When we first learn about
different types of espresso coffee, everything is always neat and tidy.
I mean, the Cappuccino and Flat White go in little cute six ounce 160 ml cups, while
the latte goes in a slightly larger cup or glass and everything has its place.
I mean, perfect.
But let's be real with ourselves.
Most people in the English speaking world aren't drinking coffee from traditional
cappuccino cups.
No, most people are drinking coffee
in bigger cups, like the ubiquitous 12 ounce takeaway cup.
And that's the thing with these cups in most cases, if you go and order
a 12 ounce
latte or a 12 ounce flat white, then you're essentially getting the same thing.
Some people will insist that the flat white has less foam,
but in both cases you're getting the same double espresso with somewhere between
250 to 300 grams of steam milk, a couple of millimeters of foam
isn't fundamentally going to change the flavor in cups of this size.
Okay. What about the cappuccino?
Surely this Italian icon has some special magic all of its own Sure.
There is an official definition for an Italian cappuccino.
In fact, it is certified by the Italian Espresso National Institute.
Who knew I won't read you the rules to make a certified cappuccino,
but he is a couple of essentials.
It must be made with a single 25ml of espresso
extracted from exactly seven grams of ground coffee with 100mls of cow's milk.
No alternatives allowed.
Served in a 160ml ceramic cup.
Again, if we attempt to scale the Italian cappuccino up into the ever popular
12 ounce cup, then we get a drink that is similar to the flat white and the latte.
But with more foam and less milk.
However, over time, even this difference in the amount of milk
has mostly gone away.
Thanks to another fairly recent invention, latte art
baristas and customers cannot get enough of pretty designs on their coffee.
And as a result, the texture of milk has become thinner over time.
To accommodate all these intricate designs.
The end result is that the 12 ounce cappuccino is now very close,
if not identical, to a flat white or latte in the same sized cup,
except for that little dusting of chocolate that Aussies just love to add.
Okay, now I know that there are some places
where they make a real effort to differentiate between these drinks
through different amounts of foam,
or by insisting on using different sizes of cups.
But my question is this Does it even matter
if we ignore the traditions and the different names?
The bigger question then is Does it taste good and do I enjoy it?
The answer for me at least, is emphatically yes.
Espresso and milk can be a really enjoyable
way to drink coffee, whatever you would like to call it in that way.
It's a bit like pizza.
There are some beautiful, delicious styles of pizza making around the world
that are really nothing like the original, authentic Neapolitan pizza,
but they are still delicious.
So rather than focusing on names or the tradition,
what I think is worth focusing on is the ratio of coffee to milk.
So if we use our classic 160ml cup size as a starting point,
in a typical setting, I might use a 20g ground
dose of coffee to brew an espresso weighing 40 grams out.
I split that into two cups, so I'll have 20 grams of liquid espresso
and then I'm going to add around 120 grams of milk
that will make this a coffee to milk ratio of one to six.
If we double that for the bigger cup, then we can use both spells,
which is 40 grams of liquid espresso and double the milk to 240 grams.
Once that milk has expanded, we'll need a cup around 320ml just over ten ounces.
In theory, if we work out our recipe this way,
then both the smaller and the larger coffee should taste exactly the same.
So what about our old friend
the 12 ounce paper cup?
In most settings we can't really avoid it.
So if we don't want the coffee to get weaker, then we're going
to need to bump up the dose a little to compensate for the flavor.
This time we'll go for a 22 gram dose
and a slightly longer 44 gram extraction
and then steam 260mls of milk,
which should then come up to just under the lip
Assuming that your 12 ounce cups are actually 12 ounces.
And don't even get me started on that one.
But until next time, I definitely want to know does pineapple belong on pizza.
Come at me people, inform my world.
Until then, enjoy your coffee and stay stoked.