The last Caïffa

History tells us that in 1989, because of strong winds, a boat arrived in the port of Le Havre with a cargo of coffee, half drenched and thus unsellable.

A certain Michel Cahen, a Parisien grocer, bought this cargo of coffee, dried it and roasted it and sold it on a door to door basis. It proved to be a good idea and he started to import coffee and sell it in this way. In 1890 the company ‘Au planteur du Caïffa’ (The Coffee Planter) was created by M et Mme Cahen and extended its commercial activity to other colonial products such as tea and cocoa. From its head office in Paris the company set up a network of branches all over France. The goods were transported mainly by railway, in bulk and the clients had to weigh and package the products in bags printed with the name of the company. Small three-wheeled carriages, often byçygup)^j fàç_èza(& a horse, a goat or sometimes by a dog, criss-crossed the countryside. With its instantly recognisable equipement (bottle-green uniform, cap displaying the name of the company, half cubic-metre boxes and its steel rimmed wheels which rang out over the gravel and the paving stones, and painted in the company colours) the caïffa was as popular the postman.

The company grew rapidly and continued to expand its range of products, coffee, tea, cocoa, flour, pasta, sardines, dry biscuits, sugar, salt but also soap, washing powder and haberdashery. Purchases attributed loyalty stamps which allowed you to win, for example, tableware (one or two dishes at a time, but the desire to have the complete set guaranteed loyalty to the travelling salesman!).

After the war the company went into decline. In 1962 ‘Au Planteur du Caïffa’ bought a part of the company ‘La Maison du Café’ and centred its activity on coffee. The era of its door to door salesmen in the French countryside came to an end.

M. Autin’s sales activities seem to have come to an end after the war. In the 1946 census he is mentioned as a gardener and his wife as the manager of the Caïffa. The village elders well remember this café which still existed after the war and into the 50s.

With time the word caïffa became synonymous with coffee and also with the coffee seller.