Un café, s’il vous plaît
Speaking of French coffee, a must-do in Paris is to enjoy coffee at an outdoors café and people watch. If you are American, this can be disastrous if you order the wrong kind of coffee! Here is a list of coffee terminology to ensure you order what you intended:
Un café: A single black espresso coffee (NOT A REGULAR COFFEE!)
Un café allongé/américano: A black espresso coffee in a normal cup with added hot water
Un café au lait: A coffee with lots of milk
Un café latte: The Italian name for an espresso coffee combined with a large amount of steam heated milk
Un café déca: Decaffeinated coffee
Un café cappuccino: A French cappuccino is 30% espresso coffee, 50% milk, 20% froth and no whipped cream
Un café crème: Usually it will be an espresso coffee with double the amount of water and a little fresh cream or cream and milk
Un café espresso avec creme fouetté: An espresso with a little whipped cream
Un café complete: Not a type of coffee; this is French café menu shorthand used for a set breakfast. A café complete will include a coffee and a croissant or rolls, and or a baguette with butter and jam.
Un chocolat chaud: A hot chocolate
Un thé au lait: A tea with milk
Un thé au citron: A tea with lemon
Un jus d’orange/d’ananas/de pomme: An orange/pineapple/apple juice
Une limonade: A lemonade
De l’eau gazeuse: Some sparkling water
De l’eau plate: Some flat water
Du lait supplémentaire: Some extra milk
Supplément d’eau chaude: Some extra hot water
Du édulcorant: Some artificial sweetener. Not every small French café will have artificial sweeteners, so take some with you; however, Sweet and Low, NutraSweet and local sweeteners are available in all supermarkets.
Une bière: A beer
Un verre de vin rouge/blanc: A glass of red/white wine
To learn more about coffee in France, visit: http://behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-to-ordering-coffee-in-france-f.html and to learn pronunciation of each and how to order, go to Coffee Break French’s lesson 15 of season 1: http://radiolingua.com/2008/02/lesson-15-coffee-break-french/.