Cafe au Lait

Why this works

Café au lait is made with brewed coffee, not espresso, and that is the whole difference from a caffè latte. Espresso is concentrated enough that a small shot can carry four or five times its volume of milk. Brewed coffee is roughly eight to ten times weaker, so it can only take about its own volume of milk before it tastes of milk alone. That is why café au lait is half and half, and why the coffee should be brewed stronger than usual.

The result is softer and milder than a latte, with a rounder, less intense coffee flavour, and the milk is not textured into microfoam. At most it is whisked to a light froth. Heating the milk to about 65°C keeps it sweet. Above about 70°C the proteins start to break down and it tastes cooked, though in New Orleans scalded milk is part of the style.

A dark roast suits it because milk softens bitterness and a dark roast has plenty to spare. Lighter, fruity coffees tend to taste thin and sour against that much milk.

In France it is a home breakfast drink, served in a bowl for dunking bread or a croissant, and rarely ordered in cafés, where people ask for a café crème. In New Orleans, the coffee is blended with roasted chicory, a habit from nineteenth-century coffee shortages, and Café du Monde's version with beignets is one of the city's set pieces. For the cold version, see iced café au lait.

Variations

• New Orleans: coffee with chicory and scalded milk, with beignets.
• Café crème: the French café version, an espresso with steamed milk.
• Iced: half cold brew, half cold milk over ice. See iced café au lait.
• With a drip machine: brew at one to ten and use the same ratio of milk.