For five years, Cédric has worked every day to develop a real neighborhood café, “ a PMU, but without the horses “. In addition to its café, bistro and laundry activity, La Brassée is also a “ concert hall-art gallery-library “.A variegated DNA, like its clientele, or rather “ neighbors » as they are called here.
“ I want my colleagues to think of customers as people they might meet at the park “, explains the founder. Colleagues are required, as is table service. “ Our way of doing things, when it is appreciated, is really appreciated, and people come back, adds Cedric. We have very regular customers who are there every day. »
To achieve “ be a place where people meet and talk “, La Brassée focuses on its cultural programming, always free. From Monday to Saturday, the café sees, among others, musicians, poets, improvisation theater teams and podcast hosts. According to a neighbor who calls out to us, it works. Indeed, according to Johanne, the place is really “ an intergenerational café, and it’s rare “.
From Rennes to Rosemont
In 2013, having barely arrived in Montreal, the original Breton set foot in what was then called the Bistro Mousse Café. It is in this establishment that he will drink his first coffee in his new country to meet his future roommate.
A few years later, while taking a break in front of his workplace located right next to this same café, Cédric comes across the owner of the place. The Bistro Mousse Café is closing its doors, and the lessor offers Cédric to take over the business. They sign the lease of March 14, 2019, and La Brassée opens on March 1er June of the same year. Thus begins a story that nothing will stop, not even the pandemic.
Ecological and local
La Brassée’s ecological approach constitutes another of the café’s pillars. For example, it was one of the first establishments in Montreal to compost all of its waste or not to charge extra for plant-based milks.
Continuing this approach, particular attention is paid to the choice of suppliers. The teas and herbal teas come from the small Outremont company Un amour des thés. Plant milks are produced in the district by DAM. In total, 90% of the products are local, even the alcohols. “ Except pastis, because those who drink it tell me that nothing replaces real Ricard “, laughs Cedric. When he cannot obtain supplies in the Montreal region, he expands his research to Quebec, then to Canada, but always with the objective of favoring small suppliers and the most ethical and ecological approach possible.
For the next five years, Cédric aspires to continue developing the coffee that “ life put in his hands » as he had imagined it from the beginning, in accordance with his slogan “ between neighbors“.
The Brew
2522 rue Beaubien Est, Montreal
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