After a string of mediocre coffees over the past week, things hit an all-time low when I was served the ‘worst coffee ever’ in the designer Café Vitra by Be Alain Ducasse at Printemps yesterday.

This morning I snapped. I pulled on my boots, zipped my coat and strode out the door determined (note: desperate) to start my day with a decent latte, something we take for granted in Australia. I crossed the bridges over the islands like a woman possessed and in no time arrived in the heart of the Left Bank at Coutume Instituutti. Here in the Latin Quarter, right across the street from one of my favourite small museums in Paris, the Museé de Moyen Age (also known as the Cluny), I was finally rewarded with an excellent, hot, strong latte. For those of you who are reading Delicious Days, please note that at the time of writing this café did not exist but it’s a great stop for a morning coffee before a visit to the museum. It opens at 9 am.

Housed in a light, loft-like space inside the Swedish Institute and with large windows overlooking the medieval museum, the café looks rather like a university cafeteria complete with long trestle tables and everyone tapping away on laptops – yes, there is WiFi.

The petit déjeuner offering is very small and consists of just Coutume granola, yoghurt & roasted seasonal fruits, or a trio of mini-viennoiseries. There’s a selection of cookies, banana bread, cakes and scrolls on the counter but if you come expecting a big Aussie breakfast you will be disappointed. This place is about the coffee. Lunch starts from noon and the small menu changes weekly. Today among the offerings: chickpea and lemon soup; smoked herring salad with potato and quail eggs; Finnish meatballs with couscous, salad and vegetables.

By chance, I sit down at one of the communal tables next to the Australian Tom Clark, one of the founders of the very successful Coutume Café whom I last spoke with a couple of years ago at his newly-opened first address on rue de Babylone. Coutume is one of the major players in the new wave of cafés serving up serious coffee in Paris and you can read more in Delicious Days.

There is also a third address in Paris, Coutume Lab (4 Rue du Bouloi, 1er), which is more about the research side of things with a range of educational and sensory experiences. I ask Tom about the coffee scene since our last chat. ‘We expected there to be a slow adaption but it has been a revolution,’ he says.

I finish my coffee (at 4.20 € it’s worth every centime) and take a wander though the Latin Quarter, ending up in the ancient Rue Mouffetard market street, where the first signs of spring are just pushing their way through the tables.