Why does a matcha latte contain no coffee at all?

A matcha latte contains no coffee because latte is the Italian word for milk. In Italy, ordering simply a latte gets you a glass of milk; only caffe latte means coffee with milk. Drinks such as matcha latte, hojicha latte, and red velvet latte borrow that original meaning, so the name describes milk plus flavoring rather than an espresso drink, and the absence of coffee follows naturally.

The confusion grew as latte coffee spread worldwide and the short word latte became shorthand for the espresso drink. Coffee shops then reused the term for milk-based drinks without coffee, and the older sense faded from everyday use even though it never disappeared. Knowing the history of the word explains why menus list drinks that carry the latte name but never touch a coffee bean, and it removes the surprise at the counter.

Ordering a matcha latte at a coffee shop only to find there's no coffee in it at all—many people have probably had this experience. Why is it called a latte if it contains no coffee? What exactly does the word latte mean? To answer these questions, we need to turn our gaze back to the Italian word Latte, tracing the semantic shift of this term from milk to milk coffee, and how it acquired new meanings as Italian coffee spread globally. This article will start with the etymology of Latte, trace the story of how latte coffee was born in the United States, and explain why coffee shops are so keen on using latte to name drinks that contain no coffee, helping you avoid confusion the next time you face a menu.

In coffee shops, drinks like matcha latte, hojicha latte, red velvet latte, and Ovaltine latte are quite common. Their names all carry the word latte, yet many shops make versions that contain no coffee at all. This situation has caused a lot of misunderstandings and raised questions. Front Street Coffee is often asked similar questions: the name clearly says latte, so why is there no coffee in it? And if it contains no coffee, why must it be called a latte?

To understand why some lattes contain no coffee, we first need to know that the Chinese word 拿铁 is a transliteration of Latte, and Latte comes from Italian. Front Street Coffee has previously shared a joke that circulates online: if you walk into an Italian café and want to order a latte coffee, but only say "Latte" without saying "Caffè latte," the barista will serve you a glass of milk.

In earlier times, this was indeed the case. Because in Italian, Latte simply means milk, and only Caffè latte means milk coffee. Since you ordered milk, getting milk without coffee is hardly surprising. The latte in matcha latte and red velvet latte takes precisely the original meaning of Latte—milk—so in Chinese it becomes matcha milk and red velvet milk, and containing no coffee follows naturally. However, Front Street Coffee wants to emphasize that this was only the early situation. As latte coffee grew more and more popular, the word latte gradually came to be tacitly understood as shorthand for latte coffee, to the point that now when we hear latte, the first thing we think of is milk coffee, and only afterward do we realize its original meaning is milk. This is exactly why names like matcha latte cause mix-ups.

In the mid-19th century, Caffè and Latte were included in Italian dictionaries and began to be used consistently. Although the practice of mixing milk and coffee had existed for a long time, these two words were not combined together at the time. It was not until thirty years later, in 1867, that the American writer William Dean Howells, in his book Italian Journeys, first used Caffe e latte to describe a drink made by mixing milk and coffee. But at that time the espresso machine had not yet been invented, and the so-called Caffe e latte was merely milk added to brewed strong coffee, and the name was not widely known. Only later, when the espresso machine appeared, did latte coffee in the broad sense have the chance to formally debut and be recognized by the world. From here begins the story that Front Street Coffee often mentions.

In the 1950s and 1960s, a large number of Italians immigrated to the United States with coffee machines, opening shops there to make a living. But Americans were not used to the highly concentrated coffee made by Italian espresso machines, so the shops had to localize their products—that is, do as the locals do. Latte coffee was born in a California shop called Caffe Mediterraneum. The shop poured more milk into the traditional cappuccino, using the sweetness of the milk to dilute the bitterness of the coffee, and the drink's acceptability rose dramatically as a result. This cappuccino with more milk was written into the menu, and to distinguish it from the traditional cappuccino, the shop named it Caffè e latte based on its milkier character—which translates to milk coffee.

Afterward, this Italian coffee with a large amount of milk won widespread praise locally, and with the growth of chain brands and the spread of latte art, it traveled from the United States to the rest of the world. As coffee became increasingly integrated into daily life, people grew accustomed to abbreviating Caffè latte as Latte. Thus, since the 1980s, Latte has been tacitly accepted as the abbreviation of Caffè latte. Outside Italy, when people mention latte, most first think of that cup of Italian coffee with a large amount of milk. Italy itself has actually been affected to some degree: when foreign tourists order with "Latte" in an Italian café, what they receive is no longer a glass of milk, but most likely a milk coffee.

This leads to the second question: since being called a latte easily causes misunderstanding, why do coffee shops still use it to name products that contain no coffee? Why not just call it milk? There are two reasons. First, the presentation of these products is the same as that of a latte. Whether it's a matcha latte or a coffee-free latte such as red velvet or hojicha, the preparation, like a latte, involves combining a large amount of steamed milk with a base, then drawing delicate patterns on the surface with milk foam (for the hot version). In both appearance and process, it is almost identical to a latte. The word latte happens to express these characteristics completely, making it easy for customers to understand—this is the first reason.

The other reason is that shops believe using the coffee-world term latte to name these products can associate these coffee-free items with the coffee shop as well. So rather than milk, most shops prefer to call them lattes. Of course, generally speaking, these coffee-free lattes are placed in the coffee-free section of the menu. So as long as you pay attention to which category they are placed under on the menu, or ask the staff in advance, things are unlikely to turn out contrary to your wishes.

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