Qu'est-ce qu'un espresso?

Qu'est-ce qu'un espresso? What is an espresso?!?!?!  Starbucks, the epitome of all things wrong with coffee, is educating the French on espresso?! The world has gone completely mad.

I swore I wouldn't do. I promised, I vowed, I crossed my heart that upon washing up on these fair shores that I Laura, being of somewhat sound mind and not-so-sound body, would under no circumstance frequent Starbucks, McDonalds, or any other American chain. I lasted from May 4, 2004 to January 7, 2006. You do the math. But it was Starbucks and the lure of brilliant marketing (always a sucker for that) that finally broke me. Actually I think it was the shock of seeing it sullying my charming little arrondisment just a few blocks from my home in what was once the glorious, though painfully overpriced, Hediard at the end of rue Mouffetard that did me in.

I turned the corner expecting to see the signature red awning and windows filled with a patchwork of jams, teas, cookies and other delights. But instead I was stopped dead in my tracks by that ubiquitous green awning, a messy scattering of tables and chairs outside (the "no-smoking section" - really!) and a stream of people pouring out with their 87 ounce $4 cup o' joe.

I had just returned from the states so I was still weak. I hadn't had time to built up my tough indifferent french 'peau' nor perfect my metro face - read expressionless dead stare - so I was vulnerable to the beguiling aroma and the all too familiar row upon row of oversized pastries. It lured me in like a seductive snakecharmer. I had to document this moment. Whipping out my camera, I snapped away to the horror and amusement of some of the people in line. I get this reaction  a lot in France.

That'll be 1 petite caramel machiatto s'il vous plait and a double serving of crow.

A Frappucino by any other name...

Comments

[cindym]

i know it's horrible, but i used to go there not infrequently. i could get a big fat latte for the same price i was paying for a tiny little espresso at a cafe on the rue cambon. but yeah, i felt guilty the whole damn time. and nobody seems to understand the concept of walking out of the cafe with your drink yet, so you are still encouraged to sit and pass away the hours just like at a real cafe. god, the shame!!

[Melissa]

They are EVERYWHERE now!!
From the-mom-of-a-teenager, point-of-view....it is a nice place for 'the kids' to go and hang-out. The closest one to the 'burbs is in Le Defense...haven't seen one closer. It probably is just a matter of time!
Melissa

[Kalyn]

Very funny. I do try to avoid them both and am quite successful at it, for the most part.

[moi]

what????
3.75e for an expresso? R'u mad?
They're some many good "café" what's the point of going to a starbeurk!
there are some many good "café" in paris.
Btw Coffee have to be italian: lavazza, illy, segafredo or even "florio"...not starbeurk branded...

[Ivonne]

Laura,

Quelle horreure!

Believe me we've all had those moments of weakness! It's sad to say but I, until very recently, considered Starbucks to be one of the better purveyors of coffee. And then I went to San Francisco this past summer and discovered places like Cafe Graffeo ... live and learn!

[shuna fish lydon]

O I am so glad to see that the pastries at the Starbucks Paris look just as horrendous there as they do here.

[Lil]

there are 3, yes 3!!, brand new starbucks newly opened in dublin... so far, operation resistance is working well... i'm sure i'll survive without it...

[Lil]

there are 3, yes, 3!! brand new starbucks in dublin... so far, operation resistance has been working well... ;)

[SaltShaker]

Well someone needs to educate the French in how to make an espresso. I just always thought it would be the Italians, if they ever stopped sitting around drinking them and went over to France for the weekend.