This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a small commission that helps me grow my site. Merci for your support!
A routine of French beverages gives my day elegance, simplicity, and hydration. What do I mean by “French beverages?” I mean inspiring everything I do with French style, including what I drink. It isn’t hard, but it makes me feel like I’m living my best life.
Does anyone else sometimes feel that looking forward to a Friday night cocktail is what gets them through the week? Then there’s the three square cups of coffee each morning. And at some point I need my daily flavored carbonated water. And in between all of this, we’re supposed to consume how many glasses of water per day?
Lately I’ve realized that I drink a lot of liquids. One day I was emptying my dishwasher and it occurred to me just how many types of drinkware I have, and that in our society we are very focused on stylish beverages.
Just for coffee, for example, I have my new hand-warming mugs sent to me by a sweet friend. And all my coffee cups from my travels, my Yeti tumbler I take in the car to school drop off, and an old World War II era mug my husband found on a scuba dive.
Then there’s the vintage champagne coupes I’m slowly collecting to pair with cocktail hour (a glass made for French beverages if ever there was one). I have a plethora of styles of wine glasses (goblet, red, white, stemless, champagne…). My regular Duralex glasses are for standard water drinking. I have my water bottles for taking on the go. And the collection of bright plastic cups with or without lids for my kids’ use.
Is this excessive? I don’t think so, considering I can think of even more glasses I don’t have, like pilsners for beer, or classic martini glasses. But it has got me thinking, as I said, about my routine of beverage drinking. As a Francophile, even my beverage routine is French inspired. You’re shocked, I know.
Why do we do it?
Do you ever order a cocktail at a bar (you know, more than a year ago, when this was normal?), and get even more excited when the server brings your drink in a fancy shaped glass? It turns out, there is a science behind why we have different glasses for our preferred tipples.
Without going into too much detail, the shape of each type of glass is created so as to give the most enjoyable experience possible. For example, some glasses are smaller at the mouth than at the base. This is likely to either trap the aromatics inside the glass to be smelled when you take a sip, or to keep the effervescence inside for a most enjoyable bubbly experience.
So you see, there is a method to the madness of all my different kinds of glassware.
I am vindicated. Somebody tell my husband.
Beverages structure your day
Maybe you’re a “Diet Coke at 8 in the morning” kind of person. Hey, no judgment here! But personally, if I didn’t have my coffee first thing I don’t think I’d enjoy life nearly as much. And not just because coffee gives me life– I truly enjoy that first sip in the morning, and all the sips afterward too.
Then there are days when I wait for the clock to strike 5pm so I can pour a nice glass of wine while I cook dinner. But what about in between? It can’t truly be “coffee until cocktails,” can it? Doesn’t a human need regular old water too, and lot’s of it?
My (French) Beverage Routine
Since everyone is always interested in peoples’ personal routines for some reason, I thought I’d share mine. It might not be interesting, or maybe it is, from an anthropological point of view. We always seem to enjoy a glimpse into someone’s personal life, and since I’ve realized how important my daily French beverages are to my lifestyle, I thought, why not share?
The French feel this way too, by the way, considering a giant part of their cultural patrimony is centered around cafés and the beverages consumed on their terrasses.
Beverage #1: (beaucoup de) coffee
Look, I have two young kids. They get up early. And they don’t care if I’ve had my morning jolt of caffeine yet, so I have to plan ahead. I set my cherished Ninja coffeepot the night before so I can wake up before my princesses, sneak downstairs to pour a cup, then tiptoe back to my bed. Here I pull the covers back over my legs, wrap my hands around that warm mug, and take that first glorious sip.
Who knew that drinking coffee can be so poetic? But really, I am passionate about a good cup of coffee. This is partly because I am a total caffeine addict, and also because if you’re going to drink a lot of something every day of your life, why not make it delicious too?
After enjoying that first cup, I get myself up and dress before getting my five year-old up and ready for school. By that point my two year old is then awake so I’m next in her room changing a diaper, and my cup is no longer piping hot. Nonetheless the day has begun, and I don’t think I stop moving until the kids are back in bed at 8pm.
