Journal — November 2023

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 is one of my favorite neighborhoods in the world, 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.

Mihaela, their head roaster, was named the 2019 World Roast Masters champion (making Belleville that year’s best European roaster) and regularly speaks at world coffee forums about the future of coffee roasting. She is also a good friend, and is kind of why Yonder exists in the first place. Years ago, she encouraged me to consider starting a subscription, pointing out how hard it is to get fresh coffee to the US from Europe. At the time, that felt impossible, but the seed of the idea was planted. Soon after, Belleville became one of our first featured roasters. So it’s really exciting to come full circle, featuring them again now, more than 5 years later.

In the summer of 2022, a few months before we opened the cafe in Durham, I got to go back to visit the Belleville team once again, and, especially being my first trip since the pandemic, I felt a bit overwhelmed with gratitude for the people who make the coffee industry so special. I’m feeling that again now, as I get to share these beautiful coffees with you this month.

Guatemala’s fresh harvest has landed in Europe and we are sharing several fantastic coffees from Antigua this month. All 3 come from the Buena Vista project, Belleville’s oldest producing partnership. Hunapu, which means “between the flowers” in the indigenous Kiche language, comes from the volcanic micro-region of Ciudad Vieja whose very specific terroir contribute its exceptional flavor—like a French apple tarte. Finca La Folie is the first harvest Buena Vista managed to produce entirely through regenerative agriculture, and the results are inspiring. Their “Malawi” Gesha is a rare subvarietal of coffee that came to the Americas from Gesha Village in Ethiopia. These plants somehow made their way back to Africa and were grown in Malawi before Guatemalan farmers brought them to grow in Antigua. And finally, Chelbesa is an Ethiopian coffee that tastes so floral and so sweet, we fell in love. Please enjoy them all from Paris with love. Merci!