Switzerland· medium
café renversé
“reversed coffee”
Meaning
a milky coffee with more milk than coffee
Explanation
Order a café au lait almost anywhere and you get a shot of coffee topped up with milk. Cross into Suisse romande and ask for a renversé and the ratio gets properly turned on its head, mostly hot milk with just a splash of coffee poured on top, served in a clear glass with no froth in the way, precisely so you can dunk a croissant into it without getting a moustache.
Example
Il a commandé un café renversé, servi dans un verre avec un croissant à tremper.
He ordered a café renversé, served in a glass with a croissant to dunk.
Origin
Reckoned to be a calque of the Swiss German 'Kaffee verkehrt' ('coffee the wrong way round'), which describes the same milk-heavy reversal. The Swiss dictionary project BDLP traces the term back to at least 1968.
Where
Suisse romande
Source
More like this
- être sur Soleureto be drunk
- ne pas se prendre pour la queue de la poireto think very highly of oneself
- prendre une cuite fédéraleto get extremely drunk
- arriver comme un cheveu sur la soupeto turn up at the worst possible moment
- avoir de la bouteilleto have plenty of experience
- avoir des croûtes à mangerto still have a lot to learn