The roastery

Rue de Montpensier, a century-old roasting factory

Since 1880, Verlet has been a table and a counter for coffees and teas, spices and selected candied fruits. On this date, at 256 rue Saint-Honoré, a new delicatessen opened its doors. It is one of the rare Parisian shops to offer quality coffee, "roasted in house", on the sidewalk in front of the shop. Every morning, a metal drum is cranked up to high temperature to uniformly "burn" the light green beans from the Americas, the Antilles and Africa, until they are perfectly cooked, revealed by an inimitable color called "Monk's Robe", typical of the French roasting that Verlet specializes in. The aroma of coffee fills the entire neighborhood. Coffee lovers and good establishments already buy from Verlet, the heir to the history of coffee in France, since its introduction in the mid-17th century at the court of Louis XIV. Coffee, like tea and chocolate, were then called "Liqueurschaudes exotiques". Coffee was served by the first "cafetiers" in a few rare places in Paris in the 1670s, in the street or in small shops. New exotic and soon domestic delicacies, all three were ambassadors of a world that was opening up, fascinated by novelty, where commodities and ideas were exchanged. In Paris, coffee, driven by its energizing virtues, became the drink of great minds, of philosophers, accompanied the progress of society, stimulated its thought and its transformations.