Latte is probably the most varied coffee in Starbucks.

I have my reasons for saying this.

If you stand at the counter of a Starbucks and look at the menu board behind it for a moment, you will realize this.

"Vanilla Latte", "Hazelnut Latte", "Matcha Latte", "Black Tea Latte", "Strong Coffee Latte", not to mention the ordinary "Latte".

You see, the other two drinks that belong to the “Starbucks Three-Piece Set”, “Cappuccino” and “Mocha”, do not have so many clones.

Usually, after ordering coffee, if you pay close attention in front of the coffee counter, you will see that most of the people queuing up order lattes.

Many people are curious, "What is the origin of latte?"

“Why does Starbucks have so many lattes?”

This starts with its name.

1

Latte coffee, the meaning of the name

Latte coffee is the transliteration name in mainland China.

In its hometown of Italy, latte is called Caffè Latte, or it can also be called Caffelatte or Caffellatte.

Latte means "milk" in Italian, so the real meaning of latte is milk coffee.

Because of this "Latte", some jokes were also caused.

I have a friend who traveled to Italy two years ago. He wanted to experience Italy’s coffee culture, so he went to a local coffee shop on purpose.

When he told the waiter that he wanted a glass of "Latte", he didn't expect that the waiter brought him a glass of fresh milk.

My friend was dumbfounded and didn't know what was going on.

Later, the tour guide came over and explained, and he realized that in Italy, if you want to drink latte, you have to say its full name "Caffe Latte".

If you just say "Latte", Italians will think you want a glass of fresh milk, which will cause misunderstanding.

However, the root of this misunderstanding lies on the Americans' side.

Who knows, Americans always call it “Latte” “Latte” and never call it by its full name, so people all over the world also follow suit and just call it “Latte”.

It is the people of Hong Kong and Macao who came up with the appropriate name. They call latte "fresh milk coffee".

This name is indeed very insightful and it also points out the recipe of latte coffee.

2

Latte, coffee with milk

In fact, making latte coffee couldn’t be simpler.

Add hot milk to coffee and you have a latte.

However, the milk in latte must be more than coffee. Usually the ratio between milk and coffee is between 2:1 and 5:1.

There is no strict rule on the ratio, you can adjust it according to your own preferences.

Therefore, at Starbucks, if you want a milkier latte, you might as well ask the guy at the front desk, "Please give me more milk!"

Of course, the amount of coffee in Starbucks' latte is fixed, and it is made from espresso ground by an espresso machine. I have talked about this in "Why is espresso rarely on the menu of coffee shops? - Italian coffee - quickly become an expert in food and drink! -".

Maybe some friends think that latte has too strong milk flavor and too light coffee flavor.

So, the attentive Starbucks launched a "rich coffee latte", which has a much stronger coffee flavor than ordinary latte.

However, if I, Zheng Xiaota, were to say, I still prefer to drink Starbucks' ordinary latte.

“When you drink latte, you drink its unique milky flavor. Milk is the main character!”

The milk flavor is not obvious, is it still the original latte?

Speaking of the original latte coffee, it is precisely because of the presence of milk that latte has become a classic.

3

Latte coffee, the story behind the classic

Just like a sandwich, one or two slices of bread, plus some vegetables or meat ingredients, and a sandwich is born.

Same thing with latte.

Since coffee became a drink for Europeans, latte has appeared.

Maybe at that time, a European couldn't get used to the bitter taste of coffee, so he added milk to it, and thus latte was created.

According to historical records, Europeans began drinking latte in the 17th century, and it was initially used as a breakfast beverage with bread.

It is mentioned in the article "Did Starbucks make "Italian coffee" popular? - Italian coffee - quickly become a food and drink expert! -" that the Italians invented the Italian coffee machine in 1884, making Italy the world's coffee center.

This is a landmark event in the coffee world.

Since then, coffee houses have gradually appeared in Europe, starting from Italy. Fancy coffees such as latte, mocha, and cappuccino have also become "Internet celebrity coffees" in European social circles.

At that time, the method of making latte was still the same as before, pouring hot milk into espresso, which is what people now call Italian latte.

However, an American went to Italy and completely changed the fate of latte, making it a world-famous coffee.

4

Starbucks and Latte

This person is the current Starbucks owner Howard Schultz.

In 1983, he went on a business trip to Milan, Italy, to attend an exhibition.

This trip was like "Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden", which allowed Schultz to experience the various varieties of Italian coffee, and also made him realize the monotony and boredom of American coffee culture.

