The One Coffee Drink You Should Never Order At A French Restaurant

In France, "coffee" does not refer to anything swirled with vanilla syrup or hazelnut cream. When folks sit down to enjoy the globally-famous romance and aesthetic intrigue of the Parisian café, "coffee" is short, dark, and bitter.

A café au lait combines equal parts strong-brewed coffee and hot steamed milk. In the Netherlands, the cafe au lait is called "wrong coffee" and is traditionally served with a crispy cookie on the side. Here at Tasting Table, we even like our cafe au laits with a spoonful of floral lavender sugar. But perhaps surprisingly considering its French name, café au laits in France are served at home, typically as a breakfast item. You won't find a French person ordering a café au lait after dinner or for an afternoon pick-me-up — or maybe even at all, ever.

Despite the café au lait's French name (literally translating to "coffee with milk"), French coffee culture largely skips milk-forward espresso beverages like the towering lattes served in American coffee shops. Drinks like these are considered more indulgent for at-home sipping, so if a French person is going to be drinking an au lait, it'll most likely be in their own living room, not at the local diner. In fact, a shot of straight espresso is the most popular coffee drink for starting the day in France – so popular that the colloquial way to order an espresso is to simply ask for "un café." 

So, what is a milky-coffee-lover in L'Hexagone to do? Try ordering a cappuccino-adjacent "café crème" (espresso topped with steamed milk foam) instead, or a slightly taller "grand crème" (which has more foam). Or, you can totally just ask for a "cappuccino," which isn't considered wildly out of place in the French coffee scene despite its Italian name. Au revoir, café au lait.

If you're worried about your coffee order making you perceived as a tourist, rest somewhat assured that this exposure has already been established unless you happen to be speaking French fluently. To dine like the French do, Saturday mornings might be the exception here — go ahead and order that café au lait as a weekend treat. Although, if you are sipping one in a public cafe, just be sure not to dip your croissant in it (bad etiquette). 

Word to the wise: Grabbing a coffee to-go isn't really the French way, either. In France, coffee is typically enjoyed seated and savored, a task made easier considering how comparatively smaller French espresso drinks are to the craft espresso beverages served in American coffee shops. Although, utility train station coffees and grab-and-go chains like Starbucks also surely have their place in Paris, so no biggie if you don't have time to hang around. Just be sure to order your coffee from an establishment designed for ordering to-go.