Coffee with Monsieur Richard: A Parisienne’s Café Adventures

In this column, native Parisian Edith de Belleville — author, attorney, and tour guide — shares café tales and discoveries.

Have you ever noticed that in some Parisian cafes, the cups and saucers are brightly colored? Or that on some saucers you can see the two initials “CR” engraved? The C stands for “coffee” and the R for “Richard,” and if you look closely, you’ll start to see this combo all over Parisian cafes: etched on espresso machines, chocolate pots, sugar packets, cups, wooden spoons and, of course, your coffee cup. Personally, I find that Richard coffee is too bitter. But for others, this bitterness is a good sign because it means that the coffee is strong. It’s all a matter of taste; when it comes to coffee, there’s something for everyone.

I decided to learn more about this brand that’s ubiquitous in Paris. From the date stamped on my cup of coffee where I sat at Les Deux Musées café (located near the Musée d’Orsay), I learned that it’s existed since 1892. I first assumed that since Cafés Richard was well established in Paris, Mr. Richard must’ve been from Auvergne, since historically, it was the Auvergnats who owned all the Parisian cafés. Auvergne, located in the center of France, is a magnificent and cold mountainous region surrounded by old, extinct volcanoes. In the 19th century, this remote region offered little employment, so the Auvergnats had no choice but to go to Paris to find work.

They worked as water carriers and coal delivery men in the cafés, a difficult job which did not require any qualifications. Gradually over time, thanks to the very close-knit solidarity of the Auvergnat community and their canny business sense, they became cafés owners. Thanks to their mutual aid and tenacity, a group of marginalized individuals was able to achieve social mobility.

But in fact I was wrong. The Richard family is not at all of Auvergne origin. They have been Parisians for three generations. You can even buy directly from their boutiques (Comptoirs Richard). And if you are consumed by a passion for coffee, they even offer a one-day internship to become a barista. When I told that to the waiter at Les Deux Musées café, he had a strange reaction. He shrugged his shoulders.

Shrugging shoulders from a French person is never a good sign.

“Another thing for bobos!” he sighed. If you’re not familiar with it, the word “bobo” comes from the contraction of “bourgeois-bohemian,” a term popularized in the 2000s by American writer and journalist David Brooks in his book Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (2000). Using the word bobo in Paris is never a good sign either.

I have to admit that my friendly waiter wasn’t wrong. In France, being a waiter and knowing how to make good coffee is a real job that requires years of experience. But these days, being a barista has become very trendy. It’s become so popular that once an English client, whom I was guiding around the Musée d’Orsay, thought my second job was “barista” instead of “barrister.”

Now I’m asking myself an essential question. Do the cafés in Auvergne also use Parisian products? To solve this enigma, all I have to do is go and check if the cafés in Auvergne also use the coffee, sugar, tea, chocolate and cups of the Parisian brand Richard.

Do you think I’m not capable of taking up the challenge? Well, guess where my youngest son has just started his studies? At the national school of architecture located in the capital of Auvergne… Clermont-Ferrand! So I will do my investigations and I’ll keep you posted. To be continued….

DETAILS

Les Deux Musées Café
5, rue de Bellechasse, 7th
Tel: +33 (0)1 45 55 13 39