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Why is latte called latte? What is the difference between a cappuccino and a latte? Is American coffee black?

Published: 2026-08-25 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/08/25, There are often friends curious about how to name espresso, such as latte, cappuccino, and American. These names can not quickly associate people with the characteristics of coffee. They sound as if they have nothing to do with the product itself. There is no naming logic. Therefore, friends often ask Qianjie: "Why is latte?"

There are often friends curious about how to name espresso, such as latte, cappuccino, and American. These names can not quickly associate people with the characteristics of coffee. They sound as if they have nothing to do with the product itself. There is no naming logic. Therefore, friends often ask questions such as "Why should latte be called latte?"

So today Qianjie will come to share with you why these classic espresso coffees are named this way!

Why is a cappuccino called a cappuccino? Cappuccino is a classic espresso coffee. It is made of espresso with a small amount of milk and thick milk foam that can overflow to 11 minutes. Take Qianjie as an example. When Qianjie makes a cappuccino with a medium-to-deep-baked Qianjie Italian classic combination of bean lists, it uses 20g of powder for 30 seconds to extract 40ml of coffee liquor, and then uses 140ml of milk to heat and stir up milk foam with a thickness of 2 cm +, and finally blends and produces it. Since too much milk is not added, the coffee flavor of this cup of milk coffee will be very strong, and we can obviously taste the classic blend of chocolate, caramel, cream, and nut flavors. At the same time, when tasting, we can also feel the soft and light touch brought by the thick milk foam.

Like most names, cappuccino is a transliteration name from the Italian-"Cappuccio." In Italian, Cappuccino means "turban" or "hood". The reason why a cup of coffee is named after this is because the word is closely related to the friar dress of the 16th century Catholic Capuchin. The clothes of Catholic Capuchin monks were very recognizable, wearing dark brown robes and wearing point-shaped hoods. When people at that time saw this dress, they used the word "Cappuccino", which means little hooded people. (The word comes from the German "Kapuziner", which means monk)

The cappuccino in espresso, as introduced by Qianjie, is a milk coffee made from a combination of concentrate, milk, and thick milk foam. Because not much milk is added, the liquid color of this cup of coffee is mainly the tan color of coffee. Then, because thick milk bubbles have low mobility and high plasticity, it is easy to hook out a small sharp cone after pouring into the cup.

Such a shape and color made people at that time directly think of the point-capped robe of Catholic Capuchin monks. Therefore, people called this thick-foamed milk coffee with Cappuccino.

Why is latte called latte? Similarly, latte is also a very classic Italian milk coffee. Unlike cappuccino, lattes use more milk and thinner foam. Take Qianjie as an example. When Qianjie uses the deep-baked Qianjie Italian classic mixture to make lattes, although the espresso base is also 40ml of coffee liquor extracted from 20g of powder, 180ml of milk will be used. The thickness of the milk foam is about 1 cm. Because more milk is added, the milk will balance the bitterness of the coffee. The coffee taste is not as strong and has a higher sweetness. The flavor is still caramel, chocolate, nuts, and cream.

In the same way, latte for latte is also a transliteration name, which is transliteration from Italian-"Caffè Latte." In Italian, Latte means milk, so literally it means milk coffee. Long before the advent of espresso,"Caffè" and "Latte" were used in combination to describe drinks mixed with milk and coffee. However, at that time, they more described the practice of adding milk to coffee rather than the name of a specific product. It was not until after the advent of espresso that "Caffè Latte" became the fixed name of a product in order to break down the differences between different products.

As Qianjie said, not everyone can accept the bitterness of coffee, especially espresso. Its extremely high concentration makes it difficult for those with a weak taste to accept. Even a cappuccino with milk is still Many people will think that coffee is too strong and too bitter to drink. So this led the coffee shop owner at the time to make improvements for cappuccino. A well-known saying is that in 1959, Lino Meiorin, owner of a cafe called Caffe Mediterraneum in Berkeley, California, diluted the bitterness of the coffee by reducing the thickness of the cappuccino foam and adding more milk to make it easier to taste.

In order to distinguish it from cappuccino, Lino Meiorin used "Caffe Latte" to name this cup of coffee with a lot of milk added. Interestingly, in the end, everyone felt that such a name was very troublesome to pronounce, so they simply removed the word Caffe in the name, which was abbreviated as "Latte" when ordering. Then, because Latte means milk in Italian, there is such a saying: When you go to an Italian cafe and want a cup of latte but only say "Latte" to the waiter, the waiter has a certain probability. Will serve you a cup of milk...

Why is American coffee called American? American coffee is a cup of black coffee made only from concentrate and water. Because the water does not affect the taste of the coffee, only the concentration of the coffee is affected, so the taste of the coffee is mainly the taste of the beans themselves. Take Qianjie as an example. The ratio of coffee and water used to make American style on Qianjie is 1:4. If the beans are made of medium-deep roasting, such as Qianjie's classic Italian mix, then the flavor of American coffee will be chocolate, caramel, nuts, and cream, with balanced taste and mellow taste; and if the coffee beans used are moderately roasted like Qianjie's Esther Huaquai, then the flavor of American coffee will be berry, citrus, floral, yellow sugar. The taste is mainly sour and light.

The birth of American coffee can be said to have the same effect as latte! Because as Front Street said earlier, not everyone could accept the intensity of espresso, especially the American soldiers who often dealt with espresso bars at the time. The extremely high concentration made American soldiers who were used to drinking low-concentration drip coffee reveal a mask of pain. They said that the coffee was difficult to swallow, so they asked the shopkeeper to add water to the coffee to dilute the coffee's strength so that it tasted lighter and had a concentration closer to American drip coffee.

Over time, this drinking method became popular among American soldiers, so the shop owner launched this coffee as an official product and named it after "Caffè Americano", referred to as "American Coffee." So, the above is the origin of some of the more classic Italian coffee names. Other coffee names such as Australian White and Dirty have been shared in detail on the street. Interested friends can find out through search.

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FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。