The Most Famous Coffee Drinks and How to Make Them

Almost every coffee on a café menu is one of about a dozen drinks, and nearly all of them are built from the same two ingredients in different proportions: espresso and milk. Once you can see the ratios, the menu stops being a list to memorize and becomes a scale you can move along.

Here are the drinks people actually order, what goes in each, and how to make them at home.

The espresso family, by ratio

Read this list top to bottom and you are watching one shot of espresso get progressively diluted — first with water, then with milk.

Espresso

0.63 oz (18 g) of finely ground coffee, 1.3 oz (38 g) in the cup, 25 to 30 seconds. The base for everything below. Full method in how to make espresso at home.

Ristretto and lungo

Same dose, different yield. A ristretto stops at about half the normal volume — denser and sweeter. A lungo runs to roughly double — larger, weaker and more bitter, not stronger.

Americano

1 to 2 oz of espresso into 4 to 6 oz (120–180 ml) of hot water. Pour the water first and the espresso on top, so the crema survives. See how to make an americano.

Macchiato

A shot of espresso "marked" with a spoonful of milk foam. About 1 oz espresso to 0.3 oz milk. See what a macchiato is.

Cortado

Equal parts espresso and warm milk, barely any foam. 1 oz to 1 oz, in a small glass. The Spanish answer to "I want milk but not much of it."

Cappuccino

1 oz espresso, 2 oz steamed milk, 2 oz foam, in a 5 to 6 oz cup. The classic thirds. Steam the milk to about 140 °F (60 °C) and stop before it turns stiff. See how to make a cappuccino.

Flat white

A double espresso with about 5 oz (150 ml) of steamed milk and a thin layer of microfoam — no distinct foam cap. Stronger and silkier than a latte. See what a flat white is.

Latte

1 to 2 oz espresso with 8 to 10 oz (240–300 ml) steamed milk and a thin foam layer. The mildest of the milk drinks and the most common order in the US.

Mocha

A latte with chocolate: 1 oz espresso, 1 oz chocolate, 6 oz steamed milk. Dissolve the chocolate in the hot shot before the milk goes in. See how to make a mocha.

Affogato

A scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cold cup, a hot double shot poured over it. Two ingredients, thirty seconds, and it fails only if you let it sit. See the affogato recipe.

Café bombón

Equal parts espresso and sweetened condensed milk, poured so they stay in two visible layers in a clear glass. Very sweet, very good. See café bombón.

Viennese coffee

A double espresso topped with lightly whipped cream instead of milk, sometimes with a dusting of cocoa. Do not stir it.

Filter drinks

Drip and pour-over

0.7 oz (20 g) of coffee to 11 oz (320 ml) of water, medium grind, water at 195–205 °F (90–96 °C). The full range of methods is in coffee filtration methods.

French press

Coarse grind, 1:15, four-minute steep, slow press. The heaviest-bodied way to brew. See how to use a French press.

Cold brew

Coarse grind, 1:8 for a concentrate, 12 to 18 hours in the refrigerator, strained. Dilute to taste with water or milk. Low acidity, high sweetness, keeps two weeks. See cold brew at home.

Iced coffee, done properly

Not cold brew, and not hot coffee poured over ice. Brew at full strength directly onto ice — use half the usual water and let the ice make up the difference. The rapid chill locks in aromatics that would otherwise evaporate.

Drinks worth knowing from elsewhere

• Irish coffee — hot coffee, Irish whiskey, brown sugar, lightly whipped cream floated on top. The recipe.
• Tinto (Colombia) — small black coffee, filtered or steeped, traditionally sweetened with panela. What tinto is.
• Café cubano — espresso whipped with sugar during the first drops of the shot, producing a pale sweet foam called espuma.
• Café au lait — equal parts strong filter coffee and hot milk. Not espresso-based.
• Espresso tonic — tonic water over ice with a shot poured on top. Sharp, bitter and good in hot weather. Works best with a fruit-forward natural lot.
• Vietnamese cà phê sữa đá — strong drip coffee over sweetened condensed milk and ice.
• Turkish coffee — very finely ground coffee simmered with water and sugar in a cezve, served unfiltered with the grounds settling in the cup.

Five rules that apply to all of them

1. Weigh the coffee. Volume measures vary with grind size and bean density; weight does not.
2. Grind right before brewing. Ground coffee loses most of its aroma within days, and most of the rest within a week.
3. Water at 195–205 °F (90–96 °C) for everything except cold brew — about 30 seconds off the boil.
4. Do not overheat milk. Past 160 °F (70 °C) it loses its own sweetness and you end up adding sugar to replace what you destroyed.
5. Taste it black first. You cannot tell whether a coffee needs anything until you know what it tastes like on its own.

Which coffee for which drink

• Milk drinks — Tradition ($14.99) or Honey ($16.99). Both have the body and sweetness to read through milk.
• Black filter — Tradition for clarity, Bronze ($26.99) if you want the most distinctive cup in the range.
• Cold brew and iced — Natural ($19.99). Low acidity and fruit sweetness are exactly what cold extraction emphasizes.
• Something to sit down with — Gold ($36.99), brewed as filter and drunk black.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a latte, a cappuccino and a flat white?

Milk volume and foam texture. Cappuccino: equal thirds espresso, milk and thick foam. Flat white: double shot with silky microfoam and no foam cap. Latte: the most milk of the three, with a thin foam layer.

Which coffee drink has the most caffeine?

An 8 oz drip coffee, at 95 to 165 mg, usually beats a double espresso at about 130 mg. Concentration and total caffeine are not the same thing.

Can I make these without an espresso machine?

Most of them, with a moka pot. It brews at roughly 1.5 bar instead of 9, so there is no true crema, but the concentrate substitutes well in every milk drink here. See how to use a moka pot.

What is the easiest café drink to make at home?

A cortado. Equal parts espresso and warm milk, barely any foam — so the milk texturing that trips people up on cappuccinos barely matters.

Start with the coffee

Every recipe here is a way of presenting the beans underneath. Our six lots come from one farm in Antioquia, roasted after you order and shipped within 48 hours, whole bean or ground for your method. Shipping is calculated at checkout.