Café-Calvados is making a comeback in Paris!
Café -Calvados has enjoyed immense popularity in French farmhouses, cabarets, and bistros since the 1880s. On the counters of Parisian bistros, cider brandy or Calvados was most often poured directly into the coffee. In working-class housing projects, until the late 1970s, unless specifically requested when ordering, coffees were routinely watered down, a ritual that has since tended to disappear.
However, nothing predisposed coffee to marry Calvados, because coffee, discovered in the land of Islam, had spread in a world where alcohol was being fought. Its consumption was also recommended as an alternative to the too regular consumption of intoxicating drinks. In the 19th century, the use of coffee became widespread in Normandy and throughout the world. The Normans discovered an invigorating way of combining the two; coffee calvados, a new consumption ritual was born!
The marriage of coffee and Calvados is a true love affair that was celebrated far beyond Normandy and for decades on the zinc counters of bistros from early morning to after-meal coffee. Great novelists like Erich Maria Remarque and Georges Simenon honored it in their works. The quality of the brandy, like that of the coffee, was not always the best, however, and Café-Calvados gradually withdrew from the counters starting in the 1980s. Today, while Calvados has regained all its nobility and the consumption of quality coffee has never been so strong, café-calvados is experiencing a revival!
The map of the café-calva operation by Christian Drouin lists 21 partner establishments in Paris.
"We have always loved promoting the traditions of Calvados. Calvados coffee is known throughout the world as a historic marriage. It combines the strength and bitterness of coffee with that of Calvados. Seeing that more and more establishments were reworking this association with creativity, we wanted to support their work. To highlight the renaissance of Calvados coffee in Paris, an emblematic city of French culinary traditions, we worked with 21 establishments from different universes to create the first Calvados coffee menu. This menu is a journey through the bars of Parisian palaces, bistronomy, the traditions of French gastronomy and the world of cocktail bars, with the common thread being the creativity explored around the association of coffee and Calvados."
Guillaume Drouin, President of Christian Drouin Calvados
There are many ways to enjoy coffee-calvados today.
Calva-Express
Matthew Long
25ml Espresso
20ml Coffee Liqueur
10ml of sugar syrup
Method: in a shaker
Glassware: Coupette
Garnish: 3 coffee beans
Calva Coffee Roastery of Belleville
In collaboration with the Belleville roastery, and in the search for a perfect balance 30 ml of Château de Belleville coffee and 10 ml of La Blanche de Christian Drouin, incorporated with a spoon under the foam.
Coffee Negroni - Matthew Long
20ml Calvados Christian Drouin Selection
30ml filter coffee
30ml Dolin Rouge
20ml Campari
method: by the glass
Glassware: Rocks
garnish: orange zest
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