demitasse

See also: demi-tasse

English

From French demi-tasse (literally “half cup”), from demi- (“half-”) + tasse (“cup”).

demitasse (plural demitasses)

A small cup of strong black coffee.
- 1876 July, Henry James, Jr., “The American”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXXVIII, number CCXXV, Boston, Mass.: H[enry] O[scar] Houghton and Company; New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, chapter IV, page 17, column 2:
  He read old almanacs at the book-stalls on the quays, and he began to frequent another café, where more newspapers were taken and his post-prandial demi-tasse cost him a penny extra, and where he used to con the tattered sheets for curious anecdotes, freaks of nature, and strange coincidences.
- 2004, John Bridges, Bryan Curtis, A Gentleman at the Table, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 45:
  A gentleman may be presented with a demitasse—a straight-sided, miniature coffee cup containing extremely strong (perhaps flavored) coffee—at the end of his dinner, most likely when dessert is served, or when chocolates are passed in the lingering time after the actual dinner is done. He may either accept or decline a demitasse.
The cup in which this coffee is served.

small serving of coffee

small cup for serving coffee