French Coffee
In France, coffee is as much a part of the culture as food and wine, art, fashion and general joie d’ vive. French coffee is a subject of pride among the French. With their 100% Arabica coffees the standard fare at the most modest of cafes, their reputation is well-deserved.
French coffee is best described for its quality. There is a brasserie or cafe on virtually every street in Paris, where it is a national morning ritual to have your morning coffee, along with a croissant, sitting at the cafe and watching the world go by. Most cafes and brasseries have large lattice-paned windows for best viewing while consuming your pastry and French coffee. Although you do not typically get a refill, the French coffee mug is large and generously sized.
Standard cafe offerings include Cafe Au Lait, which is simply strongly brewed Arabica with a steaming shot of frothed milk, is a popular choice. Cafe is plain black coffee, brewed to espresso strength. Cafe crème is coffee with hot cream, a heavenly concoction. Cafe Americain is the French coffee equivalent of American diner-style coffee, much weaker than regular French coffees. Cafe Leger is a somewhat watered down espresso suited to the late night after-theatre coffee, when you may want to sleep sometime soon! The French coffee repertoire also offers Cafe Decaffeine for those who’ve already imbibed too much caffeine for the day.
Restaurant diners may be served a pot of coffee at the end of the meal, with a pitcher of steamed milk on the side.
For the ultimate French coffee experience, find a brulerie. A brulerie is a coffee store where the beans are roasted on the premises. Bruleries offer the freshest product, and hence the best cup of coffee you may ever enjoy.
If you’re a visitor to France, and an avid coffee drinker, here’s an insider’s travel tip: purchase a European drip coffee maker for use in your hotel room in the wee hours as you sit and plan your day’s activities. Explore your neighborhood – there’s sure to be a hardware store, coffee shop or department store where you can buy an inexpensive and dependable coffee maker. Next, go the local grocery where you’ll find quality Arabica coffees and crème fraiche, which comes in small cartons in a six-pack. Pick up some sugar if that’s a necessary ingredient. Set your crème fraiche out on the windowsill in the evening, and it will be properly chilled in the morning.
Before you turn in for the night, visit a Boulangerie for your morning croissant or other pastry of choice. When you wake, just brew and enjoy.
Any way you cut it, French coffee is something to linger over, no matter the time of day. Coffee in France is indeed a pastime, well loved, lauded and essential to the French coffee experience.
