#67- The French café lifestyle

Okay, so cafes in France, tables on the pavement, cozy interiors, servers bringing food and drink to your table.

It is a way of life here and it has been for centuries.

So coffee was introduced to France in 1644 when a merchant first brought it to Marseille aboard a ship.

In those days, coffee was considered to be medicinal and it was wildly expensive so it wasn't available to everyone, only people with a lot of money.

Then in 1670, King Louis XIV and the courts of Versailles were introduced to coffee by a delegation from Mehmed IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.

The coffee they served sparked what was called Turcomania.

The king and the nobles were crazy for the sweet, strong coffee.

In 1671, the very first coffee house in France opened in the port town of Marseille.

And to be fair, it was a bit of a slow boil to start.

Oops, sorry about that pun.

Drinking coffee didn't catch on for a few years.

And in fact, Madame Sevigny, who is one of France's most famous writers, she wrote thousands of letters in the 1600s about her life and about life at the court of King Louis XIV.

Well, she said, there are two things the French will never swallow, Racine's poetry and coffee.

And she was wrong about both.

Yes, definitely.

Racine became one of France's most famous playwrights and we do love coffee.

Yes, we adore no café.

There are a few things I always do when I travel in France.

I visit the local tourist office for information.

I go to the local market, visit the local boulangeries and I check out the cafes so I can sit and watch the world go by.

Because for me, this is the best way to get a really authentic feel for a place.

It's true.

People in France spend a lot of time in cafes, enjoying something to drink, eat, people watching, just enjoying a moment.

We call it a

post-café.