Name: Belleville Brulerie
People: Thomas Lehoux & David Nigel Flynn
Location: Paris, France
Services: Roasting, retail and wholesale sales
Equipment: Giesen W15
Opening Date: September 2013
About
Thomas and David have been active in the Parisian coffee community for the last four years, working with different people, projects and within various capacities. They started Belleville Brulerie in 2013, finding that none of the then current roasted options in the city served what they were looking for. Paris is an espresso-loving city and being filter coffee lovers, Thomas and David want to provide Paris coffee drinkers with great filter options.
Belleville’s roasting concept is simple: to use high quality green coffee and roast it in such a way that highlights sweetness and leads to an overall tasty experience for the drinker. This means that rather than highlighting a particular roasting style, the goal is to roast in such a way that the coffee’s own merits come through. Underlying all this is the notion that drinking great coffee should be a simple endeavor. Coffee is a complex enough product on its own: brewing tasty coffee need not be. To this end, Belleville doesn’t push its customers to adopt complicated and wide-ranging brew methods: espresso and batch brews can and should produce tasty coffee.
Matching its service concepts, Belleville’s purchasing is based on working long-term with producers that are themselves working hard to ensure a high quality from season-to-season. David envisions working with the Moreno family long term, for example. When the roastery first opened, Jesus Moreno’s coffee was in the initial lineup and the reception of his coffee was overwhelmingly positive: Jesus’ coffee consistently sold out first on the days the roastery opens for retail sales (Saturdays). Evidence that Parisian coffee is more than just about espresso allongé.
