Drink construction

What you will be able to do

• Describe each core drink by its components rather than its name
• Build a cortado, flat white, cappuccino and latte from the same espresso
• Choose a cup and a milk texture to suit each drink
• Explain why the same name means different drinks in different places
• Identify and correct the most common fault in each drink

Assumes: Level 3: Dialling in; Level 4: Milk.

Four decisions make the menu

CoffeeHQ explanation of the mechanism

Almost every drink on an espresso menu is the answer to four questions. How much espresso, and how long was it pulled? Is anything added to dilute it — water, or milk? How much? And what texture is the milk: barely foamed, thin microfoam, or a deep cap of foam?

Seen this way the menu stops being a list to memorise. An americano is espresso with hot water. A cortado is espresso with about as much warm milk. A flat white is espresso with more milk and a thin layer of microfoam. A latte is the same idea in a larger cup. A cappuccino has less liquid milk and more foam. A macchiato is espresso with a spoonful of foam. A mocha is a latte with chocolate.

What changes in the cup follows directly. More milk dilutes the coffee and adds sweetness and fat, which soften bitterness and acidity. More foam changes the first sip: a deep foam cap delivers air and aroma before liquid, which makes a cappuccino seem lighter and often stronger than a latte made on the same shot.

In more depth: Drink composition comparator · All drinks

Espresso and the drinks that add water

Common convention — cafés and regions differ

Espresso is served in a small pre-warmed cup and drunk promptly; it changes quickly as it cools. Stirring before drinking mixes the heavier first part of the shot with the lighter last part.

An americano adds hot water to espresso, typically ending somewhere near filter-coffee strength, though the amount of water is a matter of taste. A long black, common in Australia and New Zealand, pours the espresso onto the water instead, which keeps the crema on top and is usually made with less water. The two are close relatives rather than different drinks.

The common fault in both is bitterness, and it almost always comes from the espresso rather than the water: a shot that was acceptable on its own can taste harsh once diluted, because dilution removes the body that was hiding it. Fix the shot first. Water just off a full boil rather than boiling can also help.

In more depth: Americano · Long black · Americano or filter coffee

The milk drinks, smallest to largest

Common convention — cafés and regions differ

The proportions below are the conventions most often used in specialty cafés. They are not definitions. A flat white in Melbourne, London and Lisbon are three different drinks made by people who each believe theirs is the standard one.

Macchiato

Espresso 'marked' with a spoonful of milk foam. Small cup. Elsewhere the name is used for much larger sweet drinks that share little with it.

Cortado

Espresso cut with roughly its own weight of warm, barely textured milk. Small glass. The coffee leads.

Flat white

A double espresso in a small cup, usually around 150 to 180 ml, with milk and a thin layer of microfoam. Coffee-forward, velvety.

Cappuccino

The Italian convention is about a third each of espresso, milk and foam in a small cup. Much of the world serves it larger. The foam is the point.

Latte

A larger cup or glass with much more milk and a thin foam layer. The mildest of the group, and the usual base for flavoured drinks.

Mocha

A latte with chocolate, as sauce or powder, dissolved into the espresso before the milk goes in. Chocolate adds sweetness and bitterness of its own.

In more depth: Flat white · Cappuccino · Latte · Cortado · Macchiato · Mocha

What goes wrong, and where to look

A typical tendency, not a guarantee

A milk drink that tastes weak is usually a ratio problem: too much milk for the shot, most often because the cup is larger than the recipe intended. A single shot in a large latte glass will taste of warm milk however good the espresso. Use a smaller cup or a double.

A drink that tastes bitter through the milk points back to the espresso. Milk softens bitterness; it does not remove it. A drink that separates into thin liquid under a stiff cap was either steamed with too much air or left standing before it was poured. A cappuccino that is all liquid and no foam had too little air added, or the foam was held back in the jug.

Cup temperature is the fault nobody diagnoses. A cold cup takes heat from a small drink within seconds. Warm cups on the machine or rinse them with hot water, especially for espresso, macchiato and cortado.

In more depth: Drink too cold · Milk foam too stiff · Milk too thin

Practise with a tool

Exercise: One espresso, three milk drinks

See all practical exercises

Work it through: The flat white that tastes like a latte

A home barista makes a flat white in a 300 ml mug with a single shot, well-textured milk and a neat pattern on top. It looks right. It tastes of milk with a hint of coffee.

Reasoning it out

1. The milk texture is right, so the steaming is not the fault.
2. A flat white is defined mostly by proportion: a double shot in a small cup.
3. A single shot of around 18 g of liquid in 300 ml is a very long way from that — roughly a quarter of the coffee concentration of the usual build.
4. The drink that was made is a weak latte with flat-white foam.

What to do

Change the proportion, not the technique. Use a double shot and a cup of about 150 to 180 ml. The milk quantity tool will give the amount of milk to steam for that cup.

Latte or flat white

Check yourself

Answer in your head first. Nothing is scored and nothing you open here is recorded.

1. 1. Two drinks use the same double espresso. One is 160 ml, the other 300 ml. Which tastes stronger, and why?

   Show the answer

   The 160 ml drink, because the same coffee is diluted by less milk.

   Strength in a milk drink is the proportion of espresso to everything else. Cup size is the biggest lever.

   Back to “Four decisions make the menu”

2. 2. What is the difference between an americano and a long black?

   Show the answer

   The order of pouring, and usually the amount of water: espresso onto water for a long black, which preserves the crema and is typically shorter.

   They are regional variants of the same idea, not different recipes.

   Back to “Espresso and the drinks that add water”

3. 3. A latte tastes bitter. Is the fault more likely in the milk or the espresso?

   Show the answer

   The espresso.

   Milk mutes bitterness. If bitterness comes through a large amount of milk, the shot is over-extracted or the roast is very dark.

   Back to “What goes wrong, and where to look”

4. 4. True or false: there is an official specification for a flat white.

   Show the answer

   False.

   No authority defines it. The proportions are conventions that differ between countries and cafés.

   Back to “The milk drinks, smallest to largest”

Comparisons worth making now

• Cappuccino or latteThe clearest example of two drinks separated mainly by foam depth and cup size.
• Latte or flat whiteThe pair most often confused, and the one with the most regional variation.

Reference for this level

• Milk drink builder
• Piccolo
• Iced latte
• Café phrasebook
• International café ordering conventions

Where the facts in this level come from

• SCA brewing and espresso standards — Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)
• The World Atlas of Coffee, James Hoffmann

Sections are labelled with the kind of claim they make. How CoffeeHQ uses sources, and what each one is relied on for, is set out in the source and evidence policy.