What Does Piccolo Coffee Mean and How Is It Made?

Piccolo coffee is a small latte, roughly half the volume of a regular latte, made with a single ristretto or espresso shot and about 60 ml of steamed milk. The name comes from the Italian word piccolo, meaning small. It sits close to a flat white in flavor, but the smaller milk volume lets the espresso's sweetness and acidity come through more clearly.

Piccolo Latte was not created for the consumer market at first. Roasters and baristas used it to test coffee beans and extraction parameters, since a full-size latte would be too much to drink during repeated cupping sessions. Serving it well is demanding: steaming only 60 ml of milk and integrating it into latte art tests a barista's technique.

Seeing the name "Piccolo" on a coffee menu, many people become curious: what exactly is the difference between it and a latte or a flat white? In fact, the formal name of Piccolo coffee is "small latte," derived from the Italian word Piccolo, meaning "small." It was originally not intended for consumers, but rather was a practical tool used by roasters and baristas to test coffee beans and extraction parameters. Over time, this small-volume milk coffee gradually made its way onto menus, becoming popular for its lower price and lighter feeling of fullness. However, making a good Piccolo is not simple—from steaming 60ml of milk to integrating and pouring latte art, every step tests the barista's skill. This article will take you through the origin of the name, its historical uses, flavor structure, and production difficulties to give you a comprehensive understanding of the real differences between Piccolo coffee, flat white, and latte.

A while ago, a regular customer at the shop mentioned during a chat: "I saw a rather interesting name on the menu at XX Coffee—Piccolo."

"So did you order it and try it?"

"Yes, it was a very delicate milk coffee, tasted good, somewhat like a latte and somewhat like a Flat White, just too small in volume."

"Then that's right, Piccolo is just a nickname; its real name is small latte."

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Is Piccolo coffee the same as a small latte?

Piccolo coffee is quite famous in Australia, with popularity no less than the flat white. As for why it is called Piccolo, it actually has to do with translation.

The foreign name for this coffee is "Piccolo Latte," and Australian baristas borrowed Italian to name it—"Piccolo" means "small" in Italian. So its original name should be "small latte," but since Australia is an English-speaking region, a direct English translation naturally became "Piccolo (Latte) coffee."

Whether from the name or from the flavor and structure of the drink, Piccolo coffee is a small-volume latte, or more precisely, half the serving of a regular latte.

Piccolo coffee was not originally created for the consumer market

Piccolo coffee (small latte) was first used by roasters or baristas to test coffee beans and extraction parameters. Test coffees are usually divided into espresso itself (or Americano) and milk coffee (mainly latte). Because it is only for testing flavor performance, making a latte to full specifications would be both wasteful and time-consuming.

So they used a split spout handle to divide one espresso into two portions—one to taste directly, and the other to make into a small latte by proportion and then taste.

Sometimes, café owners would also use this method to make small lattes for regular customers to taste new coffee beans. Over time, small latte (Piccolo coffee) began to be formally served. Its advantage is that you can drink a latte for less money without worrying about the feeling of fullness from a large volume, fitting the coffee culture of drinking quickly and leaving.

Piccolo coffee is not simply a small latte

Precisely because it is no different from a latte except for the smaller cup volume, Piccolo coffee is not very common in China. But making a presentable small latte is absolutely more difficult than an ordinary latte.

A traditional Piccolo latte uses a 3-ounce (90ml) glass, made by combining a single shot of espresso (20g or 30ml) with 60ml of steamed milk. The first difficulty lies in steaming 60ml of milk into milk foam, which greatly tests the barista's milk-steaming technique. Some baristas who consider their skills insufficient will add more milk to lower the difficulty, but this wastes more materials.

Next is integration and latte art. Because the cup volume is really too small, achieving even integration and pouring a pattern also greatly tests the barista's skill.

After being introduced to the market, some coffee shops, in order to make Piccolo coffee more recognizable, would make changes to the base, such as using Ristretto. The Piccolo coffee made this way has a fuller and richer coffee flavor than a latte.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.