How to Distinguish Between Latte and Cappuccino? Are There Differences Between Cappuccino Cups and Latte Cups?

Walk into any chain coffee shop or specialty café and you'll find Latte and Cappuccino on the menu. Many people assume the two drinks differ only in cup size or foam thickness—but that's not really the case. Today, FrontStreet Coffee shows you how to tell them apart at a glance.

What Is Latte Coffee?

"Latte" is simply the Italian word for "milk," so the word itself doesn't necessarily mean coffee—the market is full of coffee-free lattes like matcha latte and black tea latte, all of which contain milk. That's why the correct name for the coffee drink is "CAFFÈ LATTE": espresso stretched with milk in a set proportion, in the flavored-coffee family.

Milk coffee as we know it was born in Vienna, the city of music. Viennese have been drinking coffee since the 17th century, when the retreating Turkish army abandoned 500 bags of coffee beans after its failed siege—beans that stocked Vienna's first coffeehouse, the Blue Bottle. To suit European palates, the owner strained out the grounds and stirred in plenty of milk, turning bitter black coffee into something smooth and sweet. Vienna was smitten, and milk coffee spread around the world from there.

Latte needs only espresso and milk, with no fixed ratio—commonly anywhere from 1:5 to 1:8. FrontStreet Coffee uses 1:6: 40g of espresso to 240g of milk. For a hot latte, we pour the espresso into a preheated cup, froth the milk on the espresso machine's steam wand to 55-65°C for dense foam of moderate thickness, then blend the two evenly. The latte art is the finishing touch.

FrontStreet Coffee's hot latte carries a sweetness reminiscent of liqueur chocolate with a cream-like smoothness. For our iced latte, we fill the cup with 75 grams of ice plus 25ml of fresh milk, then extract 40 grams of espresso over the top—and remind guests to stir thoroughly before drinking.

On the subject of iced milk coffee, there's Dirty—literally "dirty coffee"—which took off around 2019. Hot espresso is poured over chilled milk, sinking along the cup's wall to create striking layers and a deliberately "dirty" look. Dirty cups are generally smaller than iced latte glasses, and the drink should be enjoyed immediately to catch its signature hot-and-cold interplay.

What Is Cappuccino?

It's genuinely hard to say who invented the cappuccino, but the record shows the word traces back to "Kapuziner"—German for "monk," and the name of an old-style coffee.

Legend has it the drink was born in 18th-century Viennese cafés, where coffee was still drunk grounds and all. To make it more palatable, a Pole named Kulczycki strained the brew through a cloth bag, served it in a glass, and added honey, spices, and cream. The result not only tasted better but showed a reddish-brown color that reminded locals of the habit of the Capuchin friars—so they called it "Kapuziner."

As the drink traveled to Italy and espresso machines matured, Italians swapped in espresso and replaced the cream with frothed milk, sculpting the foam into a pointed cap on the surface. Gradually the drink took on its Italian name—today's Cappuccino—while its "predecessor" Kapuziner came to be known simply as Viennese Coffee.

How to Make a Cappuccino

Cappuccino and latte share almost identical ingredients: espresso + milk + foam. The difference is proportion—cappuccino carries more foam than milk, latte more milk than foam. Some cappuccinos also use a double espresso. For the same price, a cappuccino is smaller than a latte, with a stronger coffee punch, and the collision of dense foam with bitter espresso is superb. Lattes, being milkier, taste gentler, but their silky texture and beautiful latte art win plenty of fans.

Cappuccino is traditionally served in a short, wide porcelain cup. The foam should stand above the rim, full and glossy, so steady that you could shake the cup side to side without spilling a drop. A latte needs only a thin skin of microfoam, since the point is the smooth mouthfeel of the milk coffee. Where foam is concerned, cappuccino demands thick, airy froth, while latte foam must be fine and thin—a more demanding technique calling for excellent fluidity, a glossy surface, and sufficient density.

The most widely cited cappuccino formula is a 1:1:1 ratio of coffee, milk, and foam. In a 6-ounce (about 177ml) cup, that means a double espresso (60ml), one-third hot milk (60ml), and foam filling the final third—foam roughly 2.5cm deep, so the first sips are almost pure foam while the coffee beneath is strong and intense.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Want to recreate a café-standard cappuccino at home? FrontStreet Coffee pulls the base shot at 20g of grounds, a 1:2 ratio, extracted over 30 seconds—enough concentration with full extraction for outstanding flavor and body. Since cappuccino's charm is thick, pillowy foam over a bold, aromatic coffee, an espresso-specific blend is your best bet: start with the FrontStreet Classic Blend, the "crema bomb" built for beginners, or the great-value FrontStreet Dark Cocoa Blend.

Feeling adventurous? The FrontStreet Strawberry Candy espresso blend makes a floral-fruity cappuccino with aromas of berries, rose, raisins, and fruit candy, while the FrontStreet Geisha SOE—natural processed and roasted medium—brings berry, orange, and persimmon notes that turn to milky candy against the foam. To finish, spoon a dollop of dense foam dead-center onto the espresso, swirl your pitcher to reunite foam and milk, and pour into the middle without fear of overflow—right up to eleven-tenths full.