Café au Lait Recipe: How to Make Café au Lait at Home

“Café au lait” is French for "coffee with milk." Traditionally, café au lait is made with brewed coffee (not espresso) and hot milk and served in a footed bowl. Café au lait, sometimes called a misto, is an excellent option for making milky coffee at home because it doesn’t require an espresso machine. Café au lait is sometimes served with steamed milk for a more luxurious mouthfeel. It has a much higher proportion of milk and a milder coffee taste than popular Italian drinks like the cappuccino and macchiato.

Café au lait and cafè latte are both milky coffee drinks, but they are made differently.

1. 1. Coffee: Café au lait features drip coffee, while lattes have shots of espresso.
2. 2. Milk: You can make a café au lait by pouring drip coffee, pour-over coffee, moka pot coffee, or French press coffee into a bowl of frothy hot milk. Sometimes café au lait is made with frothy milk, but it usually isn't served with the microfoam needed to make latte art. Make a latte by pouring shots of espresso into steam-foamed milk.
3. 3. Service: Café au lait is more commonly made at home, in French-style cafés, and in restaurants that may not have an espresso machine. Since lattes require espresso, they're commonly sold at Italian-style coffee shops and made by baristas.

Many cultures have their version of coffee with milk:

1. 1. France: In France, café au lait is traditionally served in a small bowl and eaten with croissants or toast for le petit déjeuner (breakfast). Similar preparations are known as “café com leite” in Portugal, “café con leche” in Spain, and “milchkaffee” in Germany.
2. 2. The Netherlands: Koffie verkeerd (wrong coffee) is the Dutch answer to café au lait. It is typically made with equal parts coffee and milk, and served in a tall glass mug with a koekje (cookie).
3. 3. United States: In New Orleans, American café au lait is made with a blend of coffee and chicory root and eaten with beignets. This drink was developed during the Civil War when there was a shortage of coffee.