wine, others hold that coffee is
simply growing in favor with the people. Among the masses, French
breakfast consists of a bowl or cup of _cafe au lait_, or half a cup or
bowl of strong black coffee and chicory, and half a cup of hot milk, and
a yard of bread. The workingman turns his bread on end and inserts it
into his bowl of coffee, allowing it to soak up as much of the liquid as
possible. Then he proceeds to suck this concoction into his system. His
approval is demonstrated by the amount of noise he makes in the
operation.

Among the better classes, the breakfast is the same, _cafe au lait_,
with rolls and butter, and sometimes fruit. The brew is prepared by the
drip, or true percolator, method or by filtration. Boiling milk is
poured into the cup from a pot held in one hand together with the brewed
coffee from a pot held in the other, providing a simultaneous mixture.
The proportions vary from half-and-half to one part coffee and three
parts milk. Sometimes, the service is by pouring into the cup a little
coffee then the same quantity of milk and alternating in this way until
the cup is filled.

Coffee is never drunk with any meal but breakfast, but is invariably
served _en demi-tasse_ after the noon and the evening meals. In the
home, the usual thing after luncheon or dinner is to go into the _salon_
and have your demi-tasse and liqueur and cigarettes before a cosy grate
fire. A Frenchman's idea of after-dinner coffee is a brew that is
unusually thick and black, and he invariably takes with it his liqueur,
no matter if he has had a cocktail for an appetizer, a bottle of red
wine with his meat course, and a bottle of white wine with the salad and
dessert course. When the demi-tasse comes along, with it must be served
his cordial in the shape of cognac, benedictine, or creme de menthe. He
can not conceive of a man not taking a little alcohol with his
after-dinner coffee, as an aid, he says, to digestion.

In Normandy, there prevails a custom in connection with coffee drinking
that is unique. They produce in this province great quantities of what
is known as _cidre_, made from a particular variety of apple grown
there--in other words, just plain hard cider. However, they distil this
hard cider, and from the distillation they get a drink called
_calvados_.

[Illustration: CAFE DE LA REGENCE IN 1922]

The man from Normandy takes half a cup of coffee, and fills the cup with
_calvados_, sweetened with sugar, and d