A flippant expose of the country and people hosting the Paris Olympics. Senior Correspondent Mike Osborne gets over-caffeinated investigating France’s coffee culture.
Even during the hectic pace of an Olympic Games, Parisians find time to stop, draw breath and enjoy a quiet coffee at one of the many sidewalk cafes .
It’s a tradition stretching back al out 300 years. Artists including Picasso, Monet, Renoir and Van Gogh were always regulars. Poets and princes, musicians, actors and even revolutionaries gathered in them. As did writers and philosophers the calibre of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.
But in France, it’s definitely more about the cafe than the coffee.
It’s not recommended to walk down a French street sipping a takeaway coffee. You either drink it in a glass standing at a bar, or more often in a cup sitting at a table in a cafe.
Cafes are critical to the French way of life. They are found on street corners everywhere and are places to sit, usually outside even in the cold, and socialise or grab a quiet moment to relax, read a book, or watch the world go by. In 2020 there were an estimated 15,000 cafes scattered across France.
They are so much a part of everyday life in Paris that there is even an annual race for the city’s best cafe waiters carrying a tray with a coffee and croissant called the “course de cafes”.
Coffee is believed to have been discovered in 800 AD by an Ethiopian herder who saw his billy goats acting strangely after eating berries from a tree. It took another 900 years for the beans and beverage to reach France, via an Ottoman ambassador to the court of Louis XIV.
In 1669 Suleyman Aga reportedly arrived at the Palace of Versailles with gifts including two lion cubs and bags of coffee beans which he described as “magical.” But he refused to bow to King Louis XIV, who banished him to Paris where he set up a house offering honoured guests his magical coffee drink.
A few years later an Armenian sold coffee to local Parisians at a fair. It proved so popular that coffee houses sprung up around the French capital and then spread through the country.
Paris had about 600 cafes by the time of Louis XV and it was in the cosiness of these cafes that rebels gathered to conspire against Louis XVI in the late 18th century.
In the final years of the crown the Duc d’Orléans rented out the arcades of the Royal Palace to cafe owners, and because they were private property revolutionaries could plot with minimal surveillance.
After the revolution the people continued to meet in the comfort and ambiance of cafes, especially as there was a chronic shortage of heating and cafes were warm.
Cafes also quickly became places for the avant garde to gather to discuss and debate politics, art and life in general.
As the cafe culture developed they became places providing refuge to the locals throughout the entire day.
A coffee and croissant for breakfast, simple and quick lunches for workers, aperitifs before dinner, then evening meals and finally a digestif or nightcap before heading home.
You can see why the French don’t live to work, but work to live. And it’s definitely a cafe culture, not a coffee culture
But hold onto your beret. French coffee has been accused of being a bit harsh. Quelle Horreur!
In the early days of coffee importation, the French colonies in Africa produced mostly Robusta coffee, with the beans producing a stronger and harsher (robust) taste than the sweeter and smoother Arabica beans.
With Robusta the country’s dominant coffee style, the French palate adapted to the strong bitter flavours, but that is also why some visitors find French coffee too strong.
Despite having the French Press (coffee plunger), the majority of French cafes serve espresso-style coffee, simply known as “un cafe”, and usually delivered as a short black in a glass.
A “cafe au lait” or “cafe creme” is an espresso shot served with warmed milk or sometimes cream, while a “cafe noisette” is an espresso with a dash of steamed milk that is sometimes served on the side, while “cafe allonge” is basically a long black.
If that’s all too confusing for Olympic tourists, drink the pod coffee available at your accommodation and head to the cafes around sunset for an aperitif or two with all the other bon vivants.
NOTE – This is the latest in a series of “Frivolous facts about France for Olympic bon vivants”. You can read other Frivolous Facts stories by clicking on these topics: French Art, French Architecture, The French Language, French Wine, French Heroes, French Inventions, French Olympic History, Famous French Athletes, The French Pacific.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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