Espresso, latte or cold brew? A friendly guide to coffee drinks

Café menus can feel like a vocabulary test. Most popular coffee drinks, though, are built from only a few ingredients: espresso or brewed coffee, water, milk, foam and sometimes something sweet. Once you know the building blocks, every menu starts to make sense.

The base: espresso

Espresso is made by forcing hot water through finely ground, tightly packed coffee under high pressure — around 9 bar on most machines. A shot takes roughly 25–30 seconds and produces a small, concentrated drink (about 30 ml for a single) topped with a golden layer called crema.

Espresso is the foundation of almost everything below. A double simply uses twice the coffee and makes twice the liquid. A ristretto uses the same amount of coffee but less water, so it tastes sweeter and more intense.

Espresso + water

• Americano — a shot (or two) of espresso topped up with hot water. It tastes closer to regular filter coffee but keeps some of espresso’s body.
• Long black — the same ingredients in the opposite order: water first, espresso poured on top so the crema survives.

Espresso + milk

The difference between milky drinks is mostly about how much milk and how much foam.

Drink	What’s in it	Texture
Macchiato	Espresso with a spoonful of foam	Strong, small
Cappuccino	Espresso, steamed milk and a thick foam layer	Light and airy
Flat white	Espresso (often a double) with thin, velvety milk	Strong but smooth
Latte	Espresso with plenty of steamed milk and a thin foam top	Mild and creamy

A cappuccino is traditionally smaller and foamier, while a latte is larger and milkier. The flat white sits in between: less milk than a latte, so the coffee flavour stays front and centre.

Espresso + something sweet

• Mocha — espresso, chocolate and steamed milk. Think of it as a grown-up hot chocolate.
• Affogato — a shot of hot espresso poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Half drink, half dessert.

Brewed coffee: slower methods

Not every coffee needs a machine.

• Pour-over — hot water is poured by hand over grounds in a paper filter. It takes a few minutes and gives a clean, delicate cup where you can taste fruity or floral notes.
• French press — coarse grounds steep in hot water for about four minutes before a metal mesh pushes them down. The result has more body and texture.
• Kopi tubruk — popular in Indonesia: coarse grounds are mixed directly with hot water (often with sugar) and left to settle at the bottom of the glass.

Cold brew vs iced coffee

They look similar but are made very differently. Iced coffee is regular hot coffee cooled down and poured over ice. Cold brew is made by steeping coarse grounds in cold water for many hours — usually 12 to 24 — then filtering. Because heat never touches the coffee, cold brew tends to taste smoother, rounder and less acidic.

What about caffeine?

Caffeine depends on the beans, the amount of coffee and the brewing method, so numbers vary a lot. As a rough guide, a single espresso shot contains roughly 60–75 mg of caffeine, while a regular mug of brewed coffee often contains more because it’s a bigger drink. A latte has the same caffeine as the espresso inside it; the milk only changes the taste.

Finding your favourite

If you like bold flavours, start with espresso or a flat white. If you prefer something gentle and comforting, try a latte. If you enjoy discovering subtle flavours, a pour-over is worth the wait. And if you want dessert, nobody will judge an affogato.

Curious which coffee matches your personality rather than your taste buds? Our quiz pairs everyday habits with eight coffee types — it’s just for fun, and you don’t even need to drink coffee to play.