What is a latte?

A latte — short for 'caffè latte' in Italian, literally coffee with milk — is a drink built on an espresso (30 to 40 ml) lengthened with textured steamed milk, for a total volume of 220 to 300 ml. The milk-to-coffee ratio is much higher than in a cappuccino, which makes the latte softer, creamier and less coffee-forward in flavour.

The caffè latte is originally an Italian home drink, served at breakfast in a big bowl and unknown in espresso bars. The 'latte' you order at a café is a different beast, popularised from 1982 onwards by Lino Meiorin at Caffè Mediterraneum in Berkeley and then scaled worldwide in the 1990s by American chains like Starbucks. It is today the best-selling milk-based espresso drink globally, with hundreds of millions of cups a year from that one Seattle chain alone.

Technically, a latte is one or two espresso shots (30-40 g) poured into a 220-300 ml cup and lengthened with steamed milk at 60-65 °C, finished with a thin layer of microfoam (0.5 to 1 cm). The coffee-to-milk ratio by weight runs 1:6 to 1:8, against 1:3 for a cappuccino. That dilution explains why a latte often showcases fruity, light-roast coffees better than a cappuccino: the milk is the vehicle, not the adversary.

The latte family branched widely: latte macchiato (milk first, espresso poured through it, visible layers), iced latte (espresso over cold milk and ice), dirty chai latte (chai plus espresso), matcha latte without coffee at all. In specialty bars you also meet the Australian/New Zealand 'magic' — an intermediate ratio — and the North-American 'gibraltar', a regional term for something close to a cortado.

In Belgium as elsewhere in Northern Europe, the latte has settled in as an afternoon coffee-dessert, often paired with a cuberdon, a speculoos or a Liège-style waffle. A linguistic warning: asking for 'a latte' in an old-school Italian bar in Brussels can land you a plain glass of hot milk. The correct order is 'caffè latte' or 'latte macchiato' depending on the preparation expected.

Anatomy of a 300 ml latte

The Most Popular Espresso Drink in the World

The caffè latte — Italian for "milk coffee," though the drink as it exists in international café culture is largely an American creation — is the most widely consumed specialty espresso beverage globally, and its popularity is not accidental. The latte's appeal is structural: a double espresso (30-40ml) combined with 200-350ml of steamed milk produces a drink that is large enough to feel like a substantial beverage, sweet enough from the milk sugars to be approachable to those who find espresso intensity challenging, and espresso-forward enough to deliver meaningful caffeine and coffee character. This combination hits the sweet spot for a vast population of coffee drinkers who want a warm, caffeinated beverage with moderate coffee flavour and a nurturing, creamy texture.

The distinction between a well-made specialty latte and a mediocre one lies almost entirely in two factors: the quality of the espresso base and the texture of the steamed milk. A latte made from a well-pulled double shot of specialty espresso, with its natural sweetness, caramel complexity, and aromatic depth, tastes markedly different from one made from an over-extracted or under-developed shot. Similarly, milk steamed to 60-65 °C with true microfoam texture (paint-like, glossy, integrated) produces a silky, sweet, velvety mouthfeel that milk heated by any other method simply cannot replicate. The latte art that specialty baristas use to decorate the drink's surface is the visible signal that both the espresso and the milk were prepared correctly — you cannot produce latte art from badly textured milk or a shot without crema.

Practical Recommendations

At home, the latte is achievable with a good espresso machine, a steam wand, and practice. The key measurement: 18-20g of espresso-ground coffee, yielding 36-40g of espresso (1:2 ratio), combined with 200-250g of milk steamed to 60-65 °C. Total volume should be 240-290ml in a warmed latte glass or large cappuccino cup. If your home machine lacks a steam wand, a French press can be used to froth milk to an approximation of steamed texture (pump the plunger rapidly for 30 seconds with milk heated to 65 °C), or a dedicated milk frother (Nespresso Aeroccino, Breville Milk Café) produces acceptable results for daily home use. The French press method produces inferior texture to a proper steam wand but significantly better than unsteamed milk and is a reasonable compromise for those who enjoy lattes but cannot justify the investment in a dedicated espresso machine.