Journal — December 2021

Belleville is a neighborhood in the north of Paris (mainly the 19th and 20th arrondissements). Far from the touristy center, Belleville means Beautiful town, and it lives up to its name. It was named one of the 15 coolest neighborhoods in the world this year and it is bursting with culture, art, food, and coffee.

Belleville Brûlerie is a coffee roasting staple of modern Paris and their coffees can be found at the best restaurants and cafes around the city. But French culture values tradition (and espresso). So changing the idea of what coffee should be was something of an uphill battle. In 2016, they opened their first coffee bar, taking over a traditional corner cafe that had been serving food, coffee, and wine for over 100 years. La Fontaine de Belleville maintains the look, feel, and offerings of a traditional cafe (but with specialty coffee, natural wines, and fantastic food as well). It didn’t take long to become the neighborhood’s favorite place for a weekday morning latte, a Saturday afternoon brunch, and even an evening of wine, cheese, and live jazz music. Throughout history, the cafe has always been the meeting place for culture and conversation, and nowhere better recontextualizes that with specialty coffee for me than La Fontaine de Belleville.

Mihaela, their head roaster, was named the 2019 Roast Masters champion (making Belleville that year’s best European roaster). She is also a good friend, and is kind of why Yonder exists in the first place. On a trip through Paris, I picked up coffee to share with friends in Raleigh, and she encouraged me to consider starting a subscription, pointing out how hard it is to get fresh coffee to the US from Europe. A few months later, they became one of our first featured roasters. So it’s really exciting to come full circle, featuring them again now, several years later.

These coffees are all fantastic, but I’m most excited about our first biodynamic (and also first Mexican) coffee here at Yonder. Finca Irlanda includes a nature preserve that is home to at least 6 coffee varietals, as well as many other species—50 trees, 200 birds, 800 plants, 87 spiders & 80 ants. There’s a lot to love about it, most of all that it is the perfect holiday coffee to share with your loved ones (who may not appreciate the weird & wild coffees we all do). So joyeux Noel et bonne année everybody!