Cindi

I don't mean to be whiney--it's hard to complain about ANY problems if you're lucky enough to be planning a trip to Paris--BUT we need a source of good (strong) morning coffee near the Cluny. One of us is peppy in the morning & one of us cannot function without coffee first. Our hotel's coffee is weak & tepid. Can anyone help? Thanks!

ira

Hi Cindi,

Are you sure that your hotel is not giving you cafe Americain? If that is their regular coffee, report them to the Police.

If you go to http://www.voila.fr/PJ/ and enter your hotel's address and "Paris" you will find a map of the area.

Enter the streets around your hotel and "cafe" under "Activite" and you will find places for morning coffee.

Cluny

Actually, I've found that a lot of the regular coffee (cafe de menage) sold at French grocery stores can be pretty grim--that may be what your hotel is serving. Most cafes and bars serve expresso, which should rev your engine sufficiently. For regular expresso, you order un cafe or un express. If you want it with milk , order un creme (cafe creme)--or better yet, un grand creme.

Oh, and if you order at the bar and drink it standing, it's a lot cheaper than if you sit at a table and order (think of the differential as rent for your chair).

Christina

That is unusual as all the hotel coffee I've had in breakfast rooms has been very very good. Kind of has to be for the prices they charge.

I wouldn't overplan this so much, most cafes serve decent coffee, why don't you just look around your hotel and try out a couple nearby--for first thing in the morning, the closer the better, usually.

That's kind of an odd corner for good cafes, though, since the Cafe Cluny disappeared. Although it is full of tourists, the cafe down at the corner of bd St-Michel and the quai has decent coffee, as I recall. Actually, McDonald's which is right near that corner has decent coffee pretty cheap, and probably takeaway. That might be a good idea so your partner can bring it back. Their expresso coffee is kind of like real strong regular coffee, and a lot cheaper than a cafe.

lucyp

Hi, I'm with Christina! Our hotel was very close to this corner as well and every morning my husband and I had our first café allongé at McDonalds. Take it out to the Medicis Fountain in the Jardin Luxumbourg.
Cheap and good for that first cup.