Blue Bottle at Fifteen: The Dainty Au Lait

A story of off-menu deliciousness

We select and brew our coffees so that they’re delicious, even—or especially—when served black. Though our founder, James, recommends tasting any new coffee before adding condiments in his book, The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, we’ve never aspired to dogmatism, especially when it comes to your morning ritual.

Nothing demonstrates this better than the Dainty Au Lait, a delicious off-menu item dreamed up by Caitlin Freeman, Blue Bottle’s founding pastry chef and mastermind of our infamous Liège wafels. By adding steamed milk to her single origin or blend of the morning—two parts for every part of coffee—Caitlin came up with a creamier version of her morning drink, and with no judgment at all from James, who describes the Dainty Au Lait’s lightness as follows: “You would just whisper the word 'coffee' into a cup and the rest was steamed milk.”

We pride ourselves on our existing menu, but we want our guests to know that you don’t have to be a Blue Bottler yourself to tweak your drink to your liking. Hotter or colder, milkier or blacker—your barista is happy to help.