Mastering the Art of Ordering Coffee in France?
 

I just don't get it. All I want is a mug size (even large tea cup size) of black coffee. Heck, I don't care if the mug is filled up with espresso -- I'm partial to strong, black coffee!

I should have asked this question at the beginning of our 3 week trip, not the day before it ends, but hope to get one decent size cup before we leave tomorrow!!!

I've tried a "double" and get a demi-tasse size shot of double espresso that is essentially a two gulper. I've tried a cafe "long" and get a thimble size shot that is not even a one gulper. I've asked for "cafe Americain" and just get a weird look.

I've thought of asking for cafe au lait without the lait. Or being really sneaky and running off to the local Casino express and buying a small jar of instant, then asking for a pot of hot water!!!

In the hotels we've stayed in, most have the new coffee machines with a variety on the coffee menu, so when I press "cafe long" or a "double" I get a big cup of black coffee. But sitting in a cafe or even the hotel lobby and asking for the same thing, I wind up with a thimble.

I'm embarrassed to ask this question I've been to France so many times -- but I just cannot master the art of ordering coffee!!

Try café allongé, works for my husband.

If you order a cafe crème or au lait "à part" you will get about 1/2 a large cup of strong coffee with hot milk on the side. But, you pay more than you would for "un allongé."

Well let me try that, thanks! Is the "g" hard or soft? i.e. is it pronounced "gay" at the end?

type allongé (accent is a must) or allonger in http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php for the correct pronunciation of the word.

Small reminder, in French g is strong with a, o and u and soft with e, é, è and i (and y like in gynécologue complete opposite to your gynecologist) Good luck!

Hi Coco,

Hope you are well.

> in French g is strong with a, o and u ....<

So "Dordogne" is pronounce "door dog knee"? :)

((I))

Well, Ira - you've forgotten the "gn" rule! LOL You'd better get crackin' on the grammar books! :)

I always go for a noisette, but SO has his café allongé and it's big, but weaker than an espresso.

Or you could ask Pal's "French" son.

Michael----thanks for posting the pronunciation site. It works well and I definitely need it.

Or you could ask Pal's "French" son.>

yeh you could and get someone who is a native French speaker and not someone like St Cirq who uses archaic French that no French person under 100 would speak today - like A chacun a son gout or however that archaic phrase that St Cirq insists is in popular use today but is not - at least for the sous troisieme age crowd!

Wow PalenQ - that was snotty.

Adrienne - here is what St Cirq said about my son who was born and raised in France and got honors on his French BAC:

Or you could ask Pal's "French" son.

She is referring to some things I quoted my son as saying about correcting St Cirq in her adamant take that the phrase a chacun a son gout (sp?) is used in daily French - my son and his French mother and others I asked say that is true - that the phrase is archaic and never used in today's French. So St Cirq castigates my 'French' son as I guess being a Faux French - that he does not speak French well, etc.

Do you see that St Cirq's comment here about my son was snotty and rude? St cirq can attack me - fine by when she attacks my son well I will react.

From Quebec here; hopefully the words used here will apply to wherever you are in France-- Un allongé will get you what you want I think, although it tends to be more teacup-size than a mug that one gets in my experience. My friend who gets the allongé here goes for the cafe americano when in the States.

Good luck! Let us know if you're ok with the allongé!

PalenQ - you're very quick to given an opinion on other people's rudeness when you've not read the entire thread and have taken intent out of context or don't understand the background of certain comments. Perhaps there is a history between you and StCirq; perhaps there is not. I can't say but her comment did not appear to be rude, your's did. Her comment simply seemed to reference your French son. That is how you identify him.

No there is a context and the 'French' in referring to my French son was that my really French son simply does not know French very well - it was a totally sarcastic comment that was uncalled for and so was my retort - now I really hope it is ca y'est for both.

and that sarcastic comment had nothing to do with the thread at all - and yes I had read this whole thread and that's why I saw that snarky comment from not so St Cirq.

enough said - I hope editors erase all references, including St Cirq's rude and snotty comment that began it all. There is no place on Fodor's for such rudeness, which unfortunately you seem to condone.

adrienne, Pal has a LONG history of posting things about his French son that indicate he and Pal don't have much of a grasp of the French language - things that are simply spurious. It's not just me who's called him on it - native French speakers have. The latest was that the French call the Brits "Ros Boeufs" because their skin is pink like "the inside of undercooked beef." Quite a few folks noticed how off-base that was, as the expression "les rosbifs" goes back to the 1700s and has nothing to do with skin color, but rather the British habit of roasting meats (which were previously only boiled or steamed), not to mention that "Ros Boeufs" makes no sense in French and what would the inside of a roast have to do with skin, anyway?. Pal brings up this type of nonsense regularly, and, well, sorry if he gets called on it.

to make such a comment in a thread that it totally unrelated is rude - in the thread where I made that comment yes - but to out of the blue make a snarky comment on a thread like this... well carry on St Cirq - I challenge St Cirq to mention one other thing where my son was wrong - she cannot - just this one thing about rosbif - which he and his friends actually believe and thus is correct in a way that some French do believe it - St Cirq thinks he just makes it up.

Pal brings up this type of nonsense regularly, and, well, sorry if he gets called on it - again name me one more thing that he got wrong - and a chacun a son gout that he was correct with as many others concurred.

You fancy yourself a native French speaker and say that native French speakers do not speak French as well as you... rather haughty.

Again St Cirq - give me one more of those things my son 'regularly' gets wrong. I expect silence on that point.

have you tried "un cafe americain"? [un americano will get you what you want in Italy].

or "un nescafe" might work.

I order "un allongé, s'il vous plait". Always works. I don't think I was ever charged more than for an espresso. The only difference is more water (and a larger cup to contain it).

<<to make such a comment in a thread that it totally unrelated is rude>>

You totally plastered the lounge and the Europe board yesterday with snarky, rude comments about me on totally unrelated threads...pot, kettle.