La Caféothèque

Before there was a Paris specialty scene there was La Caféothèque. Gloria Montenegro, a former Guatemalan ambassador, opened it on 15 September 2005 facing the Seine and Île Saint-Louis, under the name Soluna Cafés at first, and used it to introduce Parisians to single origin coffee at a time when the city drank robusta blends without complaint. It roasts on site and sells a long list of origins, and a generation of the baristas who went on to open the shops in this guide passed through its training courses.

The rooms are unlike the minimalist bars that came later: part roastery, part gallery, part library, warm and cluttered, with a partial view of Notre-Dame from the front. Open every day from nine to seven, which almost nothing else in this guide can say.