Why Don't Coffee Shops Sell Iced Cappuccino? The Difference Between Cappuccino and Latte

"Hi, I'd like an iced cappuccino!"

"Sorry, we only do hot cappuccinos."

"Why don't you have iced cappuccinos???"

It is a question many people have asked. Clearly some chain coffee shops list an iced cappuccino as an option, so why do most coffee shops refuse to serve one?

What Is Cappuccino Coffee?

The word cappuccino comes from the Italian "Cappuccino." In Italian, "Cappuccio" means hood. "Capuchin" refers to the Catholic Franciscan order. When the order came to Italy to preach, locals nicknamed the members' dark brown robes and small pointed hats "Cappuccino."

Cappuccino coffee began when people added milk to espresso and noticed the color resembled the robes of the Franciscan order. They had the clever idea of crowning the coffee with milk foam shaped like a small pointed hat, and named it Cappuccino.

Traditional hot cappuccino is made from one-third espresso, one-third hot milk and one-third hot milk foam. Cappuccino milk foam comes in two types, dry and wet. Dry foam contains more foam, holds its shape longer and has a dense texture; wet foam contains less foam, flows more readily, holds its shape for a shorter time than dry foam, and is both dense and smooth.

Why Do Chain Coffee Shops Offer Iced Cappuccinos?

Perhaps to better satisfy different customer needs. Those chain shops that serve iced cappuccinos mostly just add hot steamed milk foam on top of an iced latte. If it isn't drunk immediately from a for-here cup, the customer never experiences the dense texture the foam provides.

Many coffee shops skip iced cappuccinos partly because they are more troublesome to make, and partly because the texture of hot foam meeting iced coffee is not to everyone's taste. So most shops offer only the hot version.

Are All Iced Cappuccinos Unpleasant?

Not necessarily. According to FrontStreet Coffee's observations, some shops now use nitrogen canisters to create delicate milk foam, which they pour into a milk coffee slightly stronger than an iced latte.

These shops typically use nitrogen to make fine, smooth foam from cream, juice and the like to lift a coffee's overall texture, and the foam on an iced cappuccino can be made the same way.

If you froth milk directly with nitrogen, though, the foam quickly blends into the coffee and cannot effectively float on the surface.

To solve this, some baristas suggest soaking gelatin sheets in cold water until soft, adding them to warm milk to dissolve, then pouring the mix into a nitrogen canister to froth. That way the foam floats on the coffee surface better and lasts longer.

Making an iced cappuccino this way costs more than the hot version, so we can also use a French press or a non-heating milk frother to whip cold milk into dense foam. FrontStreet Coffee does not normally serve iced cappuccinos, but occasionally the baristas themselves want an iced coffee with a dense texture, and this is the method they use.

First, pour chilled fresh milk into the French press to the halfway point, then pump the plunger back and forth about 20 times, until the container is about 8/10 full, and you will see it packed with cotton-candy-like milk foam. (It is a little troublesome.)

Then pour the iced milk foam into a prepared glass, first using a spoon to hold back the foam while pouring the milk from the French press to the two-thirds mark, then pour in the extracted espresso, and finally top the glass with the milk foam.

You can also sprinkle chocolate powder or cinnamon powder to taste, which lifts the whole drink's layers.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A cappuccino is simple at heart: milk, espresso and a sturdy layer of thick foam. This is the drink for the espresso-machine blends in FrontStreet's range, since a cappuccino's real signature is that thick, airy foam and a rich, full-bodied coffee taste.

If you are a beginner making it at home, pick the "crema bomb" - FrontStreet Signature Blend - or the value champion, FrontStreet Black Cocoa Blend. To push a cappuccino toward floral and fruity, FrontStreet Strawberry Candy Espresso is the first choice, delivering berry, rose, raisin and fruit-candy aromas. If you like a fresher, less bitter cup, choose FrontStreet Granada Geisha SOE, which is sun-dried and medium-roasted, so the coffee itself carries berry, orange and persimmon notes, and with milk takes on a milk-candy character.

The cappuccino's "golden ring" is its most soothing feature: the outer ring takes its color from the espresso, while the inner ring is filled with milk foam. FrontStreet's own extraction uses 20g of coffee powder, pulled over 32 seconds for 40ml of coffee liquid, poured into a pre-warmed cup. While it extracts, steam the milk foam - since there is no latte art to worry about, whip it as thick and dense as you like. Then take a spoon, scoop a spoonful of foam into the exact center of the coffee and fill the center into a circle. Next, swirl the pitcher so the foam and milk re-integrate, and pour straight down the middle; because the surface is all foam, there is no need to fear overflowing - just pour confidently to the brim and stop.