By Appointment Only, that sounds crazy right, but perhaps this is the future of coffee worth waiting for.

Imagine this: instead of rushing into a cafe for your morning caffeine fix, you book an appointment to taste coffee. No queues, no takeaway cups, no syrups. Just time to listen, to taste, and to appreciate what’s in the cup.

It might sound indulgent, yet perhaps this is what coffee has been missing all along.

An Encounter in Paris: Substance Café

Earlier this year, I had the chance to visit Substance Café in Paris, a quiet and meticulous space where coffee isn’t poured on demand but experienced by appointment only.

Behind the counter stood Joachim Morceau, the café’s owner, roaster, and host. A former Brewers’ Cup Champion, Joachim carries impressive credentials. What struck me most, however, was not his competitive success but his philosophy.

During our conversation, he explained that although competition shaped his craft, he has grown disillusioned with it. Many coffee contests, he said, now emphasise performance and showmanship instead of celebrating the farmers and producers whose labour makes everything possible.

For Joachim, the cup should never be about theatrics. Instead, it should honour origin, the terroir, the hands that harvested, and the quiet precision of roasting and brewing with care.

It is a perspective I deeply share.

A Different Kind of Coffee Culture

At Substance, guests will not find takeaway service, rush, or distraction. Each cup is intentional, roasted onsite and brewed with focus. Joachim sources small, rare lots, coffees that cannot always be repeated or easily found again. In doing so, he trades abundance for meaning.

The appointment-only model is not exclusionary; it is invitational. It encourages the drinker to meet the maker halfway, to slow down, sit with flavour, and recognise that coffee, like wine, carries the story of a place.

A Contrast to the Everyday Cafe

Back home, cafés often operate at scale: sugar, syrups, oat milk queues, takeaway lids, and fast service. This rhythm suits the pace of modern life, yet somewhere along the way, craft was lost in the churn.

Over time, coffee, once shaped by so many careful hands, has become a convenience item. That is precisely why experiences like Substance matter. They remind us that coffee can still be art, ritual, and connection.

Lessons for Routes

At Routes Coffee, we have always believed in making coffee with intention, showcasing both the integrity of the producer and the individuality of each lot.

Visiting Substance reaffirmed that craftsmanship is as much about restraint as it is about skill. Scarcity, far from being a limitation, can be a marker of care.

As Joachim demonstrates through his work, the value of coffee lies not in spectacle but in the story behind it.

Perhaps the future of coffee is not faster, flashier, or more convenient.
Perhaps it is slower. More deliberate.
Maybe it is by appointment only.