Someone enlighten me as to what I need to ask for
Thanks
You haven't really said what you're after. If you want a drink to replace tea when you can't get it, then a large coffee with milk more or less fits.
In France, a large coffee will either be an espresso stretched with water or out of a jug of drip-brewed: if you're lucky the drip brew will be relatively recent, if not it'll be oven-cleaner. You can ask for it with hot or cold milk or drink it without.
In most of France a large coffee with milk is called a
crème, to rhyme with
phlegm. Ask for a
café and you'll get an espresso; if you want a very short, strong coffee you can ask for
un café bien serré or a
ristretto. They usually taste better than straight espresso, but if you're adding sugar it doesn't make any difference. In bars, cafés and tea rooms the coffee will be terrible anyway; in restaurants too, usually, but occasionally they'll surprise you. Since I don't use sugar I always take a ristretto in restaurants, and elsewhere a café au lait because the milk covers the bitterness resulting from using cheap stale coffee and over-extracting it.
In Alsace at least a large milky coffee is
un grand café au lait, adding
chaud if you want it warm. If you want an espresso you need to specify espresso, same goes for ristretto. If you simply ask for a
café you'll get an Americano or drip brew out of a jug. It'll be just as bad as anywhere else.
