How Do You Make Americano and Where Does Latte Fit?

Latte is the Italian word for milk. In Italy, ordering a plain latte brings a cup of hot milk, and the coffee drink is properly called caffe latte, a pairing of espresso and steamed milk served mainly at breakfast. Drinks such as matcha latte or red velvet latte borrow the name from milk, not from coffee, which is why they often contain none.

The drink's history runs from Italian home kitchens, where coffee and milk were heated side by side, to mid-nineteenth-century menu listings, and later to global cafes. For anyone who wants coffee in the cup, the practical answer is to order a caffe latte or to make an americano, which is espresso diluted with hot water and no milk at all.

Latte is a classic fusion of espresso and milk, but its origins are far more convoluted than one might imagine—why do some "lattes" contain no coffee? Why do Italians get a cup of milk when they order a Latte? This article traces the complete story of latte coffee from Italian breakfast tables to global cafés, covering etymology, history, and brewing techniques, while sharing Front Street Coffee's practical experience in ingredient selection, ratio adjustment, and crema control, helping coffee enthusiasts understand what makes a good latte.

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The name "latte" comes from the transliteration of the Italian word "Latte." In Italy, saying "Latte" alone refers to hot milk, while the full term for latte coffee is "CoffeeLatte," which belongs to the category of flavored coffee. Latte coffee is a classic pairing of espresso and milk, and Italians often treat it as a breakfast beverage. In Italian home kitchens in the early morning, coffee and milk are often heated simultaneously on stovetops bathed in sunlight. For Italians who drink lattes, it's not so much that they prefer espresso as that they favor milk, and only espresso can inject unforgettable flavor into otherwise plain milk.

"An Italian coffee with a large amount of milk added"—this is most people's usual understanding of "latte." However, many friends have noticed that not all drinks bearing the name "latte" contain coffee.

For example, matcha lattes, hojicha lattes, red velvet lattes, and Ovaltine lattes commonly found in coffee shops—although they all have "latte" in their names, many versions served by shops contain no coffee. This has caused considerable confusion and raised many questions.

Front Street is often asked such questions: "It's clearly called a latte, so why is there no coffee in it?" and "Since it contains no coffee, why is it still called a latte?"

Why do some "lattes" contain no coffee?

To answer this question, we must first clarify the origin of the word "latte." It is the transliteration of Latte, which is an Italian word. Front Street has previously shared a joke circulating online: "If you want to order a latte coffee in an Italian café, but you only say latte (Latte) without saying latte coffee (Caffè latte), the server will bring you a cup of milk."

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 with coffee had already appeared at that time, these two words were not combined together during that period. It was not until thirty years later, in 1867, that American writer William Dean Howells first used "Caffe e latte" in his book Italian Journeys to refer to a drink made by mixing milk and coffee.

However, espresso machines had not yet been invented at that time, so "Caffe e latte" back then simply meant adding milk to brewed strong coffee, and the name was not familiar to the general public. It was not until the advent of the espresso machine that "latte coffee" in the broad sense truly made its "official debut" and gained the opportunity to be recognized by everyone. What follows is the story Front Street often mentions~

In the 1950s and 1960s, a large number of Italians emigrated to the United States with coffee machines, opening shops there to make a living. But Americans were not accustomed to the high-concentration coffee produced by Italian espresso machines, so shop owners had to localize and improve their products—in other words, do as the locals do.

Latte coffee was born in a California shop called "Caffe Mediterraneum." The owner added more milk to traditional cappuccino, using the sweetness of milk to dilute the bitterness of coffee, which greatly increased the drink's overall acceptability. This cappuccino with more milk was added to the menu, and to distinguish it from traditional cappuccino, the owner 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 was widely praised locally, and with the growth of chain brands and the spread of latte art, it expanded from the United States to the rest of the world. As coffee gradually became part of daily life, people habitually shortened "Caffè latte" to "Latte."

