From August 26th to 29th, the city port will celebrate The Fitzroy Café Festival at the Halle aux poissons, with the passion of coffee in Le Havre and Melbourne!
The Fitzroy Café Festival will be part of L’Escale Australienne
Amongst many other activities, the City of Le Havre (External link) wanted to celebrate the rich aussie culture by exhibiting some pieces from the collection of Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, an explorer of the early 19th century.
The idea behind the event of the Fitzroy Café Festival was to recreate a link between Le Havre and Melbourne. While the Victoria Capital is well-known for its coffee shops, Le Havre is famous for being a major city in France regarding green coffee beans imports with more than 170 000 tons transiting each year through its harbor! Two cities also very closed to the heart of its organizer: Oriane Plate. Le Havre being her hometown and Melbourne where she stayed between 2016 and 2018. Oriane Plate worked in coffee shops in both cities which is why creating a festival around Australia and the world of coffee seemed logical to her.
As French people, we often go to restaurants or to bars and ask for “a coffee” but it actually doesn’t mean much. Ask for just a glass of wine and people will look at you strangely.
In average French people drink 5kg of coffee per year but the subtleties of this beverage are still quite unknown. Nevertheless, consumers are more and more inclined to get informed about what they buy, eat, drink instead of just grabbing things blindly in a supermarket.
The idea of creating a festival dedicated to coffee was also to shine a light on the savoir-faire needed to produce a coffee of quality: from the farmers, to the roasters and the barista preparing your final espresso. The Fitzroy Café will be a journey embarking on a boat of green coffee beans leaving Australia, berthing on the shores of Normandy to disembark its loading and following the different process of transformations it will undergo before arriving into the hands of consumers.
DATES + PROGRAM
The Fitzroy Café Festival will be held from August 26th till the 29th inside the Halle aux Poissons, an iconic concrete building in the heart of the quartier St François.
Attendees will be able to:
- Sip a nice and warm (or cold!) cup of coffee thanks to the Cargo Coffee Shop;
- Enjoy a slow morning while practicing yoga next to the water with Gabrielle Guard;
- Learn about coffee: the different varieties, how to prepare it and even how to roast it;
- See how each barista has its own recipe and how every preparation has an impact on the drink served at the end;
- Eat nice and fresh food prepared by local chefs;
- Dance to the sound of Australian inspired music.
Futher information :
www.escaleaustralienne.lehavre.fr (External link)
www.en.normandie-tourisme.fr (External link)
www.instagram.com/normandy_tourism (External link)