A Guide to Speciality Coffee Drinks: "Know Your Espresso"

In the last 20 years, coffee culture has changed a lot. Not too long ago, there were only two kinds of coffee: regular and decaf. If you wanted a speciality coffee like an espresso or a cappuccino, you had to go to a fancy Italian restaurant and order it with your dessert.

Today, even at a simple suburban cafe, you can order a huge variety of speciality coffee drinks. But most people don't know or don't understand the differences between the different drinks made with espresso. When both are made of espresso and hot water, it's hard to remember what makes an Americano different from a Long Black. When is a Latte a Macchiato instead? And when do you stop calling the chocolate-flavored sugar bomb you get every morning from Starbucks coffee?

If you're the kind of person who never knows what you want when you go to your favorite coffee shop, or if the drinks you get aren't what you expected, it might be because you don't know what you're ordering.

If you're not sure what to do next time you're at the counter, this handy little guide will help. If this doesn't help you decide, just look at what other people are buying and choose the most popular drink.

Speciality coffee drinks:

Espresso Americano Long Black Cappuccino Flat White Macchiato Latte Mocha

Espresso

This is the base of all the drinks that come after it. And just like all of those drinks, espresso is more about how it is made than what it is made of. You can make espresso with any kind of bean. The term "espresso bean" just means that the bean has been roasted for longer, giving it darker colours and a more oily surface. During the brewing process, the finely ground bean is packed tightly before water and steam close to boiling are forced through. The drink itself is darker and thicker than coffee, and the oils on the top make a creamy layer called "crema."

Americano

The story about how this drink got started is that US soldiers diluted their espressos to make them taste like the coffee they were used to back home. The Americano is made with one shot of espresso and enough hot water to fill an eight-ounce cup.

Long black coffee

This is an American turned on its head, which makes sense since it's a popular drink in Australia and New Zealand. In this case, hot water goes into the cup first, followed by two shots of espresso. If you pour the espresso into the water instead of the other way around, the crema will stay on top, where it has a bigger effect on the taste. Long Black fans will tell you that the result is a complex and tasty drink that hits a few notes that an Americano can't. This is a nice way to hide the fact that they also need their espresso diluted.

Cappuccino

Espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam should all be the same amount. The trick is to pour the warm milk into the espresso and keep the foam back until the end. People say that the foam cap insulates the rest of the drink, keeping it warmer for longer.

Flat Black

In Australia, Flat White is so common that it's almost the same thing as "coffee." It's a variation on cappuccino. After the milk is steamed, the froth at the top is folded back into the milk at the bottom to make a thicker, non-frothy texture that is then poured into the espresso.

Macchiato

Millions of people think that a macchiato has caramel syrup in it because of Starbucks. That just isn't true. A macchiato is like a cappuccino, but the steamed milk is left out. Only a small amount of milk foam, which is added before the espresso, goes into it.

Latte

A latte is like a cappuccino in that it has espresso and steamed milk, but it doesn't have any foam on top.

Mocha

The mocha is a change from the latte, which is a change from the cappuccino. Here, the difference is that chocolate syrup is added to the steamed milk and espresso.