Therefore, since the 1980s, Latte has been tacitly accepted as the "abbreviation" of Caffè latte. When we mention latte outside Italy, most people immediately think of Italian coffee with a large amount of milk added. Italy itself has actually been influenced to some extent—when foreign tourists order with "Latte" in Italian cafés, what they receive is no longer a cup of milk, but a cup of milk coffee.

In Front Street's view, to make a delicious latte, besides equipment requirements, you also need to choose the right ingredients, control the ratio, and have one essential factor—rich crema.

First, the choice of milk is very important. For whole fresh milk alone, there are more than ten common varieties on the market. Among these milks, some have a strong milky flavor and thick mouthfeel, while others are as light as water. The standard for choosing milk is not simply to pursue thickness and a prominent milky flavor, but to choose one that pairs well with coffee. A strong milky flavor will mask some of the coffee's taste, while milk with an obvious watery character will make the latte watery.

In order to let coffee and milk blend perfectly and balance each other, Front Street's iced latte uses Sunflower Warm Sun Blend and Vitasoy fresh milk, with a ratio of 35g espresso, 250ml fresh milk, and 75g ice cubes. This ratio is for everyone's reference; it is not the golden ratio for latte coffee. Front Street arrived at these parameters by adjusting the ratio multiple times using the above ingredients, mainly based on real tasting feedback.

To have dense crema with good flow, Front Street believes that a pressure-type espresso machine is indispensable, and secondly, high-quality coffee beans. Front Street has developed a Front Street espresso blend for customers who love crema and mouthfeel, named "Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans," which is made from Arabica coffee beans from Brazil and Colombia blended with 10% Robusta coffee beans.

This blend tastes rich in crema and mouthfeel, with caramel sweetness, along with nutty, cocoa-like, and dark chocolate roasted aromas—rich and balanced, slightly bittersweet, with a lasting finish. Adding a small amount of Robusta coffee beans increases the richness of the crema and its golden color; because the amount is small, it does not alter the flavor too much.

The reason Front Street named this blend "Front Street Commercial Blend Coffee Beans" is that it performs very well whether used to make Americano or milk coffee, and with its price advantage, it is very suitable for use when opening a café.

To create perfect latte art, we first need to extract an Espresso with rich but moderate crema, so that the foam layer can blend better with the milk, and the latte art pattern will also be more stable. Based on Front Street Coffee's experience, choosing medium-dark roasted espresso beans is very beneficial for this.

Besides choosing the right coffee, we also need to pay attention to the freshness of the beans. Overly fresh espresso beans contain a large amount of carbon dioxide, so the resulting crema is relatively thick, which is not conducive to latte art, and they need to be rested for 5–7 days; stale espresso beans, lacking enough carbon dioxide, cannot produce enough crema and appear thin, unable to blend with milk foam. Front Street recommends using coffee beans with a roast date within 7–45 days to make espresso. Precisely because we know the importance of freshness to coffee flavor, Front Street has insisted for years on shipping beans roasted within 5 days, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the coffee's full peak flavor period after receiving it.

Espresso is still the base used to make latte coffee, and when making a hot latte, it is often "incidentally" paired with exquisite latte art patterns. Fine and rich crema makes latte art easier. Espresso with good crema can blend better with milk foam and maintain a stable state, which has a huge impact on the fineness and setting of latte art. Although espresso without crema can also be used for latte art, the patterns come out rather stiff and rough in appearance.

In addition, because crema is produced when the oils in coffee encapsulate the carbon dioxide in coffee, the amount of crema can also be used to judge whether the coffee beans are fresh—the more crema, the fresher the coffee beans. Precisely because we know that for latte art, freshly roasted coffee beans are the primary requirement, the coffee beans shipped by Front Street are guaranteed to be freshly roasted within 5 days, so that when you receive the coffee from the logistics provider, it is just within the best flavor period. In this way, we hope every customer can drink the most complete and flavorful good coffee.

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