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Rosemont coffee favouritePaquebotis making two big moves on the city’s caffeine scene: they’re merging with east-end roasteryZab, and as of Monday, they’re the proud new owners of Mile End caféPlume.
Paquebot co-owner Samuel Perreault tells Eater that his team is joining forces with Zab’s Edwin Chareton because their interests line up: Paquebot has wanted to get into roasting for a while, and has been serving Zab’s coffee since it started roasting.
Zab opened up in 2016, joining other well-liked local roasters such as Dispatch, Café-St-Henri, and Kittel; Paquebot has been around on Bélanger Streetsince mid-2015, making a name as the first place in town to serve nitro cold brew as well as draft lattes. It’s also known for getting fairly experimental on the flavoured coffee front, with options like a curry-ginger latte and café-lemonade fizz, as well as for its vélo-café, serving cold brew on tap around various parks in the Rosemont—La Petite Patrie borough.
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As of Monday, Paquebot are also the proud new owners of Mile End mainstay Café Plume. The Mont-Royal Avenue café was one of the city’s earlier third-wave arrivals, but owner David Sabourin reportedly wants to move on to personal projects, but wanted to pass the coffee shop on to new owners who had a demonstrated interest in keeping up the quality.
Perreault tells Eater that it will eventually be renamed Paquebot (although it remains open as Plume for the time being, while the transition happens). Along with the name change, it’ll morph into something of a second location for the Bélanger home base — those draft coffees and more of Paquebot’s menu items will be available there — the curry latte, the Titonic (cold brew, tonic, lemon, rhubarbe bitters), and more.