Episode notes
The demitasse, French for half cup, holds about 60 to 90 milliliters, half of the roughly 120 milliliter tasse à café. Yet by the early 20th century the word had vanished in France, and in May 1946 scholar Clifford H. Bissell examined its disappearance in Modern Language Notes, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The explanation is a semantic shift: once concentrated coffee became the everyday default in France, the small cup was no longer a half of anything, so people just ordered un café. Countries still drinking big mugs of drip coffee, like the United States, kept the word to describe the small European cup.
The Italian Espresso National Institute now sets the rules, calling for a white china cup of 50 to 100 milliliters. The episode argues this is sensory science rather than snobbery, since the white background heightens contrast with the crema and shapes how rich the coffee seems. Collectors went the other way, with Haviland pieces and an Imari pattern set at the Yale University Art Gallery. Elsewhere, the same problem of serving small, strong, hot coffee was solved differently, with the Turkish glass cup in a metal zarf and the Arabic finjan.
- The tiny volume acts as a limit on caffeine for a concentrated drink.
- The Italian rules specify white china, not glass or colored porcelain.
- A zarf's filigree cutouts cut contact with the hot glass and shed heat into the air.
- Clear glass lets drinkers see the coffee's color and texture.
- The small finjan requires constant refills, which paces hospitality and conversation.