Perhaps it’s the journalist in me, but I always love a good origin story. And 5 Pailles has just that. Pailles, meaning straws (as in the drinking variety) is a nod to a scene in the cult French film Le Péril Jeune, where 5 friends who are lingering in a café and are pressed to order something else in order to keep their table, so they ask for one coffee with 5 straws. The link to this Parisian café: the owners are 5 friends who quit their corporate jobs to start a café with the motto “life is too short for bad coffee”.
The coffee here is indeed very good. About half their beans are sourced from Lomi specialty roasters in the 18th arrondissement, who deliver them, on request, a light and fruity roast. The other half are beans selected from favorite roasters globally, adding variety.
The relaxed and welcoming café feels like a refuge from the bustling and heady commotion of the Faubourg Saint-Denis neighborhood. Make your way past the coffee bar and the café opens out into a spacious oasis of mid-century-style furniture and jungle-inspired wallpaper.
We were tempted by several items on their simple but varied menu but eventually settled on a smoked salmon, ricotta and pickled cucumber tartine, which was fresh, flavorful and generous enough to share between two.
The 5 Pailles team is also doing their bit for the environment, using recyclable and biodegradable packaging, minimizing food waste and working in partnership with charity Eau Vive Internationale, donating a portion of their coffee profits towards improving access to clean drinking water in Africa. We love what these guys are doing from beginning to end.
5 Pailles | 79 rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis | Paris 10 | Open daily, Monday – Friday 8am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm.
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