Coffee Drink

Café Au Lait: Recipe, Ratio and Latte Differences

Name: Simple Café au Lait
Total time: 5 min
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) hot brewed coffee; 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) whole milk, measured before heating

By Mara EllisonReviewed by Online Coffee Guide editorial teamPublished June 24, 2026Updated October 1, 20265 min read

Café au lait is coffee with hot milk. A familiar home version uses brewed coffee and roughly equal milk, with little or no foam. It is easy to make with an ordinary coffee brewer and a saucepan; an espresso machine is unnecessary.

Café au lait in a white breakfast bowl beside a croissant and milk jug

Drink Snapshot

Caffeine: ~50 mg referenceGeneric reference for 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) brewed coffeeMayo Clinic reference scaled to the brewed-coffee portion.
Calories: About 77 kcal120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) coffee + 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) whole milkIngredient estimate with all the measured milk served.

Serving, sugar and sources

Serving: 1 plain home drink, approximately 240 ml (8.1 US fl oz)
Made with: Brewed coffee and hot whole milk, 1:1 by volume
Sugar: About 6 g total. Naturally present milk sugar; no added sugar in the recipe.
Preparation: About 5 minutes with coffee already brewed

Caffeine uses 96 mg per 237 ml brewed coffee from Mayo Clinic, scaled to 120 ml. Calories and sugar use USDA ingredient records and their volume-to-mass portions. These are ingredient-based estimates. See the full calculation or label comparison.

Key Takeaways

1Start with 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) brewed coffee and 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) whole milk, measured before heating.
2A latte starts with espresso. Caffè Misto closely overlaps with this brewed-coffee drink.
3Chicory belongs to the New Orleans variation; it is not required for café au lait generally.

On This Page9 Sections

How to Make Café Au Lait

Recipe

Simple Café au Lait

Makes:: 1 serving
Time:: About 5 minutes with coffee already brewed

Ingredients

120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) hot brewed coffee
120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) whole milk, measured before heating

Equipment

Measuring jug
small saucepan and spoon
300 ml (10.1 US fl oz) heatproof mug or bowl

Method

Measure the coffee. Warm a 300 ml (10.1 US fl oz) heatproof mug or bowl, empty it, then add 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) freshly brewed coffee.
Warm the milk. Put 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) whole milk in a small saucepan. Heat gently while stirring until steaming, stopping before it boils. Avoid whisking in a large foam cap.
Combine and serve. Pour all the warmed milk into the coffee and stir briefly. Let it cool enough to drink, then taste before deciding whether to sweeten it.

Estimated nutrition per serving: 77 calories; total sugar 6 g. Serving: 1 plain serving, approximately 240 ml (8.1 US fl oz).

Recipe notes

Measure prepared coffee, not brewing water. The 1:1 ratio is coffee to milk by volume; it is an adjustable home starting point.

Serve all the measured milk. Nutrition estimates assume whole milk and no sweetener. The generic caffeine estimate is 50 mg.

Hot milk pouring into a bowl of coffee beside a French press — Warm the milk separately and mix it with brewed coffee.

Which Coffee and Milk Should You Use?

Choose drip coffee, pour-over or French press.

For café au lait, I favor coffee with chocolate or caramel notes that remain recognizable after the hot milk goes in. A delicate floral brew can lose its aroma in that much dairy, so I'd rather save it for a black cup.

Whole milk gives the fullest dairy texture in the comparison below. Lower-fat milk also works. For a dairy-free version, use a plant drink whose flavor you like and calculate nutrition from its label. You do not need a special foaming formulation for this saucepan method.

Café Au Lait vs. Latte and Misto

The most useful distinction is brewed coffee versus espresso. Café au lait and Misto overlap; differences between cafés can be greater than the differences between those two names.

Café au lait vs. latte and Misto

Café au lait vs. latte and Misto
Drink	Coffee base	Milk and texture
Café au lait, as made here	Brewed coffee	Hot milk, starting at equal volumes; little foam
Latte	Espresso	Usually a larger milk portion, with fine microfoam
Caffè Misto	Brewed coffee	Steamed milk; closely related to café au lait
Cappuccino	Espresso	More noticeably aerated milk

Cambridge Dictionary describes the familiar equal-parts coffee-and-heated-milk drink. Starbucks at Home explicitly connects Misto with café au lait.

Café au lait uses brewed coffee and hot milk, while a latte uses espresso and steamed milk; Caffè Misto closely overlaps with café au lait — Café au lait uses brewed coffee; latte uses espresso.

What Does Café Au Lait Taste Like?

