Forum: cooking.stackexchange.com
Tags: <coffee>
Title: What's the difference between latte, mocha, and all the other drinks on a coffee-house menu?
Question: There are many different coffee-based drinks on an average coffee-house menu.  But what makes them different from each other?  What are the differences / distinguishing characteristics between: latte, caffe misto, cappuccino, mocha, macchiato, Americano, and Cafe Au Lait?

Answers:
sents: text: I am surprised no one has mentioned this wonderful graphic (Credit: Espresso Field Guide by the aptly named Jay Mug ):
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/470/joyjit
score: 56
sents: text: Espresso: This is a finely ground very dark roast coffee, packed somewhat tightly in a special metal filter, with water "expressed" through it under pressure.
text: A very strong dark coffee, typically served in 1-2 ounce portions.
text: Very commonly incorrectly called "Expresso."
text: Americano:
text: Italians typically don't drink American Strength coffee.
text: They drink espresso in tiny cups.
text: Then the tourists came and wanted a mug of coffee like they get at home.
text: The Italian solution was to make an espresso and keep the water running through the grounds to weaken the coffee, and make the desired quantity.
text: (edit: Some locations may simply add hot water to the espresso in the cup.
text: This doesn't change the basic concept.)
text: An Americano is simply an espresso that has been drawn out with extra water to an American strength beverage -- Not to be confused with the typical brewed coffee, which is usually filtered.
text: Caffe au Lait: This is strong filtered or brewed coffee (not espresso), with warmed milk.
text: This is probably the easiest specialty coffee to make at home.
text: Just scald some milk in a pot and pour it over strongly brewed coffee.
text: Cappuccino:
text: A 1:1:1 ratio of espresso, steamed milk, and milk foam.
text: Typically the milk is steamed through a special high pressure steam pipe on the espresso machine.
text: This serves two functions.
text: To warm up the milk and to create a stiff foam on the top.
text: When pouring, the foam is held back with a spoon, and then scooped out on top.
text: I'll arbitrarily define the cappuccino as the base beverage for all that follow.
text: Macchiato:
text: Typically in North America, this is a cappuccino, but with the steamed milk component missing.
text: That is, it is espresso and frothed milk foam only.
text: Also called a "Dry" Cappuccino.
text: Macchiato has different meanings elsewhere.
text: Latte: A "wet" cappuccino.
text: Hold back the foam with a spoon, and pour the warm milk over the espresso.
text: Put a little bit of foam on top for decoration only.
text: Mocha:
text: Any one of the above espresso + milk drinks with chocolate added.
text: Some places will add hot chocolate to the drink, others will add a chocolate syrup.
text: A mocha latte is the common preparation.
text: Not to be confused with Mocha beans, which are an Ethiopian coffee bean which has a little bit of a naturally occurring chocolate flavour.
text: Misto: A Starbucks synonym for a Cafe au Lait.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/1148/Chris Cudmore
score: 55
sents: text: Latte:
text: An espresso drink that consists of espresso, steamed milk, and foam.
text: In a latte there is a greater percentage of steamed milk than foam.
text: Mocha: An espresso drink that consists of espresso, steamed milk, foam, and chocolate syrup.
text: In a mocha the chocolate syrup in stirred with the espresso to create a caffeinated hot chocolate with foam.
text: Cappuccino:
text: An espresso drink that also consists of espresso, steamed milk, and foam.
text: In a latte there is an equal percentage of steamed milk and foam.
text: In a wet cappuccino there is a slightly greater percentage of steamed milk.
text: In a dry cappuccino there is almost no steamed milk and consists of almost pure foam.
text: Espresso Macchiato:
text: A real macchiato is a shot of espresso and a single dollop of foam on top.
text: The shots can vary from 1 to 4.
text: Any more takes too long to pull and spoils the first 2 shots.
text: *
text: Starbucks has a drink called a caramel macchiato which is just an inverted latte with vanilla syrup at the bottom and caramel drizzle on top.
text: Americano:
text: A cup filled with hot water and topped with espresso shots.
text: An americano is an alternative to a regular cup of coffee and usually is more flavorful.
text: Cafe Au Lait: A cup of coffee filled 1/3 of the way with steamed milk.
text: An au lait is preferred by customers who want to add milk or cream to their coffee but do not want to lose the heat by adding cold milk.
text: Red Eye:
text: A cup of coffee that has shots of espresso added to make it stronger.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/10485/Chris
score: 19
sents: text: There is a fantastic graphic from Oatmeal , that explains the contents of most of your coffees.
text: I'd argue that a true cappuccino only contains foam, and no steamed milk, but besides that, to me, it's quite accurate.
text: The one it doesn't mention that I've made before, and is often confused with a mocha is a Cafés viennoise.
text: This is a latte where the milk is replaced by hot chocolate.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/9223/Pureferret
score: 6
sents: text: Irish coffee (Irish: caife Gaelach) is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey, and sugar (some recipes specify that brown sugar should be used), stirred, and topped with thick cream.
text: The original recipe explicitly uses cream that has not been whipped.
text: The coffee is drunk through the cream.
answer_details: author: cooking.stackexchange.com/users/37846/Catherine
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
An Americano is an espresso drawn out with extra water, and is not the same as filtered coffee. Café au Lait is strong coffee filled 1/3 of the way with steamed milk, and is called a Misto in Starbucks. A Mocha is an espresso drink that consists of espresso, steamed milk, foam, and chocolate syrup. A latte has a greater percentage of steamed milk than foam, and an Irish coffee is a cocktail consisting of hot coffee, Irish whiskey and sugar, stirred and topped with thick cream.
An Americano is an espresso with hot water. A caffe au lait is a coffee with milk. A mocha has espresso, steamed milk and chocolate.