New Orleans Café au Lait

Also café au lait (New Orleans)

The New Orleans café au lait: chicory coffee and hot milk poured together, served with beignets. Softer than the black chicory brew.

FilterServed hotFrom United States

Volume
240ml8.1 US fl oz
Espresso
0shots
Caffeine
34mgderived, USDA FDC
Coffee to milk
1:1.0

The build

Watch it made, step by step
Mug, 300 ml. Layers in pouring order from the bottom, drawn by volume.
  1. Strong chicory coffee120 ml50%
  2. Milk120 ml50%
Volume
240ml
Caffeine
34mg
Espresso
0shots

Scales every component together, so the ratio holds; caffeine scales with the coffee.

Equal parts chicory coffee and scalded milk, traditionally poured together from two pots.

Caffeine

Derived
34mg

in a 240 ml new orleans café au lait

USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee volume in components, assuming 1 g per ml. FDC 171890 (Beverages, coffee, brewed, prepared with tap water) 40.0 mg/100 g x 120 ml x 0.7. Chicory share assumed 30%; see new-orleans-chicory-coffee.

USDA FoodData Central record 171890 · read 2026-10-26

A derived figure: the reference food's caffeine per 100 g scaled to the coffee in this build. Real cups vary with the coffee, the dose and the shot.

Variants by country

1
NameCountryHow it differs
café au laitFranceFrench original without chicory.

History

Popular account

Served with beignets at the French Market cafés since the nineteenth century (popular account). We have not found a primary source for this account.

New Orleans, Louisiana.

Popular account

Parts of this story are repeated widely but were not confirmed against a source this atlas accepts. They are kept as the story people tell, not as fact.

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