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Each Friday, Roads & Kingdoms and Slate publish a new dispatch from around the globe. For more foreign correspondence mixed with food, war, travel, and photography, visit their online magazine or follow @roadskingdoms on Twitter.
PARIS—There is one thing the guidebooks, the Francophiles, and the blissed-out romantics never tell you: The coffee in France is lousy.
Most Italians reckon French cuisine lower than Italian one and thus coffee as well, but France is considered the number two.
On the other hand, asking an "American coffee" in Italy is almost a blasphemy.
It may depend where in France. I've had some excellent coffee in the south. However if you are going to be comparing Italian coffee to French…well France loses.
I literally have dreams about Italian espresso. No matter where I've gone in the world and drink espresso, I have yet to roll on the floor and moan in ecstasy like I did in Milan.
That is because Italy is the country with the best coffee.
France has a sidewalk cafe culture, but it is mostly just as an excuse to be fashionably seen and people watch (I do that in Paris to enjoy the sights and take a break from sightseeing).
Broadly speaking, France has terrible coffee because it has poor beans and poor preparation habits. But, there is a small movement of artisan cafes buying great beans and carefully preparing real coffee drinks. I think that it will take time for the French to adjust to quality coffee, as everyone drinks the terrible stuff. But there is hope!
Last edited by TheCityTheBridge; 01-27-2014 at 01:43 PM..
Reason: spelling
Are you kidding me? Until you've drunk coffee in a small town in Canada, you don't know what bad coffee is! Coffee anywhere in Europe is the nectar of the gods, by comparison.
As a US Expat in France, I completely agree, the coffee here mostly sucks. And my wife is so tired of my complaining I've stopped ordering coffee at cafes and get hot chocolate instead.
But for the same reason it's impossible to get Italian coffee anywhere else besides Italy, it's equally impossible to get a real baguette anywhere else than in France (Paris, in particular).
However, what TCTB says is absolutely correct; there is an artesian coffee movement slowly gaining traction. You can find at least one decent roaster in just about any medium-sized city, now.
As a US Expat in France, I completely agree, the coffee here mostly sucks. And my wife is so tired of my complaining I've stopped ordering coffee at cafes and get hot chocolate instead.
But for the same reason it's impossible to get Italian coffee anywhere else besides Italy, it's equally impossible to get a real baguette anywhere else than in France (Paris, in particular).
However, what TCTB says is absolutely correct; there is an artesian coffee movement slowly gaining traction. You can find at least one decent roaster in just about any medium-sized city, now.
I had good coffee at Coutume Cafe on rue du Babylone in the 7th. It was like an oasis .
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