I know this is a silly questions, but...

I'm taking my first trip to France next week. One of the ladies I work with mentioned that the coffee and sodas in France are Decaf and that there is no Caffeine in their Sodas or Coffee. I'm a huge Caffeine fan and would like to know if this is true or not.

Thanks!

Not true. The lady who works with you is an idiot.
You would have difficulty NOT getting caffeine in your beverages in France. However, for those who want coffee without caffeine, you ask for a "déca" -- and the waiter will almost always apologize to you for how terrible it tastes.

Thanks so much for your reply.

... and the French don't smoke either.

Oh..my...stars!!!!!!!!!!

apparently i'm a little on the gullible side. but i've never traveled outside of the US before, so i tend to rely on info from people who claim to have traveled to france. i've learned a lesson.

Hmmm... It's your first trip to France and your first post on Fodor's and that is the biggest concern you have?

YES there is caffeine in the coffee and soda. Merde.

no, that is not my biggest concern. it was the only question i had that i could not find an answer to anywhere else. so thanks for the info.

Hey, guys - don't we WANT to be the place where people go for the 'straight up' even if it isn't a question you would ask..?

Absolutely. Sillylolo: I wasn't referring to you or your question, just the information you got from your friend. Keep asking questions here and don't let anyone bully you! You will have a wonderful time in France!

sorry sillylolol, didn't mean to be mean, i just couldn't believe anyone would really believe that there is no caffeine in coffee.

Au contraire, j'ai pensé que j'allais au surdosage sur le caffine du café français. D'une manière générale l'était le plus fort que j'ai ai jamais bu.

I was watching Alton Brown on Food TV the other night. He is pretty up on the chemistry of everything. He was interviewing a coffee roaster who said that the darker the roast the LESS caffeine. That implies that French/Italian espresso would have less caffeine than the coffee most Americans are used to. This may explain why a Swiss friend of mine told me at a French restaurant that one espresso after dinner would have no effect on sleeping. Of course, she may have built up resistance through the years.

Hi vedette, I too have always heard that the darker the roast the less caffine there is. But do not know if it is true or not. Caffine does not bother me, so I have never bothered to really find out. All I know is I don't start my morning without caffine!

Sillylolo, you will find the French coffee much stronger, so the cup you order will be smaller. My wife always orders cafe American, and they just add hot water to the ordinary brew.

I heard that dark roasted coffee beans do have less caffeine, but espresso does have more caffeine because they use less water to make espresso.

silly,
you did right by coming here to ask your silly question. . who better to help you than a lot of caffeine loaded travelers
But there are some things that just common sense helps you with, and one of them would be that you can figure that most countries do have drinks with caffeine in them.
Picture yourself, wide eyed and jittery at a cool cafe on the Left Bank next week
Enjoy

>That implies that French/Italian espresso would have less caffeine than the coffee most Americans are used to. <

If you have ever watched a sleepy, weary, bleary eyed Italian stagger into a cafe at 08:00, slurp down an espresso and then go chase a bus for a block, you would have a different viewpoint.

Our first morning in Florence, I had an espresso.

My wife says that I was bouncing off walls for the next 12 hrs.

I went back to decaf.

Actually I found the opposite than the original question, that you might find caffeine where you least expect it in Europe! There's one German bottled water, looks like normal H20 but is loaded with caffine.

And for my silly response, with the price of a bottle of wine being about the same price as 2 coffees or sodas, why worry about the caffeine.

But we make the mistake of stopping at the Starbucks near our hotel the first morning in Paris, their coffee was notiably weak compared to a Starbucks coffee here in Canada.

But for the 2nd to 8th morning we stopped at 'Cafe Richard' which was even closer to our hotel for a great coffee & pastry for cheaper than just coffee at Starbucks. And Cafe Richard 'aerated' ? the milk which I enjoyed so much I bought something to warm/whip my milk at home (as cheaper than going back to Paris every morning for a coffee).

Z

You know, I used to think that when I was in Paris I was thrilled to be there, exhilarated, enthusiastic, tireless.
Now I find out it was just the coffee.