Kiss Me Quick

What a nice Parisian cafe-style cocktail with lots of fizz and anise cordial flavor! This would be a green cocktail except for the Angostura bitters that turn it orange. It is flavorful, sweet and fizzy. A good drink for the afternoon before moving to stronger stuff.

• 2 oz. Pernod
• 1/2 tsp. curacao
• 3-5 dashes Angostura bitters
• sparkling water

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water and stir gently. 

Champagne Cup

This is an easy champagne drink to make if you have cognac and curacao around. It is light and refined, like a cafe cocktail enjoyed in Paris. I kept thinking about the drinks you find in Paris along the Champ Élysées now. You'll find fortified wine or champagne with mint and fruit in them. This is light drinking, Paris style.

• 1/2 oz. cognac (Remy Martin 1738 cognac used)
• 1/2 oz. dry curacao
• orange slice
• mint sprig 
• champagne

 Build drink in a wine glass with cognac and curacao and a single ice cube. Stir until the cube dissolves. Top with champagne and garnish with the orange slice and mint sprig.

Cafe de Paris

This is a very Parisian-like cocktail and it gives off an air of cafe drinking on Montmartre. Egg white and a touch of cream make it a high-caloric cocktail with the feel of a thick absinthe drink. You should do this in a fancy crystal glass to accentuate the absinthe cafe appeal.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 tsp. Pernod
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass (crystal goblet recommended.)

Duchess

At the end of the night, I want a Pernod cocktail to settle my stomach, but sometimes a Pernod based cocktail is a little much. The Duchess is really well balanced, though and sweet enough to remain soothing and not to gripping. I felt over and over that this drink took me to a Paris cafe in the Montmartre village of the 18th arrondissement.

I also decided that a Pousse Cafe glass (or cordial glass) would be better suited to the smaller proportions of this cocktail than a full blown cocktail glass. It's pretty, isn't it?

• 2 oz. Pernod
• 1/2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth

Combine all ingredients in a shaker (which really makes the Pernod turn cloudy green) with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Old Cuban

The Old Cuban is a precursor to the Mojito, and it is made very similarly. It's done like a sour with mint and topped with champagne. It's no wonder it was popular in Paris, where we tried it at The Experimental Cocktail Club (photo below)

• 5-8 mint leaves
• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. sugar syrup
• champagne

Muddle mint and sugar syrup in a shaker. Add ice and rum and shake to cool. Strain into a chilled coup or sour glass. Add champagne to top and garnish with a mint leaf.