Caffeine Hunter

Paris · 15th arrondissement, Champ de Mars

Kalve Coffee Desaix

The white paneled room at Kalve Coffee Desaix with a textured plaster column, curved silver communal tables and rust red stools, a polished steel counter at the back, patterned tile floor and shelves of coffee tins by the tall window

Kalve Desaix is the Latvian roaster's café in the 15th arrondissement, a few steps from the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower yet on a street that stays calm. The Latvian studio Field designed the room around an idea called Archive of Lost Plants, with mineral walls, metal reliefs, textile screens, seating that looks worn smooth over centuries and a curved communal counter.

The coffee is roasted in Riga and leans gentle and balanced rather than dark, served as espresso, flat white, filter, matcha and cacao. Plant milk and decaf cost nothing extra, and the one plant milk on offer is Sproud. It is a place for pausing rather than rushing through, with laptops and dogs both welcome at the table.