After reading Lee’s post about Adventure Provisioning, with its mention of Calvados apple brandy as the ideal invigorating spirit, I began to reminisce a bit about Lee and my trip around Europe and North Africa in 2006, and our discovery there of the joys of Calvados and cider in Normandy. So I began reading a bit more on the history of Calvados brandy, and chanced on a description of Cafe Calva.

Cafe Calva (photo by Paul Terhorst)

Cafe Calva, which is apparently available off-menu in most French cafes, consists of a cup of coffee (espresso, to us Americans), with a teaspoon of Calvados poured on top, accompanied by a small, shot-glass size snifter of the brandy to sip. Paul Terhorst has a nice description of discovering and ordering the drink on his blog. Had Lee and I only known of the existence of this supremely civilized combination, we certainly would have enjoyed more than a few of them. Ah, well. There are always future trips.

Lee and Jesse in Caen (photo by Jesse’s camera, with a timer)

The most king-hell awesome picnic ever (photo by Jesse)