Welcome to the new wave of French coffee, where the modern specialty coffee scnene emerges out of the timeless charm of café culture. Throughout France, modern roasters are on the rise offering meticulously crafted beans. Once a niche market, this trend is now flourishing. This month, we celebrate the best of this coffee renaissance—délicieuse!

(Paris, FRANCE)

Datura Coffee Roasters is a Paris-based micro-roastery driven by a love for coffee’s natural diversity and the people behind it. After running a Terres de Café franchise, founder Loïc Perneau set out to focus on rare, expressive microlots. Carefully sourced and roasted to suit each lot, Datura’s coffee highlight terroir, flavour, and a genuine connection to producers and community.

For our second collaboration with Datura, we chose an exciting hybrid washed Ethiopian called Alo Chilaka. It’s a beautifully expressive cup, definitely one-of-a-kind with ripe nectarine notes bursting up front and a smooth, almost creamy mouthfeel. Distinctive, vibrant, and genuinely memorable... it was our instant choice for the set!

(Montpellier, FRANCE)

With a background in rugby, Tom Balerin is a coffee enthusiast, competitor, and roaster based in Montpellier. Above all, he loves sharing great coffee with people. Just last year, Tom took the leap and launched Bngr Coffee with a simple idea: coffee should be exciting, delicious, and approachable. The company is so new that he’s still building a proper website, yet he already roasts using the tech-driven Stronghold coffee roaster, reflecting his modern approach to specialty coffee.

Bngr is one of two discovery roasters this month, and Tom is proudly offering us a delightful Peru Geisha. Bright notes of jasmine, honey, and tangerine shine through, with a rich, almost boozy sweetness that adds depth. We are thrilled to see Montpellier represented by such an exciting new roaster!

This coffee is produced by the Armijos family based in San Ignacio in the Cajamarca region in the north of Peru close to the border with Ecuador. These cherries grow at high altitudes of around 2000 masl.

They work together with Origin Coffee Lab, founded by Jose Rivera in 2017 in Cajamarca,
an exporter that partners with small scale farmers in the region to help them implement better farming practices in order to grow higher quality coffee and be financially more sustainable, because they get a higher price for their coffees. Ensuring consistent quality of the product is at the core of Origin Coffee Lab. They do this by dividing coffee producing areas into small groups and keeping micro-lots from each region separate from the rest.

(Le Havre, FRANCE)

Ombra Coffee Roasters began in Le Havre in 2019, born from two enthusiasts combining years of experience in roasting, sourcing, and barista skills. Through their shop and training programs, Ombra shares knowledge, promotes slow extraction methods, and helps customers and professionals alike explore the rich, flavourful world of specialty coffee to this part of France.

This month’s second Discovery roaster introduces another new town to the ever-expanding specialty coffee map, featuring a beautiful, original, limited-edition coffee from Guatemala. Light and elegant, with gentle sweetness and soft cherry-like fruit notes, complemented by delicate cherry blossom aromas that lift the cup even further. Notably, the San Ramón varietal—a dwarf mutation of Typica—makes this a particularly memorable Guatemalan coffee.

While the Vides family has been growing coffee for decades, Finca La Guitarra is one of their more recent acquisitions. Nestled between two steep mountains in La Libertad, Huehuetenango, Guatemala, the farm benefits from a spectacular and demanding terroir. The farm takes its name, “La Guitarra,” from the many hanging vines in the dense forest bordering the plantations resembling guitar strings.

Bourbon brings elegance and sweetness, while a rare variety San Ramón contributes aromatic complexity. Originally from Costa Rica, San Ramón adapts particularly well to Guatemala’s high elevations. A dwarf mutation of Typica, San Ramón’s yield is significantly lower than Typica or Bourbon. A deliberate choice by the family, who prioritize quality over quantity.

(Paris, FRANCE)

Tanat Coffee Roasters is the Paris-based roastery, formally known as Kawa (and the team behind People Possession). Just like their name evolves, their approach evolves with each harvest, always aiming for balance, purity, and depth—never to impose flavour, but to let every bean express its own living story.

We’ve always loved working with Kawa Coffee and were thrilled to receive a special Chinese lot for our first collaboration under the new name, Tanat. Yunnan Nannan is a yeast-anaerobic coffee that’s both rich and delicate, offering elegant complexity with distinctive flavor twists. Herbal and lightly floral, it balances bright acidity with a smooth, malty sweetness. China has come a long way as a coffee origin, and this refined expression of the Catimor variety was very impressive indeed!

Yunyun Nannan’s One Light Project was founded in 2021 by Olina Caicai (Yatong Cai), and is an initiative dedicated to promoting Yunnan coffee. Based in the heart of the province, the team brings together local Q-graders, processing experts, and committed traders.
In the highlands of Mangshi, Dehong, red coffee cherries are harvested at peak ripeness, then carefully sorted by hand. Processing is carried out by Olina Caicai and her team at a local station. The selected cherries are fermented for 7 days in anaerobic tanks at 20°C, with the addition of a patented yeast strain that enriches the aromatic profile. At the end of this controlled fermentation process, the beans are washed with mountain water and then slowly dried on raised beds for 15 to 30 days.