A cappuccino is an espresso-based coffee drink that is traditionally prepared with steamed milk foam (microfoam).
Espresso is one of the most popular coffee-brewing methods, of Italian origin. The French also made a significant contribution to the invention of the first coffee makers, predecessors of today's espresso machines, and generally to the café culture. Espresso can be made with a wide variety of coffee beans and roast degrees, in which a small amount of nearly boiling water is forced under pressure through finely-ground coffee beans. Espresso is the most common way of making coffee in southern Europe, especially in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece, but it is also popular in the rest of the world.
Caffè latte, often shortened to just latte in English, is a coffee drink of Italian origin made with espresso and steamed milk. Variants include the chocolate-flavored mocha or replacing the coffee with another beverage base such as masala chai, mate, matcha, turmeric or rooibos; alternatives to milk, such as soy milk or almond milk, are also used.
An espresso machine brews coffee by forcing pressurized water near boiling point through a "puck" of ground coffee and a filter in order to produce a thick, concentrated coffee called espresso. Multiple machine designs have been created to produce espresso. Several machines share some common elements, such as a grouphead and a portafilter. An espresso machine may also have a steam wand which is used to steam and froth liquids for coffee drinks such as cappuccino and caffe latte.
Ristretto is a "short shot" of a more highly concentrated espresso coffee. It is made with the same amount of ground coffee, but extracted with a finer grind using half as much water. A normal short shot might look like a ristretto, but in reality, would only be a weaker, more diluted, shot. The opposite of a ristretto is a lungo ("long"), which have double water amount. The French call a ristretto a café serré.
Café au lait is coffee with hot milk added. It differs from white coffee, which is coffee with cold milk or other whiteners added.
A cortado is a beverage consisting of espresso mixed with a roughly equal amount of warm milk to reduce the acidity, although the exact ratios have considerable regional variation. The milk in a cortado is steamed, but not frothy and "texturized" as in many Italian coffee drinks. The cortado comes from Spain, most likely Madrid, where it is commonly served. The word cortado is the past participle of the Spanish verb cortar, in the sense of "dilute", and can refer variously to either coffee or espresso drinks throughout Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.
A coffee cup is a container, a cup, for serving coffee and coffee-based drinks. There are three major types: conventional cups used with saucers, mugs used without saucers, and disposable cups. Cups and mugs generally have a handle. Disposable paper cups used for take-out sometimes have fold-out handles, but are more often used with an insulating coffee cup sleeve.
A caffè mocha, also called mocaccino, is a chocolate-flavoured warm beverage that is a variant of a caffè latte, commonly served in a glass rather than a mug. Other commonly used spellings are mochaccino and also mochachino. The name is derived from the city of Mokha, Yemen, which was one of the centres of early coffee trade. Like latte, the name is commonly shortened to just mocha.
Latte macchiato is a coffee beverage. The name is Italian for "stained milk" or "marked milk", referring to the way the drink is prepared by pouring a shot of espresso into steamed milk. It is a play on espresso macchiato, an older drink consisting of espresso marked with a dollop or two of milk or cream.
A flat white is a coffee drink consisting of espresso with microfoam. It generally has a higher proportion of espresso to milk than a caffè latte, and a thinner layer of microfoam than a cappuccino. Although the term "flat white" was used in the United Kingdom to describe a type of espresso-based drink in the 1960s, the modern flat white was developed in Australia and New Zealand.
The Neapolitan flip coffee pot is a drip brew coffeemaker for the stove top that was very popular in Italy until the 20th century. Unlike a moka express, a napoletana does not use the pressure of steam to force the water through the coffee, relying instead on gravity.
Coffee preparation is the process of turning coffee beans into liquid coffee. While the particular steps vary with the type of coffee and with the raw materials, the process includes four basic steps: raw coffee beans must be roasted, the roasted coffee beans must then be ground, and the ground coffee must then be mixed with hot or cold water for a specific time (brewed), the liquid coffee extraction must be separated from the used grounds, and finally, if desired, the extracted coffee is combined with other elements of the desired beverage, such as sweeteners, dairy products, dairy alternatives, or toppings.
The moka pot is a stove-top or electric coffee maker that brews coffee by passing hot water driven by vapor pressure through ground coffee. Named after the Yemeni city of Mocha, it was invented by Italian engineer Luigi Di Ponti in 1933 who sold the patent to Alfonso Bialetti, an aluminum vendor. It quickly became one of the staples of Italian culture. Bialetti Industries continues to produce the original model under the trade name "Moka Express".
Alfonso Bialetti was an Italian engineer who became famous for introducing the Moka Express coffeemaker. Designed in 1933, the coffee pot has been a style icon since the 1950s. While many variations of the Moka have been developed, including the Bialetti cow-printed Mukka Express, the original remains a time-honoured classic. Bialetti was also the founder of Bialetti Industries, the now giant Italian kitchen-ware company.
Milk coffee is a category of coffee-based drinks made with milk. Johan Nieuhof, the Dutch ambassador to China, is credited as the first person to drink coffee with milk when he experimented with it around 1660.
Caffè Americano is a type of coffee drink prepared by diluting an espresso shot with hot water at a 1:3 to 1:4 ratio, resulting in a drink that retains the complex flavors of espresso, but in a lighter way. Its strength varies with the number of shots of espresso and the amount of water added. The name is also spelled with varying capitalization and use of diacritics: e.g., café americano.
Latte art is a method of preparing coffee created by pouring microfoam into a shot of espresso and resulting in a pattern or design on the surface of the latte. It can also be created or embellished by simply "drawing" in the top layer of foam. Latte art is particularly difficult to create consistently, due to the demanding conditions required of both the espresso shot and milk. This, in turn, is limited by the experience of the barista and quality of the espresso machine. The term also applies to other beverages containing milk foam, such as cappuccino and hot chocolate.
A coffeemaker, coffee maker or coffee machine is a cooking appliance used to brew coffee. While there are many different types of coffeemakers, the two most common brewing principles use gravity or pressure to move hot water through coffee grounds. In the most common devices, coffee grounds are placed into a paper or metal filter inside a funnel, which is set over a glass or ceramic coffee pot, a cooking pot in the kettle family. Cold water is poured into a separate chamber, which is then boiled and directed into the funnel and allowed to drip through the grounds under gravity. This is also called automatic drip-brew. Coffee makers that use pressure to force water through the coffee grounds are called espresso makers, and they produce espresso coffee.
