Psychic Delicacies
by Chris Kilham
2001

“If you wish to experience what I truly believe to be the perfect cup of coffee, you must travel to Caracas, Venezuela. There in the Altamira section of the bustling equatorial city, French-Canadian Jean Paul Coupal runs Arabica Café and Coupa Café. To say that Coupal is a fanatic doesn’t begin to describe the level of vigor he brings to coffee. Jean-Paul Coupal combines unbridled fanaticism with a quick and brilliant mind, an apparently insatiable appetite for knowledge, a willingness to go to extremes, an obsessive sense of absolute perfection, and an infectiously delightful manner of speech and behavior, all fused together in his passion for coffee. It takes but 1 brief hour in his all-consuming company to recognize that Jean Paul Coupal is the Leonardo da Vinci of coffee.”

The Slow Food Guide to San Francisco,
by Sylvia Brackett
2005

“For the past fifteen years Arabica Coffee Company of Venezuela has been working to resurrect the traditional methods of growing, harvesting, and roasting coffee beans from the mountainous regions of Venezuela. Only the second shop after the one in Caracas, Arabica opened Coupa Café in Palo Alto to introduce Venezuelan coffee to the United States.”

Caracas Dining Guide: Arabica Coffee Bar

Small and inviting, Arabica has a terrace plus an indoor loft where you'll find ample reading material. It serves some of the best coffee in the city along with good pastries, creative sandwiches and full meals. It also sells coffee beans from various estates in Venezuela. Visit Arabica Coffee Company daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.