View from the Back

Maison Verlet, founded in 1880, is the oldest artisanal roasting house in Paris still in operation. It roasts and sells single origin coffee beans, house blends and fine teas, with a salon for on-the-spot drinking upstairs.The historic address, a stone’s throw from the Palais Royal and the Louvre, embodies a French art of coffee and tea: demanding, refined, and deeply rooted in the capital’s history. 

How it all began

Coffee was introduced in France in mid-17th century at the court of Louis XIV. Coffee, like tea and chocolate, were then called “Exotic hot liquors”. Coffee was served by the first “cafetiers” in a few rare places in Paris in the 1670s, in the street or from small stalls.

In 1880, the date of its creation, Verlet was one of the rare Parisian stalls to offer quality coffee, “home-roasted”, on the pavement in front of the shop. Every morning, a metal drum mounted at high temperature was turned by hand crank to uniformly “burn” the light green grains from the Americas, West Indies and Africa, until perfectly roasted. The colour of the roasted beans was called “Monk’s robe”, typical of French roasting, in which Verlet specialises. The smell of roasting coffee scented the neighbourhood. The exceptional quality of the products soon caused a stir, and coffee became a habit enjoyed by noblemen and intellectuals alike.

In 1921, the shop on rue Saint-Honoré was bequeathed to the young Auguste Woehrlé by his god-mother. A much-travelled, former merchant seaman, the young man imported coffee, tea and spices for his godmother’s shop, moved to Paris to take over her establishment.

Passionate about its products,  he created special mixes of coffees, named “High Seas” and “Grand Pavois” in memory of his travels. He installed an elegant coffee lounge upstairs where customers came for lunch and to enjoy his coffees, as well as teas, infusions and pastries.

Closed during the Occupation, Verlet reopened post WWII and reconnected with its quest for quality products. The young Pierre worked alongside his father, then succeeded him in the early 1960’s. Verlet was the first company to have the audacity to roast and serve single origin coffee. This led to the creation of a pure Brazil, a pure Colombia, a pure Kenya, and other rare crus revealing all the richness of their terroirs. To this day, Verlet’s coffee roaster behind the Palais-Royal garden continues to transform each coffee bean into a drop of happiness.

Eric Duchossoy, who was born into a family of coffee roasters, took over the direction of the shop in 1995 and has broadened the company’s taste for rare local coffees and tea leaves from small plantations. He searches out exceptional producers and the tastiest crues (in Colombia, Panama and Guatemala) but also newer ones (in St. Helena, Thailand, Burma, Laos). Verlet knows every planter, every slope, every exposure, and selects the heart of the great crues and rare harvests to get the best aromas, favouring the plantations that defend a traceable and ethical approach to coffee and tea.

In addition to the thirty or so coffees and forty or so teas available for tasting on site or to take away, Verlet also offers a number of delicacies that would be a shame not to try! Waffles, French toast, croque-monsieur………..but also a fine assortment of French pastries: éclairs, saint-honoré, millefeuille, baba au rhum… Delights to be savoured all day long. As well as spices, the shop sells candied fruit from iSaint-Rémy-de-Provence, the capital of the confit fruit, from Maison Lilamant.

Heir to a French tradition of roasting and preparation, burner and researcher of exceptional local coffees and teas, the Maison invites amateurs to taste more than thirty pure coffees origin, and about forty of the best tea gardens in the world. Verlet remains the oldest Parisian coffee house still in operation to roast in an artisanal way and to make the taste of French coffee live.

All images courtesy of Maison Verlet