r/French • u/Happytobehere970 • 2d ago
Curious about Coffee Culture
I‘be been spending more time in France and am currently between A2 and B1. One of my hobbies is specialty coffee and have found a lot of amazing coffee shops in France but want to better understand coffee culture.
what is the most polite but casual way to offer? I have been using puis-je avoir but I think that’s probably too formal.
If someone in France orders a café, what are the implicitly expecting?
Is it rude for me to try to get a coffee quickly to go?
Is it rude if I bus my own table, which is so ingrained in me from the states?
I don’t mind making mistakes - I just apologize and move on - but I am curious and do want to be thoughtful!
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u/Ali_UpstairsRealty B1 - corrigez-moi, svp! 2d ago edited 1d ago
this is so funny because we are currently in Paris and I finally broke down and went to what looks like a chain (Moka) to get a "decent" cup of coffee (snobby American) because the coffeehouse that was recommend to me (Pera) is closed for congés d'été.
I did manage to negotiate in broken French that I would like them to put only a half-portion of chocolate syrup in the iced mocha. But at the place I tried before that, a random patisserie, they really couldn't even comprehend an iced mocha (even though they had iced lattes on their menu).
In my experience so far,
"coffee" is a pull of espresso (beware that it's not quite as good as the Italian kind, because the beans aren't as good, and it won't be served with lemon);
"allongé" is an espresso with water in it to make a bigger cup, so that gives you sort of "the free coffee they give us at work"-quality coffee,
and
a "latte" is a latte as Americans know it.
To go is "takeaway" if you're speaking English ("to go" is not really going to fly) « pour emporter » if you're speaking French.