So, after returning to the United States, Schultz launched the Starbucks version of latte coffee in 1984, which was very popular. Seattle, where Starbucks is located, is also known as the "Latte Capital".

Although there were already coffee shops selling latte in the United States before this, it was Starbucks that made latte a global classic coffee.

However, the Starbucks latte we drink now should be called American latte, to be more precise.

It has been modified by coffee shops such as Starbucks and is obviously different from Italian latte.

Although, the amount of milk added to Starbucks latte is more than twice that of Italian latte.

But the difference between them mainly lies in the milk foam.

Italian latte, no milk foam, just hot milk poured into espresso.

American latte is made from espresso with a little milk foam (foam) added.

So, when you drink Starbucks latte now, you will see a thick layer of milk foam after opening the lid.

Take a sip and you'll have a smooth feeling. Even after you swallow it, there will still be some fine foam lingering on your lips.

Even if you drink half the cup, there are still dense little bubbles hanging on the wall of the cup, refusing to let go.

However, it is precisely the "innovative addition" of milk foam in American latte that creates an "inexplicable" relationship between it and cappuccino.

5

The relationship between latte and cappuccino

At this point, you may be curious again.

"Zheng Xiaota, last time you said that there is an inexplicable relationship between Lafite and Lafite red wines. How come latte and cappuccino also have an inexplicable relationship?"

Because, compared with cappuccino (left), the American latte with milk foam (on the right) looks like Wang Luodan and Bai Baihe, they look so similar.

In the article "Why do girls like to drink "Cappuccino" from Starbucks Coffee? - Starbucks Coffee - Quickly become an expert in eating and drinking! -", I mentioned that latte and cappuccino are both made of three ingredients: espresso, milk, and milk foam.

Add more milk and it becomes latte.

Cappuccino is a mixture of coffee, milk and milk foam in a 1:1:1 ratio.

Sometimes, when I drink latte, I think it is a "milk-added" version of cappuccino.

Because of this, when you drink Starbucks latte, you will smell a strong taste of fresh milk, which is very tempting.

When you drink cappuccino, it has more coffee flavor, more and thicker milk foam than latte, and tastes slightly bitter.

6

Latte, the “basic” coffee

A friend of mine runs a barista training school in Hangzhou. She told me,

"Zheng Xiaota, latte is still a basic coffee that can be dressed up as you like."

In fact, this sentence also explains why Starbucks has so many lattes.

It's like the rice in Japanese sushi.

Add a slice of salmon and it becomes salmon sushi, put tuna on it and it becomes tuna sushi, and put sweet shrimp on it and it becomes sweet shrimp sushi.

The same goes for latte!

Add more milk foam and less milk to latte, and it will be the cappuccino coffee mentioned above.

Add hot chocolate and your latte becomes a mocha.

If you change the order in which you pour milk and coffee, you get another version of latte, “Cafe au Lait”, which is the French’s favorite.

If the milk foam of latte is made more "fine" and the cup is changed to a smaller one, we can have the globally popular Flat white coffee, as shown in the left and right pictures below, which are latte coffee.

Starbucks adds vanilla syrup and hazelnut syrup to the recipe to create "vanilla flavored latte" and "hazelnut flavored latte".

There is also the "Toffee Hazelnut Latte" that many girls love. It is Starbucks' Christmas special drink and is only available around Christmas every year.

I almost forgot that Starbucks also has "Iced Latte".

It is best to drink it in the summer. It does not have the greasy feeling of hot latte and is slightly cool. It is also a popular drink at Starbucks.

However, you’d better tell the Starbucks guy, “less ice”, otherwise, the cup will be full of ice cubes, which is not worth the price!

But some Starbucks lattes, although called lattes, are actually "fake lattes".

7

Matcha latte, black tea latte, coffee latte

In recent years, Starbucks has launched a series of tea beverages - Teavana drinks - based on the preferences of Asians.

There are two drinks, Matcha Latte and Black Tea Latte.

I have several female friends who like to drink latte. When they saw Starbucks launched a new latte product, they couldn’t help but try it as soon as possible.

But after drinking it, they cried out that they felt cheated. It was clearly a "fake" latte.

Matcha latte and black tea latte do not contain any coffee ingredients at all, only the taste of "tea" and "milk".

I can only comfort myself in this way. "Latte" originally means "milk". Black tea plus milk is called black tea latte, which makes sense literally.

Although, their real names should be Matcha milk and black tea milk.

Who makes "Latte Coffee" so popular all over the world!

Even Starbucks, which has always been high-profile, couldn't help but play with the name.