Expect brewed coffee softened by warm milk, with a smooth texture and little foam. Cocoa, nuts or caramel may describe the coffee's flavor. The beans, roast and brew determine how much fruitiness or bitterness remains after mixing.

To adjust the balance, keep 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) coffee and try 90 ml (3 US fl oz) milk. That makes a smaller, approximately 210 ml (7.1 US fl oz) drink with less milk dilution. It does not add caffeine: the coffee portion is unchanged. Increasing the amount of coffee instead changes both the balance and the potential caffeine.

History and Culture

A bowl of café au lait is associated with French breakfast at home. Paris by Mouth's 2013 local ordering primer describes that setting and the overlap with café crème when ordering in Paris. If the base matters to you, ask whether the café uses brewed coffee or espresso. The café crème guide explains that menu name's regional ambiguity.

New Orleans Café Au Lait and Chicory

Café du Monde describes its own version as coffee-and-chicory with an equal portion of hot milk. For that style at home, brew a labeled coffee-and-chicory blend according to its directions, then use 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) of the prepared drink with 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) hot milk.

Equal parts does not mean half-and-half dairy. The phrase describes the proportion of coffee to milk. Chicory is optional for café au lait generally, and the generic coffee caffeine estimate below should not be assumed to describe an unspecified chicory blend.

The chicory coffee guide separates pure roasted chicory from coffee–chicory blends and explains why their preparation and caffeine figures cannot be used interchangeably.

Café Au Lait Caffeine, Calories and Sugar

For this home serving, allow an estimated 50 mg caffeine from the 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) brewed-coffee portion. Beans, dose and brewing change the real value. Adding milk does not remove the caffeine already in the coffee.

The following estimates count 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) coffee plus 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) milk, all served, with no sweetener:

Café au Lait Caffeine, Calories and Sugar

Café au Lait Caffeine, Calories and Sugar
Milk choice	Calories per drink	Total sugar
Whole milk, our recipe	77 kcal	6 g
2% milk	63 kcal	6 g
Skim milk	43 kcal	6 g

Serving calculation and source assumptions

The caffeine estimate uses Mayo Clinic’s brewed-coffee reference: 96 mg × 120/237 = 48.6 mg, rounded to about 50 mg.

These calculations use USDA FoodData Central records 171265, 171267 and 171269 for dairy milk, plus record 171890 for brewed coffee. USDA's portion weights convert 120 ml whole milk to approximately 124 g: about 75.5 kcal from milk plus 1.2 kcal from coffee gives about 77 kcal.

For a 120 ml plant-milk portion, multiply its per-100-ml calories and sugar by 1.2, then add about 1 kcal for the coffee.

No added sugar does not mean sugar-free: plain dairy milk supplies lactose. Plant drinks and sweeteners need their own label values.

Dialing in and Troubleshooting

Dialing in and troubleshooting

Dialing in and troubleshooting
What went wrong?	Check first	Next adjustment
Coffee tastes lost	Taste the brew before mixing	Try 90 ml (3 US fl oz) milk with the same 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) coffee
Harsh or bitter finish	Roast and brewing, rather than milk alone	Adjust the brew before hiding it with sugar
Cooked-milk taste	Heat and time in the pan	Use gentler heat and stop before boiling
Too much foam	Whisking or steam-wand aeration	Warm without deliberate frothing
Drink cools too quickly	Cold bowl or cold milk	Warm the vessel and heat milk separately

If you prefer a steam wand, use a pitcher fill that suits the machine. Extra milk in that pitcher is not automatically part of the drink. For an approximate equivalent to this recipe's 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) milk, tare the cup containing the coffee and add about 124 g (4.4 oz) textured milk; steaming changes its water content, so this is a practical portion proxy, not an exact density measurement.

Common Questions

How Do You Pronounce Café Au Lait?

A useful English approximation is ka-FAY oh-LAY. Cambridge provides audio pronunciation. The French phrase means coffee with milk.

Can You Make Café Au Lait Iced or with Instant Coffee?

For an iced adaptation, combine 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) chilled prepared coffee with 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) cold milk over ice in a larger glass. Melted ice adds dilution. Instant coffee also works: prepare the 120 ml (4.1 US fl oz) coffee portion using the package directions. The brewed-coffee caffeine reference does not automatically apply to instant coffee.

Does Café Au Lait Have Less Caffeine Than a Latte?

Not necessarily. Compare the amount and strength of brewed coffee with the latte's espresso portion. The size, milkiness and drink name alone cannot settle the comparison. Decaf can be used in either drink, but it is not necessarily caffeine-free.