When a Card Becomes an Experience

Before arriving in Paris, we had a list of places we didn’t want to miss.

The Eiffel Tower.
The Louvre.
A few bakeries.

And a tiny café where people write letters to their future selves.

We first discovered it on Instagram a few months earlier.

It’s called Café Pli.

Café Pli opened in Paris in 2024 after being inspired by similar letter cafés in South Korea. As greeting card creators, we knew we had to add it to our itinerary.

As soon as we walked in, one wall immediately caught our attention. It was covered with hundreds of envelopes, each waiting to be mailed months or even years later.

Then someone welcomed us and explained how it all worked.

First, you choose when you’d like your letter to arrive: 1 year, 5 years, or even 20 years from now!

Then you choose a card, order a drink, find a cozy seat…

…and start writing.

Inside, the atmosphere was calm.

Around us, people were writing. English conversations floated through the café almost as often as French.

While Solène was writing, the rest of us enjoyed our drinks and looked around the café. One wall was covered with colorful Post-its filled with little notes and quotes from visitors.

One framed quote on the wall caught our attention:

We stood there for a moment.

Ready for what?

We never really answered that question.

When Solène finished writing, she folded her letter, sealed the envelope with warm wax, pressed the stamp into it…

 

…and walked over to the wall lined with 365 small mailboxes, one for each day of the year.

She slipped her letter inside.

She won’t read it again until this Christmas.

One thing we noticed was how different this café felt.

People weren’t there to work.

They weren’t chatting with friends.

They had come to slow down for a little while, think about the future, and write those thoughts down.

One thing we loved about Café Pli was that it wasn’t only serving coffee or selling cards.

It had turned something as simple as pen and paper into an experience that would last for years. 

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