pousse-café

[ poos-ka-fey; French poos-ka-fey ]

noun

, plural pousse-ca·fés [poos-ka-, feyz, poos-k, a, -, fey].

1. an after-dinner drink of liqueurs of various colors and specific gravities, carefully poured into a glass so as to remain floating in separate layers.
2. a small glass of liqueur served after coffee.

pousse-café

/ puskafe /

noun

1. a drink of liqueurs of different colours in unmixed layers
2. any liqueur taken with coffee at the end of a meal

Word History and Origins

Origin of pousse-café¹

1875–80; < French: literally, (it) pushes on (the) coffee

Word History and Origins

Origin of pousse-café¹

literally: coffee-pusher

Example Sentences

It's a technicolor dream of a smoothie, a pousse-café meets a parfait meets a smoothie, as delicious as it was visually stunning.

From Salon

Over what was probably not pousse-café, Ricky took out a deck of cards and stunned us into admiration.

From New York Times

In other words, sir, you are a sort of human pousse-café, a mighty agreeable concoction, Mr. Bib, though a trifle dangerous to tackle at breakfast.

From Project Gutenberg

I have become acquainted with a drink called pousse-café, which contains all the colors of the rainbow.

From Project Gutenberg

The latter nodded wisely, and a few minutes later brought in a tiny glass containing a pousse-café in three different colors.

From Project Gutenberg