France, Italy, Spain, people more commonly drink espressos, cafe au lait.. I've found cold brew or sometimes even decent iced coffee harder to get.

"order coffee and a croissant, both of which are fairly tasteless"

yeah right. I love drinking espressos.. but when given the option in Europe I'll take the starbucks. Plus I'd stack off a NY bagel against a French croissant any day. Both awesome, just different.

Article reminds me of the 'refined europeans' that 6th grade teachers that spent a week on their honeymoon in Paris talk about.