Café au Lait

Café au lait is French for “coffee with milk”, and that’s all it is: strong brewed coffee mixed with hot milk, with no foam. In France it’s the breakfast drink, traditionally made with a moka pot or French press, heated milk from a pan on the stove, and served in a wide, handleless bowl for dunking bread. It’s the plain, homely cousin of the caffè latte. Here’s how to make one and how it differs from the café drinks it’s often confused with.

The short version

• Strong brewed coffee plus hot milk, not espresso and steamed milk.
• No foam: CoffeeGeek says never to add foam on purpose.
• About 1:1, or up to 2 parts milk to 1 of strong moka pot coffee.
• In a bowl, at breakfast, with bread or a croissant to dip.
• No sugar, traditionally, says CoffeeGeek, unless it’s for children.

What’s in a café au lait?

Coffee and milk, in proportions that depend on the coffee. CoffeeGeek describes the traditional French version:

	Traditional café au lait
Coffee	Moka pot (sometimes thinned with hot water) or French press
Milk	Heated on the stove to near scalding, not frothed
Ratio, French press	About 1 part milk to 1 part coffee
Ratio, moka pot	Up to 2 parts milk to 1 part strong coffee
Sugar	None, except for children
Vessel	A bowl

Honest Coffee Guide is stricter: the coffee must be a strong brew but not espresso, and the milk should be hot but not steamed, though it notes that many cafés in France now use steamed milk while homes still heat it in a pan. CoffeeGeek adds that a very dark roast is common in France.

How do you make café au lait at home?

1. Brew strong coffee in a moka pot or French press. CoffeeGeek’s Allison uses 1 tablespoon of coffee per moka pot “cup”.
2. Heat the milk in a small pan, about 4 oz (120 ml) per cup of coffee, stirring often. Take it off before it boils and smells of overheated whey; she suggests 160°F (71°C) at most, and CoffeeGeek’s own guide prefers about 65°C.
3. Combine in a bowl: about 2 parts milk to 1 part moka pot coffee.
4. Hold back any foam with a spoon as you pour. “Never purposely include foam in the drink build,” CoffeeGeek says.

With an espresso machine, CoffeeGeek brews a double shot into an equal amount of hot water to mimic moka pot coffee, then adds 125–150 ml of milk steamed with as little froth as possible, in a 300 ml bowl.

How is it different from a latte?

	Café au lait	Caffè latte
Coffee	Strong brewed coffee	Espresso
Milk	Hot milk, heated in a pan	Steamed milk
Foam	None	Usually a little
Served in	A bowl (in France)	A cup or glass

CoffeeGeek’s history writer sums it up: a double lungo with hot milk and absolutely no foam is close to a traditional café au lait; with foam and a standard shot, it’s a latte. Wikipedia notes that American coffee shops keep the same line, using drip or French press coffee for café au lait and espresso for a latte.

Where does café au lait come from?

France, though nobody can date it. CoffeeGeek’s history piece, which openly warns it is “part history, but also part creative writing”, places its roots in the cafés of 18th-century Paris, while noting that the Viennese were adding cream to coffee earlier. Honest Coffee Guide also points to Parisian cafés in the 18th century, when coffee became widely available. Its fame travelled: in New Orleans, Café du Monde, open since 1862 in the French Market, serves its dark-roasted coffee and chicory black or au lait, “mixed half and half with hot milk”, alongside beignets.

Café au lait vs other milk coffees

• Caffè latte: espresso and steamed milk, with a little foam.
• Café con leche: Spain’s equal parts espresso and hot milk.
• Galão: Portugal’s milky espresso in a tall glass.
• Wiener Melange: Vienna’s coffee with milk and a cap of foam.

Explore every drink in the milk coffees chapter.