5 Coffee Shops To Try in Paris

by Lydia Carns May 30, 2024

On our recent trip to Paris I made a point to try as coffee shops as possible. I love good coffee and I had fun finding third wave coffee shops in Italy, and there were so many more in Paris! I spent a lot of time gathering recommendations from bloggers and Instagram and made a list of places to try in Google maps so I could easily check what was nearby while we were on our daily itinerary.

Cafe Kitsune

This French-Japanese cafe was first and foremost in my mind as I've been seeing photos of their iconic Palais Royale location for years. There are two other locations in the heart of Paris, one near the Louvre and another one on Rue de Rivoli. We went to the Louvre location first to grab a drink and a bite to eat before visiting the Orangerie our first morning. The coffee was outstanding and we shared a slice of chocolate matcha marble cake. It was delicious!

On our last full day in Paris, we stopped by the Palais Royale location for an evening coffee and I tried a slice of lemon cake. It was moist and flavorful and the coffee was once again perfect. Their shops are small; the Palais Royale location only has outdoor seating, but the vibes are immaculate.

Cafe Cotume

This is the only other cafe I visited twice. The first time was to the Galeries Lafayette location for lunch when we first arrived, and the second was on our very last afternoon. It was an excellent experience to bookend our trip with. We ordered food at the first location and got a Mimosa sandwich, which is the French title for eggsalad. (Love! Why don't we call it that here in the US?). It didn't have a lot of egg salad but the bread was soft and it came with a flavorful addition of pickled vegetables.

The coffee was probably the best I had out of all the places we went. I don't claim to have a sophisticated palette, I judge a latte on its smoothness and enjoyability. If it doesn't need sweetened, it's good coffee. I also bought a bag of decaf to take home!

For all of my enthusiasm over this cafe, I don't have a single picture of their coffee!

Telescope Cafe

This charming cafe is in the neighborhood of the Louvre, so we headed here for a bite to eat ahead of our visit to the museum. The sandwiches are very good, as are the drinks. The coffees here were more expensive than we encountered elsewhere. I think I recall Becca's drink was 7 euros, and it wasn't even coffee!

Dreamin' Man

This tiny cafe in the 11th boasts a lot of charm. The interior is just big enough for a few customers and the exposed stone and wood accents lend an old, cozy feel. I ordered a hojicha latte and it was delicious.

I love their branding!

Clove Coffee

The 4.9 rating this spot in Montmartre has on Google piqued my curiosity. They must be doing something right! I trekked uphill to this cafe, which sits within sight of some of the iconic steps of Montmartre. (I did not venture further). The coffee was 4.5 stars but the baked goods were excellent. I had a croissant filled with the most fragrant apricot jam. The coffee was still delicious, despite needing sweetened thanks to my sensitive palate, but the atmosphere was so nice. If this cafe was in my neighborhood, I would be ecstatic.

I barely scratched the surface of the coffee shop scene in Paris during our trip. Here's a list of shops that I would like to visit again for another experience, or to try different drinks, and cafes that I didn't make it to this time:

Peloton cafe (3eme)

Laize (two locations in 3eme and 1eme)

The Coffee (multiple locations)

Le Floor (2eme)

Noir (multiple locations)

The Beans on Fire (18eme)

Boot Cafe (11eme)

xoxo,

Lydia