Demitasse cups are the jewels of the china closet. And while they’re less ubiquitous than they once were on the tables of stylish hostesses, demitasses are still de rigueur in certain Southern locales. “In Louisiana, out in the country and the Creole towns—if you’re invited into the house for a cup of coffee in the middle of the afternoon, the grande dames always serve it in small cups,” says Patrick Dunne, founder of Lucullus Antiques and Decorations Lucullus in New Orleans.
The story of the demitasse stretches back to the advent of coffee in 17th-century Europe. Coffeehouses flourished, but special drinkware lagged behind, and many drank the bitter beverage from tea bowls. By the 1800s, the French had popularized coffee cups with handles and the shape we know today. A breakfast cup was called a grande tasse, and its after-dinner counterpart was known as a demitasse—literally, “half cup.” The rule, Patrick explains, was that the height should equal the diameter of the mouth, about 2½ inches. Fashionable French hostesses used these fancies to serve strong Turkish coffee, and the trend spread.
