Ca Passe Creme

Double shots, and beans that change every fortnight

Every milk drink here starts from a double espresso shot, which sets the tone for the whole list: espresso, ristretto, macchiato, cappuccino, flat white, lungo, iced latte, dirty chai, babyccino, hot milk with cinnamon and affogato. The coffee itself rotates every two to four weeks. Bonanza Coffee Roasters has been a partner since 2019, with Caffenation in Belgium supplying blends and single origins for espresso and filter.

Recent examples show how the rotation works: the Mister L.G.B. blend for milk drinks, the stronger Roast ED espresso blend, and a 100% Kenya single origin reserved for cold brew. Ça Passe Crème opened in June 2018 as one of the first specialty cafes in Lausanne, and moved in November 2021 to a larger sous-gare space with room for extraction and latte-art workshops.

A small room built for conversation and classes

The setting is minimal and intimate, more conversation than ceremony: a bench for a quiet chat, a handful of tables in a small room, coffee to drink in or take away, and beans to buy on the way out. Both founders trained at the École hôtelière de Lausanne, which shows in the welcome as much as in the coffee.

Teaching is part of what the larger room made possible. Workshops cover the basics of extraction and latte art, and more than 600 customers have been through them, which is unusual weight for a cafe of this size. The result is a neighbourhood coffee bar that doubles as the place people in Lausanne learn what a double shot is meant to taste like.

Flat white first, then the sweet side

Start with the flat white, the drink most often singled out here, then work through the espresso list. A dirty chai keeps the order near the spiced end, while cold brew belongs to the warmer months and has run on that 100% Kenya single origin. In winter a mocha appears among the named drinks.

The sweet detail is precise. Coffee arrives on a tray with a glass of water and a sablé cookie from Jean Francois Martin in Cully; the pain au chocolat comes from Maison Buet in Lausanne. The affogato turns the visit toward dessert, using vanilla ice cream from the LOOM gelateria next door with a small biscuit on top. For something without coffee in it, there is Opaline juice from the Valais and Urban Kombucha, and seasonal drinks appear alongside the core espresso service.