Pasquale Silletti, an authentic café scene
In the heart of Geneva, a stone’s throw from the hustle and bustle of the city, a small address radiates authenticity: Beau Coffee. The space is intimate, the conversations frank and the smell of coffee enveloping. Behind the counter, a man with precise gestures and an attentive smile: Pasquale Silletti. Together with his wife, he has made this place much more than just a café, it’s a veritable haven for lovers of genuine encounters and authentic flavours.
A revelation
Originally from Puglia, Pasquale grew up in an Italy where coffee is drunk standing up, quickly, at the counter. There, it’s a social ritual, almost an obligation, but rarely a taste experience. “It’s all about texture,” he confides. And yet, his destiny didn’t seem to be written around coffee. A mixologist for sixteen years, he scoured competitions and events, perfecting his art of the cocktail. It was during an Italian championship that he discovered, backstage, the teeming world of specialty coffee. A revelation.
After volunteering to manage volunteers at competitions, he decided to train as a barista. His horizons opened up: he moved to Geneva, learned French on the job, and with two associates, launched The Barista Lab in the midst of the pandemic. The adventure continued with Beau Coffee, a contraction of Be Authentic. Quite a manifesto. Here, people come to share: “Those who don’t like to share don’t come here”, he sums up.
An international café
For Pasquale, coffee is never static. Every month, he invites a roaster to offer his selection, following the chain from bean to cup. There is no such thing as a perfect coffee,” he insists, “only perfect moments: a bitterness that wakes you up, a sweetness that comforts you, a taste that brings you together. In Geneva, he has built a community around this philosophy.
But this commitment to authenticity goes even further. Pasquale offers training courses directly in his customers’ homes. The aim is not to teach an abstract technical gesture, but to learn how to make coffee sublime with the means at hand. And as Beau Coffee began its adventure in the take-away market, Pasquale perfected his first “Mimi” blend, made on a simple domestic espresso machine. A tender wink and a tribute to his beginnings. Even today, Mimi remains the company’s signature blend, designed to give customers the same taste and emotion at home as on the premises.
An experience in detail
On the à la carte menu, coffee is paired with local pastries, designed with everyone in mind. Lactose-free, gluten-free, light and easy to digest, they are ideal for tasting. Because here, every detail counts. Every cup is a stage, every service a performance in which Pasquale reinvents himself as an actor, having learned to reveal himself as a shy child at Italian counters.
In just a few years, Pasquale Silletti has transformed a simple café into a veritable community. In the Florissant district, Beau Coffee has established itself as an address where authenticity rhymes with conviviality.
