My experience has been (and I treasure it as a cultural phenomenon rather than disdain it) is that in a cafe you get whatever the waiter wants you to get. So maybe ordering an "encore, SVP" or deux will get you enough coffee, with a few minutes between each episode for focused people-watching.

<i>Une pression</i> or <i>un demi pression</i> are the same thing: 25cl of beer. Most Parisians would just say <i>un demi</i>. The really small glass of beer (which almost nobody orders) is <i>un bock</i>.

Trivia department: a coaster is <i>un sous bock</i> (good term for some people to know since quite a few people collect themp).

Sub-trivia: bock is pronounced buck

Jack - thanks for the correcto - and I have a humungous collections of beer mats as the English I believe call them from all over Europe, including a pile of sous bocks from France.

<If you're at a bar that has several brands of bière en pression, you'll have a choice. Just like in the States.>

the types of bars I frequent typically have only a few choices of tap beer - not the wide selection at home or say in England - but of course fancier places may have more but typical cafes IME have just a few - things may be changing however as the French, especially younger ones, drink more beer and less wine.

On a cool day my French friends may order a "grog" - hot rum with lemon I believe and hot water and sugar -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX9tPhvAIso

If you want a little bit of Paris in your US kitchen, order some of these. I have long had several antique Quimper cafe au lait bowls--they have little ear/handles for a better grip.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key...l_3fr1vakymu_e

On beer, my husband mastered that art -- almost always wanting une pression, whereupon the waiter would ask, generally speaking, "normale" or "grande"? -- except in an English pub in Antibes (the Blue Lady Pub) -- http://www.blueladypub.com/ where he was able to order a "pint" in English.

Allonge worked, by the way.

Any place where a waiter asks "normal or grand?" is a tourist trip. These are the home of the $8 Coke and the $10 beer.

At worst, say the number of centiliters that you want. I have seen dishonest waiters claim that they understood "un demi" to mean a half liter instead of the antique concept of a half pint (25 cl).

"trap" instead of "trip" -- obviously!

If we could veer back in a coffee direction for a minute:
When I first was in Paris a million years ago and ordered "café au laut", I expected and got something with lots of hot milk, served in the kind of bowl Gretchen's link shows.

More recently I when I say "café au lait", I get what I would call café creme, a small cup of coffee with maybe 15 ml of a cool dairy product alongside.

What does one say to get the Gretchen-like bowl delivered steaming to the table?

I wouldn't mind a little discussion of pourboire/tip as suggested above for a cup of coffee, if anyone can stand the subject anymore. One hates being a chump almost as much as stiffing the staff.

Any place where a waiter asks "normal or grand?" is a tourist trip. These are the home of the $8 Coke and the $10 beer.>

yeh that was my impression too - after leading zillions of college kids thru Paris at the TCF Camping site in Joinville - the bar tenders there would always ask kids 'if they wanted a big beer' - of course all said yes, thinking it would be cheaper per volume - but it was not - it was a lot more expensive than buying two smaller beers.

I have always heard that true of Parisian cafes as well - a 'big' beer is kind like ripping off folks.

stokebailey asked: "What does one say to get the Gretchen-like bowl delivered steaming to the table?"

That's a breakfast coffee, so the first requirement is to be there at breakfast time. Then order "un grand café, svp".

Breakfast bowls are at home, not in cafés. Yes, I know. Life isn't fair for tourists.

I'll try that, Padraig. Thanks.

Kerouac, Hmph. (Disgruntled sound.)

However, if you stay in a rural <i>gite</i> (B&B) you have a good chance of getting your coffee in a bowl

I seldom weigh in during a snit - but I suppose those who are familiar with a chocun a son gout may only be those familiar with Die Fledermaus or Jeeves and Wooster. Special people, a group of which I am proud to belong. Jeez folks! This is about coffee. I get a big cup of coffee at McDonald's at the air base exit off A6. I know - don't nag me - I never go to McDonald's in the states, but here it's really different. Getting coffee in Europe is a challenge. The rest stop - rastatte? - at that same exit will pour more (for free) if the cup is empty. I love this place.

McDonalds is also my favorite place in Europe to get some java - the taste to me is good and you need not deal with any waiters or have any problem placing your order. Unfortunately unlike Stateside there are few free refills or no senior coffee I get at home.

Even in Italy McDondals now uses state of the art coffee machines just like Italian caffes I think - I understand they have imported these to America and now blind taste tests McBrews stack right up there with Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts, whose coffee also is surprisingly good according to experts.

Now if they only had some of those coffee beans that come out of lemur's rears!

McCafé in France (a totally separate sub-section of many McDonald's) serves authentic coffee and even sells such items as macarons. They are doing correctly everything that Starbucks is doing wrong in France. Starbucks is still pushing American type brownies, etc., whose novelty value in Europe wore off long ago, while McDo sells completely acceptable French pastries.

Stokebaily, the tip for a coffee in Paris is often 0.00€ but may sometimes run as high as 0.20€ for spendthrifts.

Now if they only had some of those coffee beans that come out of lemur's rears!>>

DD brought us some home from Bali and it's civet's rears that they come out of.

She brought home enough for about 2 cups each so we've drunk one half of it - for me it had only novelty value but DD and DH liked it a lot.

re tips, in France and Italy, if something like a round of coffees costs €9.90, I'll leave €10. at home in the UK, I'll leave £9.90!

Now we know why Ann is out of the UK so much: she is running out of places to go for coffee near home.

Kerouac: McCafé in France (a totally separate sub-section of many McDonald's).

It's really called McCafe? We have one here in Basel, but it's call Aroma. I haven't had their coffee, but DH says it's ok.