Step into Front Street Coffee, and beside the espresso machine you'll find ceramic cups of all sizes, each corresponding to a specific type of coffee. The size of the cup not only affects the visual appeal of the drink, but is also closely tied to coffee intensity, heat retention, and flavor presentation. This article explains, by small, medium, and large sizes, the cup capacities suited to espresso, Americano, cappuccino, and latte respectively, and combines Front Street's brewing parameters and blended bean choices to help you understand the relationship between cup size and flavor, while also offering a reference for choosing suitable coffee beans when making milk coffee in daily life.

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Arriving at Front Street Coffee, you'll see various ceramic cups arranged on the espresso machine counter. They are not displayed at random—each cup corresponds to a specific purpose, and different types of coffee are paired with different cup sizes. Next, Front Street will reveal the secrets behind these coffee cups.

Coffee Cup Sizes The coffee cups used at Front Street Coffee can be roughly divided into three categories by capacity. The cup size often gives a preliminary indication of how strong the coffee inside is. Generally speaking, the smaller the cup capacity, the more intense the coffee it holds.

Small Coffee Cup Front Street's small cup is made of white ceramic, with a capacity of about 60ml. This type of cup is mainly used at Front Street for serving espresso. Front Street Coffee's espresso offering uses the Sunflower Warm Sun blend, with a single dose of 20g of grounds, extracting 40g of coffee liquid within 28 seconds. The espresso with golden crema fills the small cup perfectly, creating a very harmonious visual effect. When the small ceramic cup is filled exactly to the brim with espresso, heat retention is optimal, keeping the coffee at its ideal drinking temperature for longer.

Besides serving espresso, this small cup is also used as a sharing cup for single-origin pour-over coffee.

Medium Coffee Cup Front Street's medium cup is a taller ceramic cup with a capacity between 180ml and 200ml. This size is commonly used at Front Street for making Americano and cappuccino.

Americano is made with 40g of espresso plus 160g of hot water, a ratio of 1:4, resulting in a good-looking cup of black coffee. When Front Street's espresso extracted from the Warm Sun blend is combined with four times its volume in water, the aromas of vanilla, cream, chocolate, and sherry are fully amplified.

As for cappuccino, Front Street uses 20g of espresso paired with 160ml of steamed, thickly foamed milk. Once the milk foam is ready, it is poured directly into the coffee, ultimately creating an "eleven-tenths full" state rising above the rim of the cup—white milk foam in the center, surrounded by a ring of golden coffee crema, resembling the hood of a Capuchin friar. This is the origin of the name cappuccino, meaning "friar's hood." The dense coffee foam combined with the rich coffee flavor satisfies both the palate and the taste buds.

Large Coffee Cup Front Street's large cup is a standard 300ml ceramic coffee cup, used for serving latte, mocha, and the like. Front Street Coffee's latte has a coffee-to-milk ratio of 1:6.5, meaning 40ml of espresso with 260ml of hot milk. By pouring in a circular motion to fully integrate the milk and espresso, you get a cup of hot latte. When fresh milk is heated, the sweet molecules in lactose are better released. Once evenly mixed with the espresso, the entire latte carries the natural sweetness of milk, yet it doesn't overpower the espresso. Instead, against the backdrop of milk, the espresso's flavors become even more prominent. The flavor profile of Front Street's hot latte is: whisky aroma, with lactose and coffee acidity interweaving into a milkshake-like sweetness, and a finish featuring hazelnut and other nutty notes.

In a coffee cup with a wide rim, baristas can more easily create exquisite latte art patterns. A well-integrated latte with beautiful latte art satisfies both the taste buds and the mood at the same time.

Front Street believes that making espresso requires not only mastering cup size but also choosing the right coffee beans. For those who prefer milk coffees like latte, flat white, and cappuccino, we recommend Front Street Classic Espresso Blend. This blend is composed of beans from three origins—Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam—and uses a dark roast to maximize the coffee's rich aroma, while also making it easy to extract abundant, dense crema. Whether you're making an Americano diluted with water or a latte paired with milk, it's a great fit. You can place an order at Front Street's Taobao store or Front Street's Tmall flagship store.

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