In France, it was in Marseille, in 1644, that coffee made its appearance.
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COFFEE ARRIVED IN FRANCE WELL BEFORE THE DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.
From 1671, a shop was established in Marseille to sell coffee and the equipment necessary for its consumption. A year later, an Armenian opened his first coffee drink business, known as “Café”, which combines the fruit, the drink and the place of sale. Faced with recalcitrant doctors and therefore few customers, the establishment closed. In 1686, a former waiter from this first café opened a new establishment called “Procope”. High society will enjoy this place as it is luxuriously appointed with crystal chandeliers, marble tables, tapestries and mirrors. There we come across La Fontaine, Racine and Voltaire. Later, the Procope will welcome Rousseau, Diderot, d’Alembert, La Fayette who will also meet at the café “Le Régence”, near the Palais-Royal. In these places frequented by the bourgeoisie, we talk about the news, we play chess . But they become sulphurous, so much so that Montesquieu said in 1721: “this drink gives spirit. If I were the sovereign, I would close the cafés because those who frequent them annoyingly lose their brains there. The “Procope” would a little later become the active center of the French Revolution.
The Phryges come from a garment which is a symbol of freedom, present in our History for centuries, and which appeared since Antiquity. Present on Latin American flags before being popularized by the French revolutionaries, the Phrygian cap is today well known to the French popular imagination . A revolutionary symbol of the Republic and freedom, the Phrygian cap adorns Marianne in our town halls or on stamps.
With 70% of daily drinkers according to a MaxiCoffe study in 2021, coffee is one of the most consumed drinks after water in France!
France is one of the ten countries in the world that contribute the most to the turnover of the coffee sector. The French mainly consume coffee at home, but a third of them also enjoy drinking it outdoors. Coffee in capsules is increasingly appreciated by consumers and is the driving force of the coffee market. Finally, aware of the environmental impact of coffee production and import, the French are increasingly turning to fair trade or certified organic coffee.
At home, on the terrace or in a restaurant, the French love coffee
In France, an inhabitant consumes on average 3.4 kilograms of coffee per year , which corresponds to nearly 500 cups per year. And coffee drinkers aren’t limited to one cup per day, as more than half report drinking between one and three coffees per day .
Coffee is known for its social character, often linked to sharing and exchange. So, even if 90% of French people consume their coffee at home , a third of them enjoy drinking it on the terrace of a café or restaurant. Indeed, catering generates more than half of the turnover of the coffee sector in France, far ahead of supermarkets, which represent only 2% of the value of total coffee sales. And if we include fast food chains, this figure rises to 70%. Even if this over-representation of the catering sector in market turnover can be partly explained by the selling price of a coffee, which is higher in restaurants (an espresso costs on average 1.84 euros), this trend clearly shows the importance of the domestic market . off-grid on the coffee market in France.
Coffee in capsules, between growing popularity and controversy
If half of French people seem to prefer roasted coffee , a third consume coffee in single doses, while soluble coffee suits them less and less. 54% of coffee consumers also have a single-serve coffee machine at home , demonstrating the growing popularity of this segment among consumers. The players have also captured the potential of single-dose coffee, a segment which is also very promising for them due to the turnover it could generate thanks to its price per kilo, much higher than that of ground coffee.
But this product is also the subject of various controversies due to its environmental impact: made of aluminum and plastic, the capsules are difficult to recycle, most end up in the trash and 75% end up in landfills. Faced with this, major brands have already proposed solutions such as the collection system implemented by Nespresso or the development of compostable capsules by Lavazza.
And if the coffee market in France has increased its value , it is partly thanks to the growth in consumption of single-serve coffee, but also thanks to the development of fair trade coffee and organic coffee, the products of which are more expensive .
Fair trade coffee in France
The development of fair trade coffee in France
Coffee is one of the cultivated products most responsible for tropical deforestation, along with palm oil, beef and soy, not to mention that its massive importation also emits a significant amount of CO2. Indeed, soluble coffee, for example, emits around 30 kg of CO2.
In theory, coffee is a plant that grows in the shade of trees, but due to its intensive production, an increasing proportion is cultivated in full light, causing intense deforestation, massive use of pesticides and soil erosion. water and soil.
It is in this context that fair trade coffee was developed. Fair trade is an ethical and responsible economic model based on modes of production, marketing and consumption which contribute to sustainable development through better remuneration of peasant producers, respect for the fundamental rights of producers and workers, as well as the preservation of the environment. If a product meets fair trade requirements, it receives a logo that helps differentiate it in supermarkets, restaurants and other places. In France, sales of fair trade coffee have exploded in recent years, going from 5,300 tonnes in 2005 to nearly 13,000 tonnes in 2020. Furthermore, coffee is one of the most consumed organic food products, with 30% of fair trade coffee drinkers coffee preferring organic coffee. agriculture. In France.