Does a Latte Have to Contain Coffee?

No. The word latte is Italian for milk, so a drink labeled latte does not have to contain coffee. In Italy, ordering latte alone brings a glass of plain milk, and caffe latte is the term for milk coffee. Drinks such as what is matcha coffee, hojicha latte, and red velvet latte follow that same naming logic.

Coffee culture spread the Italian term through cafe menus, where latte became shorthand for milk coffee and then for any milk-based drink. Shops now borrow the word for powdered or tea-based drinks that contain no espresso at all. The result is a menu label describing the milk-forward format, not a promise that coffee is in the cup.

When ordering at a coffee shop, have you ever been confused by coffee-free drinks like "matcha latte" or "red velvet latte"? The name says "latte," yet what you get is a pure milk drink. Behind this lies an interesting story about language, history, and the spread of coffee culture. This article starts from two questions that Front Street Coffee is often asked—why do some lattes contain no coffee? And if they contain no coffee, why call them lattes?—to trace the evolution of the word "Latte" from its Italian meaning of "milk" to today's conventional shorthand for "milk coffee," and to explain the logic behind how coffee shops name coffee-free drinks. Whether you're a beginner coffee enthusiast or a consumer trying to decode the menu, this article will help you sort things out so you won't be confused the next time you order.

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When it comes to "latte," the definition that pops into most people's minds is "an Italian-style drink made by adding a large amount of milk to espresso." However, many consumers discover when actually ordering that not all drinks bearing the name "latte" contain coffee.

For example, matcha latte, hojicha latte, red velvet latte, Ovaltine latte, and the like, commonly seen on coffee shop menus, all carry the word "latte" in their names, yet the versions made at many shops contain no coffee at all. This situation has caused quite a few misunderstandings and brought confusion to customers.

Front Street is often asked questions like: "This drink is clearly called a latte, so how come there's no coffee in it?" and "If there's no coffee, then why name it a latte?"

Why do some "lattes" contain no coffee?

To answer this question, we need to start with the origin of the word "latte." "Latte" is a transliteration of Latte, a word from Italian. Front Street has previously shared a joke that circulates online: if you walk into an Italian café and want to order a latte coffee, but you say "Latte" instead of "Caffè latte," the barista will most likely hand you a glass of plain milk.

In the early days, this situation did indeed exist. The reason is that in Italian, "Latte" literally means milk, while "Caffè latte" specifically refers to milk coffee. Since you ordered milk, what comes out naturally contains no coffee. The "latte" in matcha latte and red velvet latte precisely restores Latte's original meaning—milk. So translated literally, it means "matcha milk" and "red velvet milk," and it's not hard to understand why there's no coffee.

But the reason Front Street emphasizes that this was "the early days" is that as latte coffee became more and more popular, the word "latte" gradually came to be tacitly accepted by the public as shorthand for latte coffee. So much so that when people mention latte now, the first thing they associate it with is milk coffee, and only then milk itself. It is precisely for this reason that names like matcha latte become the trigger for mix-ups.

In the mid-19th century, "Caffè" and "Latte" were formally included in Italian dictionaries and began to be used consistently. Although some people were already drinking milk mixed with coffee at the time, these two words were not combined back then. It was not until 30 years later, in 1867, that 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.

Since the espresso machine had not yet been invented at the time, the so-called "Caffe e latte" was simply milk added to brewed strong coffee, and the name did not spread widely. It was only after the invention of the espresso machine that "latte coffee" in the broad sense truly had the chance to "make its official debut" and enter the public eye. What follows is the story Front Street 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 American customers were not used to the highly concentrated coffee made by Italian espresso machines, so the shops had to localize their products—in other words, do as the locals do.

Latte coffee was born precisely in a California shop called "Caffe Mediterraneum." The shop added more milk to the traditional cappuccino, using the sweetness of the milk to neutralize the bitterness of the coffee, which greatly increased the drink's overall acceptability. After this milk-heavy version of cappuccino was written into the menu, in order to distinguish it from the traditional cappuccino, the shop named it "Caffè e latte" based on its milkier characteristics, which translates to milk coffee.

This Italian-style coffee with a large amount of milk was very popular locally and subsequently spread from the United States to the rest of the world thanks to the expansion of chain brands and the popularity of latte art. As coffee became increasingly integrated into daily life, people began to habitually abbreviate "Caffè latte" to "Latte."

Therefore, since the 1980s, Latte has been tacitly treated as the abbreviation of Caffè latte. Outside Italy, when people mention latte, most people's first reaction is Italian-style coffee with a large amount of milk. Italy itself has actually been affected to some extent as well: when foreign tourists order with "Latte" in Italian cafés, what they receive is often no longer a glass of milk, but a cup of milk coffee (most likely).

This leads to the second question: since calling it a "latte" easily causes misunderstandings, why do coffee shops still use "latte" to name products that contain no coffee?

Why use latte instead of simply calling it "milk"?

There are two reasons. First, the presentation of these products is exactly the same as that of a latte. Whether it's matcha latte, red velvet latte, or hojicha latte and other coffee-free lattes, when making them, the base is prepared first just like a latte—for the espresso part, economical everyday coffees like Front Street Classic Blend, Front Street Commercial Blend, Front Street Specialty Blend, and Front Street Dark Cocoa Base Blend are used—then a large amount of steamed milk is added to blend with the base, and finally milk foam is used to draw an exquisite pattern on the surface (for the hot version).

Whether in appearance or production process, it is much the same as a latte. The word "latte" happens to convey these characteristics precisely and make it easier for customers to understand, which becomes the first reason for using "latte" as the name.

Another reason is that the shops believe that naming these coffee-free products with the coffee industry's professional term "latte" can also associate them with the coffee shop. Therefore, rather than "milk," most shops prefer to call them "latte."

Usually, however, these coffee-free "lattes" are placed in the "coffee-free section" of the menu. So as long as you pay attention to where they are categorized on the menu, or confirm with the staff in advance, you basically won't run into too many situations where things turn out contrary to your expectations.

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