seems odd, but it's one of those small things in life that have to be perfect.

Anselm

Thanks for topping and thank you for your responses. I'll flip a euro or pick the most interesting label.

Again, thannnks.

Betty, the French press coffee maker really makes the difference..you have to make those french coffee beans in one of those to get the full experience :)
We bought our coffee in the local FranPrix in the 7th.

Cafe Malongo from the gourmet food hall in Galeries Lafayette. It just doesn't get any better. And you can sample it at the coffee bar before walking out with the bags of beans elegantly coiffed in a glossy black coffee bag.

Do most hotels furnish a coffee pot in each room? What type of pot would it be?

You can get a nice selection of coffees at Fauchon, near the Madeleine.

I have never had a coffee pot in a French hotel room. The coffee maker in the Paris apt was a Nepresso.

Malongo's "Petits Producteurs" coffee is far and away my favourite ground coffee in France. It's a Fair Trade ("commerce équitable") brand, which is important for me. Lovely rich aroma and smooth, strong flavour, without any bitterness or acidity. Best made in a stove-top Italian percolator. You can buy it in any Monoprix store - it comes in a white can with a photo of the "petits producteurs" on the front.

If you want to buy beans, then it's fun to go to a Torréfacteur (coffee grinder) and choose your own blend. Sometimes they have samples of the different coffees that you can taste, and they always let you smell the different blends/beans. There are plenty of torréfacteurs in Paris. They usually also sell teas and small treats to serve with coffee (cookies, chocolates, etc.). And the shops always smell fabulous!

(BTW, be very careful when using a press-style coffee pot - I had one explode in my hands as I pushed the plunger down. The coffee had packed hard into a lump that wouldn't let the water through, and as I pressed down the pressure caused the whole thing to crack open, spurting boiling coffee everywhere!! So always stir the coffee well before you press down the plunger.)

Why would you bring back coffee beans from Paris especially? They don't grow coffee in France, so whatever you buy comes from some other country, like one in Africa. You might as well buy it at home since it's imported anyway.

Christina, coffee beans are like grapes: there is the raw product and there is the way you process it. All new world grapes originally come from Europe, yet the average quality still does not equate the one in French wines, because it is a matter of "vinification", ie how you process the grapes to obtain wine. Ditto with coffee beans: there are a zillion varieties, then different ways to roast, grind them, etc. One one side, you get the over roasted, bitter American expresso, on the other, velvety strong, not sweet Italian espresso. Tea is tea, yet run of the mill English tea is much better than run of the mill French tea.
In France you can buy fancy coffees, commerce équitable, Fauchon and all. To me, L'Or is one of the best brands. Available at any Franprix or Carrefour.

Excuse my ignorance but "commerce équitable"? What does it mean?

Commerce équitable = fair trade
:)