This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.
The first thing my New Orleans born-and-raised husband taught me to make more than 20 years ago is how to make a good cafe au lait. We still live here and drink it daily -and now you can too!
Jump to:
What Makes a Café Au Lait?
A café au lait is made up of strongly brewed coffee with milk. In New Orleans, we typically use ground coffee mixed with chicory when we brew it.
You can brew the coffee in a traditional coffee machine (drip) or using a French press. And, once you have a strong, richly brewed coffee you mix it with steamed milk.
One thing to note is that a café au lait does not have foam, the top of the coffee is flat. You can also make beignets at home using this beignet mix.
Where is Cafe au Lait From?
A café au lait is a French coffee where the literal translation is coffee and milk. However, it’s also a typical New Orleans-style coffee of chicory coffee and milk.
Can You Make Cafe Du Monde Coffee At Home?
You can absolutely make Cafe Du Monde coffee at home by brewing a strong coffee and chicory and serving it with milk.
One of the distinct flavors of Cafe Du Monde coffee is from the coffee itself because their French roast coffee includes roasted chicory, a ground root that gives the coffee a distinct earthy and strong flavor.
Ingredients
To make a great café au lait at home, you’ll need 3 simple ingredients. Below, I explain what works best, and the measurements are in the recipe card below.
- New Orleans-style coffee: this is a ground blend of French roast coffee and roasted chicory. Check out the recommendations below.
- Water: needed to brew the coffee in a traditional drip coffee machine or a french press.
- Milk: traditionally, we make café au lait with whole milk so the denser texture of the milk can mix equally with this stronger brewed coffee. If using dairy-free milk, thicker options such as oat milk and barista blends work best.
Best Coffee for Café au Lait
In New Orleans, we make our café au laits by brewing a strong French Roast coffee that includes chicory. Make your own blend by mixing ¾ cup of ground French roast coffee with ¼ cup of ground roasted chicory. Or, you can brew a New Orleans blend that includes chicory, like the Cafe Du Monde Coffee, the classic Community Coffee, or French Market Coffee.
How Much Milk is in a Café au Lait?
Steamed milk is the other key ingredient to a good café au lait, which is always equal parts brewed New Orleans-style coffee and milk. This means that for 1 cup of coffee, you’d heat up 1 cup of steamed milk. A café au lait does not have foam.
How to Make Café Au Lait
If you can brew coffee, you can make a café au lait just like we enjoy in New Orleans at home! Here is what you’ll do:
- Measure
Use a New Orleans blend coffee with chicory or mix your own. Use 1 cup water per 1 tablespoon of coffee with chicory. - Brew
Brew a strong coffee in a classic drip coffee machine or with a French press. - Heat the milk
Steam the milk, warm it up in the microwave, or in a pot on the stove. - Serve
Combine equal parts of brewed coffee and milk into a cup.
What to Serve with Your Morning Coffee
Your café au lait tastes even better when enjoyed with one of these Cinnamon Coffee Cake Muffins, a slice of this incredible Blueberry Coffee Cake, one of these Classic Scones, or with homemade beignets (I use this mix).
Coffee and Chicory Blend and Cafe au Lait Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup coffee, brewed*
- 1 cup milk, steamed
Instructions
Brew the coffee:
- Either in a French press or drip coffee maker, brew a strong cup of coffee using 1 tablespoon of French roast coffee with chicory (New Orleans-style) per 1 cup of water.
Steam the milk:
- Warm up the milk using a steamer, in a small pot on the stovetop, or (alternatively) in the microwave.
Serve:
- Combine equal parts of steamed milk and brewed coffee inside a mug. Sip away and enjoy.
Notes
- Make your own New Orleans-style coffee blend by mixing ¾ cup of ground French roast coffee with ¼ cup of ground roasted chicory. This 1 cup mix will yield enough for 12 cups of coffee which can be measured out in 1 tablespoons per cup or used to brew a full pot.
- If using coffee without chicory, add a little extra to ensure the coffee is nice and strong.
- I use this beignet mix to make them at home for my kids.
Carol Thompson says
Ok so you have mastered the Cafe du Monde but can you do the King Cake flavor?
Laura Fuentes says
That’s a tough one! why not just dip a piece of king cake IN the coffee? kidding. cinnamon, vanilla…. yum.
Tiffeny Williams says
When I visited New Orleans it was hot, so I fell in love with the FROZEN Cafe Au Lait from Cafe Du Monde. How can I make this recipe frozen for the summer time without diluting the taste?
Laura Fuentes says
the coffee and chicory is so strong I don’t think you’ll dilute the taste. brew coffee, let it cool in fridge. instead of doing half milk and half coffee, blend coffee with ice and cream. that should do it.
Laura says
lol! I read to blend the coffee with ice cream… which sounds AMAZING!!!! but anyway…
Daniel says
Make the ice cubes out of cafe au lait! Or just simply milk.
Frances says
Thank you so much, Laura! I will try both methods.
Frances says
How do you brew the coffee? Do you use a French press?
Laura Fuentes says
I currently use a french press. I love it. However, the coffee and chicory is stronger and when brewed in your coffee pot is also stronger.
e. mcnabb says
French Market Blend also comes in K-cups for those who use that kind of coffee maker. When I was younger we would visit family members in NO and go to the French market for the coffee and donuts. Then they had the heated kettles of coffee and heated kettles of milk which they poured together simultaneously. The coffee then was to kill for. now they have the pressurized dispensors for both the coffee and the milk and the coffee is not worth drinking, at least in my opinion. I suspect it is the milk from the dispensiors that I object to. The secret to the good coffee is the heated milk from the kettles or if at home from a pot on the stove. Please do use whole milk or better half-half. I don’t know why but the dispensors have ruined the coffee at café du mounde.
Laura Fuentes says
It definitely tastes different now but I agree that whole milk, heated, is the secret to a good au lait.
Kelly Lester (@EasyLunchboxes) says
When my husband and I visited New Orleans for the first time we fell in LOVE with Cafe Du Monde’s chicory coffee! We had never taste anything like it. Ever since, I have been buying icans of it by the case pack from them, and they ship it to me in CA. It’s THAT GOOD.
I had no idea I could make it myself! So this I gotta try. Just tell me though … if I make my own, will I look as good as you when I work in my pajamas? I hope so!
Laura Fuentes says
The pajamas definitely make it taste better Kelly…. 😉