The Secret Barista stops at Café La Mer
In Hastings Town Centre, operating from an elegantly appointed trailer, stands Café La Mer. Marc Wioland is the skilled barista producing some excellent artisan coffee from this prominent position.
Marc had an unusual route to becoming a barista. He used to be a prison officer and was involved in a rehabilitation scheme to train inmates who were up for release in the skills of making coffee. The coffee company sponsoring the scheme trained Marc in the secrets of the barista, and he trained the inmates. In his words: “Redemption and rehabilitation”.
Why the name Café La Mer or Café the Sea? Simple: Marc is part French. He says: “Café La Mer was created in memory of my dad, who passed three years ago whilst the classic French song La Mer was playing.” Subsequently, Marc came down to Hastings from Aylesbury and converted an existing van which was operating as a Greek street food outlet as well as taking on the lease for the space it inhabited – right in the centre of town.
He took the trailer to a workshop and with specialist mechanics, restored, painted it and adapted it for coffee making.
The vivid blue and white design with elegant typography evokes cafés in the resorts of the South of France with a touch of 50’s modernism. I am reminded of the visual landscape of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, a stylish, surreal and comedic silent film made in 1953. It was directed by and starred Jacques Tati as the bumbling M. Hulot who wanders about a French seaside resort and, slightly confused by the modern world, inadvertently causes havoc.
It was an inspiration for Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean films, and perhaps an inspiration for me ‘Beanie’ – the Secret Barista. I must admit, recently I have been bumbling around this seaside resort in my search for ‘Coffee Nirvana’.
Marc has built up an impressive following of devoted regulars who have turned their backs on the chain coffee shops that circle his van. He has brought us a little flavour of French holiday culture and placed it in the middle of our seaside town. When the weather allows, it’s the perfect place to stop by for an aromatic espresso and locally baked pastries (delicious croissants of course) and a chat on your way to the beach.
How very continental.
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