France
French coffee culture often revolves around simple, strong, and traditionally served coffee. While international coffee shop chains are becoming more common in larger cities, you'll find that traditional French cafés have a more limited, but classic, range of options. Here's a breakdown of how to order coffee in France and what's in them:
Black Coffee Options:
Un Café / Un Expresso / Un Petit Noir / Un Café Simple: This is the most common and default coffee order in France. It's a small, strong espresso shot, served in a small demitasse cup. This is what you'll get if you just say "un café, s'il vous plaît."
Un Double Expresso / Un Double: A double espresso, meaning two shots of espresso in one cup.
Un Café Serré: Literally "a tight coffee." This is an even shorter and more concentrated espresso than a regular café, similar to an Italian ristretto. It's for serious coffee lovers who want maximum intensity.
Un Café Allongé / Un Café Américain: This is the French equivalent of an Americano. It's an espresso shot with hot water added, resulting in a longer, milder black coffee. It's still generally smaller than a typical American "drip" coffee.
Un Déca / Un Café Décaféiné: Simply a decaffeinated espresso.
Un Café Noir: Literally "black coffee." This is just another way to ask for a café (espresso) without any milk or sugar.
Un Café Filtre: While not common in traditional French cafés (which primarily focus on espresso), some places, particularly those catering to tourists or newer specialty coffee shops, might offer "filtered coffee," similar to American drip coffee. It's not a staple of French coffee culture.
Coffee with Milk Options:
Un Noisette: Meaning "hazelnut." This refers to the color, not the flavor. It's an espresso with a small dash of warm milk (or sometimes just a spoonful of foamed milk), giving it a hazelnut hue. It's akin to an Italian macchiato or a Spanish cortado. This is often the only milky coffee considered acceptable to drink after breakfast in traditional French cafés.
Un Café Crème / Une Crème: This is the most common way to order a coffee with milk in a French café. It's an espresso with a significant amount of steamed milk, similar to a latte or a cappuccino. Despite the name, it's typically made with milk, not cream.
Un Grand Crème: A larger version of the café crème, served in a bigger cup.
Un Café au Lait: While it literally means "coffee with milk," in France, this term is traditionally used for coffee mixed with hot milk, usually prepared at home and often served in a large bowl for dipping croissants. In a café, if you ask for a "café au lait," you'll likely receive a café crème.
Un Cappuccino: While becoming more common, especially in tourist areas, a "cappuccino" in France might not always be what you expect from an Italian cappuccino. It's typically an espresso with steamed milk and a layer of foam, often with cocoa powder sprinkled on top. Many French people would just order a café crème as their preferred milky coffee.
Specialty and Other Options:
Un Café Gourmand: A delightful French invention! This is a regular café (espresso) served on a tray with a selection of three to five small pastries or desserts (mignardises), such as mini crème brûlée, macarons, madeleines, or chocolate mousse. It's a perfect light dessert after a meal.
Un Café Viennois: An espresso-based coffee topped generously with whipped cream (chantilly) and often a sprinkle of cocoa powder. This is a richer, more indulgent option.
Un Café Glacé: "Iced coffee." While not as prevalent as in some other countries, you can sometimes find iced coffee, typically an espresso poured over ice. Don't expect elaborate iced coffee concoctions like in North American chains outside of specialty coffee shops.
Key things to remember when ordering:
Politeness is key: Always start with "Bonjour" and end with "s'il vous plaît" (please) and "merci" (thank you).
"Un café" is an espresso: If you want anything else, be specific.
Milk for breakfast: Milky coffees (café crème, café au lait) are traditionally considered breakfast drinks. While you can order them later in the day, the French often stick to un café (espresso) or un noisette after the morning.
Sitting vs. standing: In many traditional cafés, the price for a coffee might be cheaper if you drink it standing at the bar (au comptoir) compared to sitting at a table (à table).
Sugar: Sugar packets or cubes are almost always provided with your coffee.
*The content in this document was generated using artificial intelligence, drawing from various online sources, and subsequently refined for accuracy and conciseness in 2025. Users are advised to consult multiple sources to corroborate information and should not rely solely on this document for comprehensive research.