demitasse

plural demitasses · alternative demi-tasse

1. A small cup of strong black coffee.

   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.

   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

   1 more example

   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.

   2004, John Bridges, Bryan Curtis, A Gentleman at the Table, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 45

2. The cup in which this coffee is served.