Do You Know How Many Types of Coffee Exist? What Are the Flavor Characteristics of Espresso?

When you stand before a café counter, faced with an array of coffee options like common lattes, cappuccinos, or macchiatos, do you ever feel a bit confused? This time, FrontStreet Coffee has specially compiled a comprehensive guide to Italian coffee varieties. Not only will this help you recognize the differences between various coffee flavors, but it will also detail the preparation ratios for each.

Understanding Espresso

What we commonly call Espresso is Italian concentrated coffee made using an espresso machine. Due to Espresso's intense flavor and powerful taste, many people find it difficult to drink straight. Consequently, with Espresso as the base, numerous different coffee varieties have been developed.

For Italian-style coffee products served at FrontStreet Coffee, specially blended coffee beans designed specifically for espresso are used. To ensure that the coffee flavor isn't overly diluted when other ingredients are added, while still maintaining distinct and pronounced flavor characteristics, FrontStreet Coffee has selected the "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans" – a medium-dark roast comprising 70% Honduras Sherry coffee beans and 30% natural-process Red Cherry coffee beans.

Using 20g of freshly roasted Sunflower Warm Sun Blend coffee beans ground extremely finely and compacted into a puck, the espresso machine then applies 10 bar pressure, allowing 94°C hot water to pass through the puck at a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, extracting 40g of coffee liquid in a total extraction time of 27-32 seconds.

After extraction, the espresso presents rich wine fragrance, vanilla cream, berry sweetness and tartness, and roasted nut-like flavors. When mixed with hot milk, it produces a sweet berry milkshake-like flavor. Adding ice milk enhances the berry-like sweetness and tartness, adding hot water makes the wine aroma more pronounced, while adding ice water makes the acidity more noticeable.

Caffe Latte: Coffee and Milk as Dual Stars

Caffe Latte is Italian for "coffee with milk," where "Latte" means milk in Italian. If you go to an Italian coffee bar and ask the barista for a "Latte," they might look at you puzzled and hand you a glass of milk.

To drink coffee with milk in Italy, you must say "Caffe Latte" to get an authentic Italian coffee latte. However, the latte you order in Italy likely won't have foam, as the milk frother was invented relatively recently, first appearing in the United States in the 1950s-60s. Before this time, lattes in Italian coffee culture only had added milk. Of course, in regions outside Europe, including the United States and Taiwan, coffee latte is simply called "Latte."

Caffè Latte consists of one-fifth espresso, two-fifths hot milk, and two-fifths milk foam. It's a product where espresso and milk play dual leading roles. Carefully savoring the integration and balance of both is the most unique characteristic of latte flavor.

Cappuccino: Coffee as Star, Milk as Supporting Actor

When we adjust the proportion of coffee in a latte, increasing the coffee percentage, the color in the cup transforms to predominantly dark brown, complemented by traces of white milk, reminiscent of the Capuchin friars in their dark brown robes covered with white hoods. In Italian, "Cappuccino" refers to these Capuchin friars, which is how the drink got its name.

The difference between cappuccino and latte lies in the higher proportion of espresso in cappuccino, consisting of one-third espresso, one-third hot milk, and one-third dense milk foam. Cappuccinos can also be sprinkled with cocoa powder or cinnamon powder for added flavor. In terms of taste, coffee flavor takes center stage, with milk as the complement.

Mocha: Chocolate as Star

Mocha is a small town located in Yemen in the Middle East. The coffee beans produced there have chocolate flavor notes, and later the term came to generally refer to special coffee bean varieties with chocolate aroma, known as "Mocha beans." Eventually, however, Mocha evolved into the name of a beverage.

Mocha consists of two-fifths espresso, two-fifths hot chocolate, and one-fifth hot milk. It's perfect for those who love both chocolate and coffee.

Macchiato

Macchiato involves adding a small amount of milk foam to Italian espresso – perhaps only a few milliliters, enough to be served in an espresso cup. Visually, it looks like a white dot on top of espresso. "Macchiato" in Italian means "stain" or "spot," which is how macchiato got its name.

When macchiato is made using double espresso/20g coffee grounds to extract 40g coffee liquid (Double Espresso), it's called a Long Macchiato. When only single espresso/10g coffee grounds is used to extract 20g coffee liquid (Single Espresso), it's called a Short Macchiato.

Macchiato has a very strong flavor, with minimal dilution. Milk serves only as a taste enhancer, requiring careful attention to detect even a hint of milk fragrance. However, this is precisely what makes Macchiato appealing – that small amount of milk and subtle milk fragrance leaves a memorable aftertaste.

Caramel Macchiato

Caramel Macchiato is a variation of macchiato where vanilla is added to the macchiato, then topped with a thick layer of caramel, and consumed in one sip without any stirring. In this small sip, you can experience the bitterness of coffee, the aroma of vanilla, and the rich sweetness of caramel. This multi-layered taste experience is what makes caramel macchiato most appealing.

Americano

During World War II, when American soldiers came to Italy, they couldn't get used to the Espresso made by Italian espresso machines, so they added large amounts of hot water to dilute the flavor.

This practice amazed the Italians, who began calling this American style "Americano," meaning "American" in Italian. Upon hearing this somewhat mocking name, Americans not only took no offense but felt rather proud, and thus the name "Americano" became widespread, specifically referring to the practice of diluting Espresso with hot water.

Conclusion

All the preparation ratios mentioned above are merely references. Take lattes and cappuccinos, for instance – the distinction isn't always clear because they are essentially variations of different preparation ratios. FrontStreet Coffee believes that making Italian-style coffee products requires adjusting the amount of additional ingredients based on the final flavor expression of the espresso. These ratios are just guidelines, not absolute rules. What truly matters is using these reference standards to create your own favorite coffee beverage.

Important Notice :

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