After a long pause, The Good Life France podcast is back for a new season, and the first episode takes on one of the country's most beloved institutions: the café. Hosted by Janine Marsh — author and editor of The Good Life France magazine and website — alongside Léo Julia, a Nîmes native now living in Paris, the show mixes culture, history and food talk with a healthy serving of humour.
The café episode digs into where the habit of lingering over an espresso on a terrasse actually came from, and why it still matters so much to daily French life. The hosts walk through café etiquette — the unwritten rules that catch out visitors — and profile some of the most historic cafés in Paris and beyond, the kind of places where writers, philosophers and ordinary regulars have occupied the same wicker chairs for a century or more.
One of the more useful segments tackles a stubborn travel myth: the supposedly rude French waiter. The hosts argue the problem is usually the customer, not the server. Order the wrong way, wave down the wrong person, or expect American-style service, and you'll get frost — follow French norms and the experience softens considerably. That's the kind of tip that changes a holiday.
The episode is available on The Good Life France website with no app required, or via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music, with a transcript on Buzzsprout if you'd rather read than listen. It's an easy companion for a commute or, fittingly, a long coffee. More France-focused episodes are promised throughout the new season.
For anyone planning a trip, the takeaway is simple: the café isn't just a pit stop in France, it's the main event. Learning how it works — when locals go, what they order, how long they stay — gets you closer to the country than any checklist of sights. A coffee or a pastis at a proper terrasse, ideally a historic one, is as much a French experience as the Louvre, and considerably cheaper.
