How to Order Coffee in Paris

Each time my husband and I visit Paris, we have to reacquaint ourselves with how to order coffee! You walk into a Paris cafe, and the first thing you want to know is how French coffee ordering works.

During a recent trip to Paris, my husband and I noticed a distinctly new difficulty in coffee ordering. Our coffee of preference while in France is the “noisette.” An espresso with just a kiss of hot milk. It's called a noisette (hazelnut in English) because of the color of the coffee.

Not complicated, right? For nearly a week, no matter where we went, which Paris cafe we visited, even to places we had frequented many times, it was nearly impossible to get the correct version.

We got regular coffee with milk. Both coffee with hot milk. Regular coffee with cold milk. Espresso with no milk. Espressos with cold milk. It was bizarre!

If it had been anywhere else but Paris, I would just shrug it off, but this was Paris!

That got me thinking about the many types of French coffee drinks you can order. I thought it might be fun and useful to describe the different types and how to order coffee in Paris, even if Paris coffee shops do their own thing! These are the ones that I am familiar with; if any of my Parisian blogging buddies want to chime in, please do!

French coffee types

• Un café – plain coffee with nothing added, strong and (usually, not always) brewed like espresso but served in a bigger cup
• Un café au lait – coffee with steamed milk; you will sometimes get the coffee served in one pot or in the cup, and then a pitcher of steamed milk/cream
• Un café crème – coffee served in a large cup (as opposed to a normal size cup) with hot milk/cream
• Un café americain – filtered coffee
• Un expresso or un express – espresso – that one is easy!
• Un noisette – espresso with a hint of hot milk/cream in it
• Un crème – espresso with half of hot milk/cream (served in a coffee cup rather than an espresso cup)
• Un allongé – espresso coffee with double the amount of water, basically a weak black coffee
• Un serré – espresso coffee with half the usual amount of water, basically strong black coffee; in Switzerland, this is called a ristretto (it is what I drink every morning from my Swiss Nespresso machine
• Un double – a double espresso
• Un déca – decaf coffee
• Un flat white: a double shot of espresso with steamed milk and a thin layer of silky microfoam, a specialty coffee shop staple
• Un cortado: espresso cut with a small amount of warm milk, a bit like a noisette but slightly bigger, poured in the city’s specialty cafés
• Un café glacé: iced coffee, once a rarity in Paris but now easy to find across the specialty coffee scene in summer

If you want anything fancier than that, good news: Paris has caught up. The city is now packed with excellent specialty coffee shops pouring flat whites, cortados, and pour-overs that hold their own against anywhere in the world, and I share a few of my favorites below. What you still should not expect at a traditional corner café is a made-to-order “half caf, half decaf, extra foam, hold the joy” situation. That is never going to happen!

Coffee etiquette in France

The French are a little “picky” about this, but believe me, it is worse in Italy! In restaurants, you can drink a café noir (black) or espresso any time of day, but the only time you can drink it with food is at breakfast.

Also, you will not be served your coffee until after you have finished your dessert, no matter what! The only way to get around this is to order a café gourmand. Normally, it is customary to have an espresso (or a decaf espresso), so if you try to order something with milk/cream, they will look at you a bit strangely or ignore you, but my husband and I still do it.

One more thing worth knowing before you order: in France, the price of your coffee changes depending on where you drink it. Standing at the counter (au comptoir) is the cheapest, a table inside costs a little more, and a seat out on the terrace costs the most of all. The prices are posted right there, so it is not a scam, just the way it works. If you are counting your euros, knock back your espresso at the bar like a local.

You have now been educated in the ways of coffee à la France. Go forth and order.

Great places for Coffee in Paris

If you would rather skip the guesswork and head straight to a great cup, here are six of my favorite places to drink coffee in Paris, from a historic roaster to the tiny cafés leading the city’s specialty scene. Each one sits in a different corner of the city, so it is easy to fold a coffee stop into a day of exploring with one of my Paris arrondissement guides, and a good cup pairs beautifully with a flaky croissant or a Paris donut from a bakery nearby.

Café Verlet

Address: 256 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 (1st arrondissement)

One of the oldest coffee houses in Paris, Verlet has been roasting its own beans since 1880. Settle into the cozy, wood-paneled salon and order a single-origin brew at the counter, or take a bag of beans home with you. It is a lovely place to rest your feet after wandering the Tuileries or the Palais Royal.

Coutume

Address: 47 Rue de Babylone, 75007 (7th arrondissement)

Coutume helped kick off the specialty coffee movement in Paris and still does it beautifully. The bright, airy space in the 7th is a favorite for a proper flat white or a pour-over made with real care. If a bitter espresso somewhere else has let you down, this is where you go to fall back in love with French coffee.

KB CaféShop

Address: 53 Avenue Trudaine, 75009 (9th arrondissement)

Tucked into the leafy SoPi (South Pigalle) neighborhood, KB roasts its own beans and pours some of the friendliest coffee in the city. The terrace is a wonderful spot to linger on a sunny morning with a cappuccino and a slice of cake. Locals treat it as a second living room, and you will quickly see why.

La Caféothèque

Address: 52 Rue de l’Hôtel de Ville, 75004 (4th arrondissement)

Part roastery, part coffee school, part cozy warren of reading rooms, La Caféothèque near the Seine is a paradise for anyone who takes their beans seriously. The menu shifts with the single origins in stock, so ask the barista what is tasting good that day. It is a short stroll from Notre Dame, which makes it an easy detour.

Boot Café

Address: 19 Rue du Pont aux Choux, 75003 (3rd arrondissement)

This tiny former cobbler’s shop in the Marais still wears its vintage Cordonnerie sign, and it may be the most photographed café in Paris for good reason. With only a handful of seats, expect to perch or carry your flat white out with you. The coffee is genuinely excellent, and the charm is off the charts.

Ten Belles

Address: 10 Rue de la Grange aux Belles, 75010 (10th arrondissement)

A true pioneer of the Paris coffee scene, Ten Belles sits just steps from the Canal Saint-Martin and draws a happy crowd of regulars. Order a filter coffee and a pastry, then take it canal side if the weather is kind. It is the sort of place that reminds you just how far Parisian coffee has come.

Here are a few great lists of coffee spots in Paris from friends that live there:
> You can find great new coffee spots in Lindsey's book, The New Paris.
> My friend Kasia has her favorite Coffee Picks too.
> David Lebovitz shares where he thinks you can get a good cup of coffee in Paris.
> Haven in Paris shares cafes that have opened recently.
> Paris by Mouth has a listing of coffee places by arrondissement.
> My friends at La Cuisine Paris have put together a great map of their favorite coffee places.

Frequently Asked Questions

At the end of the day, ordering coffee in Paris is less about getting it perfect and more about slowing down and enjoying the ritual, even when your noisette shows up as something else entirely. Learn a few of these words, know where to find a great cup, and you will feel right at home at any Paris café. Bonne dégustation, and if you have your own coffee ordering mishap, I would love to hear it in the comments!

How about you? Anyone else have any coffee-related travel stories?

Illustrations commissioned from Linden Eller.

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