yestravel

I've always been puzzled by what I think is awful coffee in Paris --
Guess others have to & have done something about it. From today's NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/tr...temail0=y&_r=0

kerouac

Yet another pathetic article from the NYT which does not seem to understand that local coffee is brewed to local tastes. Why on earth would Parisian cafés make coffee to appeal to the rare foreign visitor?

The French find American coffee to be universally horrible, but they accept this because it is not their country and they just try to choke down the "sock water" if they need something that resembles coffee.

Frankly, the best coffee that I have had was in Vietnam, but since I am not a coffee drinker to begin with, my opinion is probably not valid.

LSky

I didn't need to read the article to agree with the comment above.

We, at least I, travel to experience something else. If someone doesn't want to try coffee a new and different way go to McDonald's.

Dukey1

I wonder if "the French" find all coffee that isn't brewed to their "local" tastes equivalent to "sock water" or is this another one of those generalized "hate all things American" (except their money) opinions.

Dukey1

And please, do NOT even think about trying to tell us all those Starbucks places in Europe are still operating by dealing with the "rare foreign visitor" alone.

kerouac

Well if Starbucks is the epitome of good coffee, there are certainly enough of them in Paris for the NYT not to write an article about bad coffee in Paris.

Interesting that Starbucks had to abandon Australia, which is another country that doesn't like French coffee.

yestravel

And just as you say the french do when in the US, i "just try to choke down the "sock water" if they need something that resembles coffee." And of course, all countries cater to the likes and dislikes of the inhabitants of their country. How else would they stay in business? I have been in a Starbucks or 2 while in Paris and lots of french people buying their coffee there.

Saying one dislikes the coffee in Paris is not akin to saying one wants to go to McDonalds.

I do agree that VN has great coffee.

PalenQ

McDonalds in Paris to me has good coffee - so do Parisian cafes where I always order a "Grand creme" which is about American as you can get - McDonalds bought the Burghy fast-food chain in Italy some years ago and copied their coffee techniques and even the espresso machines so claims to have 'good coffee' whatever that means - yes to different folk different strokes.

A french 'cafe' to me means a tiny cup of dark black coffee into which is usually dumped an unfathomable amount of sugar - a sweet treat for sure.

dfourh

Most coffee that you get anywhere is wretched. Absolutely bitter, and if not bitter, then tasteless, and if not tasteless, then crummy, and if not crummy, then - - it's what's you get at your hotel. Every hotel serves coffee swill.

READ IT AND WEEP. That brown stuff in the cup is a horrorshow - - you can only drink it if you are so addled in the morning that you desperately need caffeine, and have absolutely no tastebuds with any chops whatsoever.

But if you have had really great coffee - - I mean, really, really great coffee, then you can never look back. And chances are 99 out of 100 that if you have had really great coffee, that you figure out how to brew it at home. You may pay a thousand bucks for a decent setup, or you may get by hundreds less, but once you have had great coffee you can't settle for anything less, so you make it at home.

But when you are travelling, and you understand great coffee, then sometimes you resort to Yelp or other means to get a cuppa that is just barely TOLERABLE. And most coffee, wherever you travel, if you know really great coffee, is NOT tolerable. It is SWILL.

PalenQ

Coffee snobs aside to say that in Italy you cannot get a good cuppa or in Greece (Turkish coffee ironically!) is balderdash IMO and the epitome of a coffee snob - maybe nogt great great coffee but good coffee does exist in Europe, depending on your tastes, of course. And I do not mean to start a brewhahah!

Seamus

The old saying "Go to France for bad coffee and good pastry, go to Italy for good coffee and bad pastry" always sort of rang true for me.

elberko

And go to Austria for good coffee AND good pastry!

~Liz

Pepper_von_snoot

Completely agree with Yestravel.

I have been in Starbucks on Blvd. Saint-Michel across from Cluny Museum and it is always packed with Parisians, not tourists.

Same with the Starbucks on Blvd.
Saint-Germain. Long lines of French people, almost all young.

Young people don't want to sit at a cafe all day and drink coffee. They are on the go.

And the Great and Powerful Thingorjus does NOT drink sock water.

Thin

PalenQ

The often surly French waiter is also a reason I believe French folks love Starbucks - not having to deal with them a plus. Plus Starbucks has taken coffee making to an art - anyone who says Starbucks don't have good coffee is setting the bar way too high IMO.

PalenQ

I'll never forget the ugly American I saw in a cafe in Paris when after ordering a 'Nescafe' which I think back then meant decaf but not sure - after the brew hit his lips he spit it out yelling "I can't drink this garbage".

kerouac

Nescafé is Swiss in any case, and it has never meant decaf. A decaf is a déca and the name has never changed. However, any café employee will tell you that the most horrible thing in the world is déca.