Enjoying that first cup is essential to my consciousness as well as my sanity. Sure, I’ll have another cup or two throughout the morning, but mostly I end up reheating those in the microwave three times because I get distracted into doing something or tending to my toddler. C’est la vie d’une maman, non?
Next: A glass or two of water
My husband makes endless fun of me because I am forever leaving water glasses throughout the house. When I next go to get a glass of water, I either forget where I left my cup or am too lazy to walk around the house searching for it. Thus, another glass is extracted from the cupboard. And the cycle continues.
After my morning coffee(s), I try to drink a few glasses of water before lunch. Sometimes I’ll drink a big glass of water before I even have my coffee if I wake up feeling thirsty. Then lunch time comes around and I’m bored of my flat waters and am looking for something refreshing to enjoy with my lunch.
Since I don’t really drink soda except for on occasion, this brings us to…
Beverage #6: "Sparkly water"
My five year old always calls my carbonated waters “sparkly” instead of “sparkling,” so it has become a thing in our household.
La Croix, how I love thee. I know it’s not technically French, but the name sure is (don’t you dare call it La Croy in my presence). The flavored sparkling water evokes a sense of sipping a Perrier at a sidewalk café. In other words, it makes me feel fancy. And the fizziness combined with whatever flavor (usually Pamplemousse) is refreshing and thirst quenching without being another boring glass of water.
Beverage #7: Coffee break
By the time lunch is over and I’ve put my toddler down for her nap, I’m ready for more caffeine. Usually I’ll brew one more cup to enjoy during my alone time while I work in my office. But sometimes I will go for some English Breakfast tea instead. That 2-3pm coffeebreak is essential to get through the rest of the day, n’est-ce que pas?
Beverage #8-10: more water
After my afternoon café, I hit the waterglass again (or rather, I take another one out of the cupboard because I don’t know nor do I care where I left the last one). I’ll have another glass or two before dinner, that way I feel hydrated enough to enjoy a glass of wine while cooking. Yes, mes chèrs, when you’re in your 30’s you have to start thinking about things like this unless you want a mad headache the rest of the evening.
My husband and I have gotten into cocktails this past year, not unlike the rest of the shuttered world. And on weekends when things are less hectic, we like to make a late afternoon cocktail to enjoy while chasing the kids around hanging outside, or whatever we’re up to. I recommend a French 75 or anything from Mr. Lebovitz’s Drinking French.
Beverage #12 (or 11 if it's a weeknight): probably wine
I love to sip a little wine while I make dinner. The type usually depends on the dinner: red blends, red Zinfandel, rosé, pino grigio… These are a few of my favorite things.
I love to cook, it’s one of my happy places, and enjoying a little vin in the process just makes it more so. Even though I have a glass of wine most nights, it’s usually just that. I am not one to guzzle down several glasses every time I enjoy it. Most of the time I don’t even finish the glass I drank while cooking, so I’ll carry it to the dinner table and finish it off with my meal.
Another source of amusement to my husband is that by the time the kids are put to bed, I’m too tired for another glass of wine. If I do opt for a second or third glass, I’m passed out on the couch by 9pm. Mom life, amiright?
French beverages: your questions answered
So there you have it. Now, maybe you have some questions. I tried to anticipate what you are thinking while you read this:
How often does she pee per day?? Let’s just say it’s a healthy amount.
That much coffee will stunt your growth! …I’m 5’10”
Is she a jittery mess all the time? Sometimes, but my body is pretty used to this routine. I can generally sleep even if I have some coffee in the evening on occasion.
What about you? Do you enjoy your beverages as much as I do? How does your routine differ from mine? As I said, I like to think of my beverage intake as French inspired, like most of the things I do. Coffee, water, Perrier (or a variation) more coffee or tea, aperitif if it’s the weekend, then some wine with dinner. Et voilà.
All this to say, I own a ton of drinkware but my collection is justified based off of everything I just shared with you. One can enjoy one’s beverage so much more when it comes in appropriate drinkware for the occasion. It’s a true petit plaisir, non?
Check your cupboards next time you are putting dishes away, and I think you might realize the same.
Grands bisous-
geneviève