Salon Coffee with Cream
A strong coffee softened with warm cream and a little sugar, served in fine porcelain cups. More than a drink, a pretext to prolong the conversation.
A strong coffee softened with warm cream and a little sugar, served in fine porcelain cups. More than a drink, a pretext to prolong the conversation.
Come closer, and let me pour you this brown liquor without which no salon could live. See: the beans are roasted to a dark amber, ground fine, and the water is poured drop by drop, for haste spoils everything, in coffee as in thought. I add a cloud of warm cream and a touch of sugar, then I forget it as conversation carries me away — it is, I confess, my most charming fault. Drink, and you will feel the mind awaken like the first spark of a new idea.
- •Roasted coffee beans — a handful per cup (aromatic base)
- •Spring water — according to number of cups (infusion)
- •Fresh cream — a dash per cup (smoothness)
- •Loaf sugar — to taste (sweetness)
Salon Coffee with Cream
A strong coffee softened with warm cream and a little sugar, served in fine porcelain cups. More than a drink, a pretext to prolong the conversation.
Why this dish? Coffee is the drink of the Enlightenment and the salons: at her home on the Rue du Bac, it accompanied the debates where she held her own against the greatest minds. She was said to be so absorbed in conversation that she often let her cup go cold.
Come closer, and let me pour you this brown liquor without which no salon could live. See: the beans are roasted to a dark amber, ground fine, and the water is poured drop by drop, for haste spoils everything, in coffee as in thought. I add a cloud of warm cream and a touch of sugar, then I forget it as conversation carries me away — it is, I confess, my most charming fault. Drink, and you will feel the mind awaken like the first spark of a new idea.
Ingredients (period version)
- Roasted coffee beans — a handful per cup (aromatic base)
- Spring water — according to number of cups (infusion)
- Fresh cream — a dash per cup (smoothness)
- Loaf sugar — to taste (sweetness)
Ingredients
- Freshly ground coffee — 2 tbsp per 250 ml (aromatic base)
- Water — 250 ml per cup (infusion)
- Heavy cream — 3 tbsp (smoothness)
- Sugar — 1 to 2 cubes (sweetness)
Method
- Heat the water without bringing it to a rolling boil (just simmering).
- Pour it slowly over the ground coffee and let it steep a few minutes, then filter.
- Warm the cream separately without boiling.
- Pour the coffee into fine cups, add the warm cream and sugar to taste.
- Serve immediately, letting the conversation settle in.
How it was made : In the 18th century, people often roasted their own beans at home and used a coffee pot with a cloth filter or early percolation. Coffee, long expensive, was a sign of refined taste and the soul of Parisian salons.
The contemporary twist : Serve it in a small porcelain cup with a square of dark chocolate on the side: a nod to the salons where chocolate was nibbled between retorts.
Madame de Staël · Charactorium
