How to Prepare Your CoffeeItalian Caffè Latte
What you need
Ingredients run from the top of the cup to the bottom; the last item is the bottom layer. Values are normalized to a true 100% stack.
- Grind
- Fine — espresso grind
- Water temperature
- Espresso 90–94°C · milk hot, below boiling
- Total time
- 4 min
A caffè latte is Italy's breakfast coffee: one fresh espresso lengthened with a generous pour of hot milk, served at the bar in a glass and at home in a wide cup or bowl made for dunking biscuits. In Italy the milky drinks belong to the morning. The Italian version is flatter and simpler than the international café latte most of the world knows: the milk is heated and kept liquid, not whipped into a cap, so the coffee stays a quiet thread inside a warm, mostly-milk drink. At home it is often made with moka coffee instead of espresso. Ask for a latte on its own and you will be handed a glass of milk.
Steps
Pull a single espresso into the glass
The bar version is built on one proper shot, not a double — about 25 ml of espresso against roughly five times as much milk, the same quantities a cappuccino uses. The coffee goes into the glass or cup first.
Heat the milk to just below a simmer
The milk is heated, not stretched: the steam wand warms it while keeping it liquid, without the foam a cappuccino carries. Let it boil and it changes flavour and forms a skin.
Pour the hot milk over the espresso
Poured onto the shot and stirred, the milk mixes evenly with the coffee and turns the whole drink one uniform brown. That order is what separates it from a latte macchiato, where the espresso goes in last.
Serve it at breakfast
In Italy the caffè latte is a morning drink, taken with biscuits or bread to dunk. That is why the home version comes in a wide cup or bowl — a drink this milky is breakfast, not a pick-me-up for the end of a meal.
Cup ready
Time to enjoy your Italian Caffè Latte
Brewed the way they do it in Italy. What next?
Tips
- No espresso machine? Italians make it at home with moka coffee — a generous moka cup against roughly two to four times as much hot milk, mixed in a large cup.
- Heat the milk in a small pan or with the steam wand held shallow — the goal is hot, liquid milk, not the velvet microfoam a cappuccino wants.
- In summer many Italians make it with cold milk instead of hot.
Common mistakes
- Steaming the milk into a foam cap — that is a cappuccino; a caffè latte is defined by flat, heated milk and a much larger milk share.
- Boiling the milk — it changes flavour and forms a skin, and the drink tastes cooked no matter how good the espresso was.
- Adding the espresso last — that layers the glass and makes a latte macchiato; the caffè latte puts the coffee in first so it mixes evenly.
Variations
Within the Italian tradition, the preparation above takes these familiar shapes:
Cappuccino
The same single espresso and about the same amount of milk, steamed into a dense foam cap in a small cup, where the caffè latte keeps its milk hot, liquid and unfrothed.
Latte macchiato
The same espresso and milk built the other way round — frothed milk in the glass first, the espresso poured in last so it settles in a band between the milk and the foam.
FAQ
What is the difference between a caffè latte and a cappuccino?
Foam. At the Italian bar both use about one espresso to five times as much milk, but a cappuccino's milk is steamed into a dense, fine foam cap in a small cup, while a caffè latte's milk is heated and kept liquid, served in a glass with no foam at all.
Why does ordering a latte in Italy get you a glass of milk?
Because latte is simply the Italian word for milk. The full order is caffè latte — coffee with milk — which is why the drink is spelled out on an Italian menu and shortened only once it travels abroad.
Is a caffè latte the same as a latte macchiato?
No. Both use a tall glass and plenty of milk, but a caffè latte pours the milk over the espresso, while a latte macchiato adds the espresso last so it stains a layered glass. The caffè latte is stirred and even; the macchiato is built to show its strata.
What is the international café latte like?
Larger and frothier. Outside Italy the latte is one or more espresso shots under steamed milk in a glass of around 230 ml, finished with microfoam that baristas use for latte art — and in the United States often sweetened too. The caffè latte above is the smaller, flatter original the modern drink grew out of.
The Atlas
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