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Have you ever heard someone order a macchiato or ristretto in the coffee shop queue and wondered what it was? Don’t know a doppio from a mocha? Never fear, help is at hand with our quick guide to speciality coffees below.All speciality coffees can be made from a standard espresso machine.

Espresso - The base from which all speciality coffees are made - Hot water is forced through finely ground coffee to produce a maximum of 1 to 1.5 fluid ounces of beverage.

Crema - Thus is the golden head of the espresso, which is made of the oils extracted from the coffee during the brewing process.

Doppio - A double shot of espresso. (doppio is Italian for double)

Espresso Con Panna - A shot of espresso topped with whipped cream.

Romano - Espresso served with a twist or slice of lemon.

Ristretto - A restricted or short shot of espresso for an intense espresso taste.

Macchiato - Espresso with a small amount of steamed milk dappled on top to give a spotted effect.

Cappuccino - One shot of espresso, one part steamed milk, one part foamed milk with an optional dusting of chocolate or cinnamon.

Mocha - Cappuccino with a shot of chocolate sauce or syrup.

Americano - A standard sized cup of coffee made by dispensing a double espresso into hot water. Add milk to taste.

Latte - One shot of espresso mixed with steamed milk.

Skinny - A term used before all coffee drinks containing milk e.g. Skinny Latte - Means served with low fat skimmed milk.

With Wings - A term used to ask for a take-away drink e.g. a cappuccino with wings (originates from the early take-out paper cups which had folding paper handles resembling wings)

Lungo - Meaning ′long′ in Italian e.g. Espresso Lungo, a long espresso with more hot water.

Corretto - Means ′corrected′ or laced with an alcoholic spirit or liqueur.

Dry - A cappuccino with no steamed milk - just foamed milk.

Flavoured - A latte or cappuccino with a dash of flavoured syrup added such as vanilla, hazelnut, mint, almond or many others.

As you can see, many of the terms originate from Italy, where the first espresso coffee machine was patented in 1938 by Achille Gaggia. The Gaggia name has been synonymous with quality traditional espresso coffee machines ever since.

Spend a few moments familiarising yourself with these terms, and then next time you glance at the coffee shop menu board you will know exactly what to order.

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When you enter a coffee house, you have a multitude of drink choices like latté, cappuccino, straight shot and caffé mocha just to name a few.

Sometimes knowing what to order can be overwhelming unless you know what you are getting. After all, who wants to pay an outrageous amount of money for a mystery drink that you may not even like?

So we come to the rescue, and after you read this, you’ll have a basic understanding of how the most popular coffee drinks are made and what they are made of.

Most coffee drinks start with espresso and espresso is just coffee that is brewed a certain way. It is finely ground to almost a powder then very hot water is forced through the grounds under intense pressure.

The brewing process is timed so that the flavorful and aromatic oils are extracted from the coffee and not the bitter components. This produces a strong flavored, but not bitter, concentrated shot of coffee.

Straight Shot

The straight shot refers to espresso coffee and the secret to good espresso is the extraction time, volume, and golden crema which is a thick light brown layer of frothed coffee oils that float on top of a properly extracted espresso.

The short shot or ristretto is extracted to a volume of three-quarters of an ounce. The shorter restricted pour magnifies the essence of the coffee and the chance of any bitter elements being extracted is minimized. If you have ever ordered an espresso shot in Europe they usually serve the ristretto.

The long shot or lungo is extracted to a volume of one and one-half ounces.

The double shot is a 2 ounce shot using twice as much coffee in the portafilter.

The correct way to serve a straight shot is to extract it directly into a warmed demitasse cup. The warm demitasse cup will keep the straight shot warm and prolong the crema. A straight shot is best enjoyed immediately after brewing.

It is rare to see people drinking straight shots of espresso in the US. Most people here drink variations using steamed milk mixed with the shots to make the different coffee drinks listed here.

Espresso Macchiato

The Espresso Macchiato starts with a shot of espresso and then a small amount of foamed milk is spooned over the shot. Macchiato in Italian means “marked,” as the espresso is marked with foam.

Espresso Con Panna

This is an Espresso Macchiato using whipped cream in place of the foamed milk. The drink gets its name Con Panna which means “with cream.”

Caffé Americano

The Caffé Americano is a drink similar to American brewed coffee. It is made with a single or double shot of espresso combined with 6 to 8 ounces of hot water out of an espresso machine. The result is a very smooth cup of coffee that is much hotter than brewed coffee.

Cappuccino

Cappuccino is made with a fluffy, wet foam, mixed with espresso coffee upon the pour to create a blend of the two flavors. Cold milk is essential, as is expertise in the foaming process. Cappuccino has a large volume of foam making it a light weight drink and less filling.

Caffé Latté

Caffé Latté is similar to the cappuccino but with much less foam and more steamed milk. A latté is made by holding back the foam with a spoon while pouring the frothed milk from the steaming pitcher. The caffé latté is completed by being topped with a small amount of the held back foam.

Caffé latté gets its name from the addition of coffee to milk. For an iced latté, cold milk is combined with the espresso and then the ice is added.

Caffé Mocha

A caffé mocha is made by adding powdered or chocolate syrup to a hot shot of espresso and blended. Steamed milk is then be added to the espresso-chocolate mixture and usually it is topped with whipped cream.

Iced mochas are made with cold milk and the ice added after the coffee and chocolate have been blended.

Flavored Coffee Drinks

Some popular coffee flavors are: vanilla, Irish creme, almond, hazelnut, caramel and fruit flavors such as orange and raspberry. These drinks usually start with a flavored syrup that is mixed with hot espresso and stirred. Then steamed milk is stirred in like in a latté.

An iced version of these flavored coffees made with cold milk instead of steamed makes a delicious cold drink in the summer months.

So now that you know what’s in the basic coffee drinks, try one you haven’t tasted yet. Who knows, you might find a new favorite.

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To sum it all up the Coffee Giant know as Starbucks Coffee, made a huge impact in all of our lives, from the way we drink our coffee, to the type of coffee we choose. Coffee was never such an idealized item until Starbucks Coffee company showed up and capitalized the entire industry, instead of ordering a plain coffee with cream and sugar we know have a wider variety to choose from including, cappuccino, espresso, different coffee flavors, irish cream, french vanilla, and others, there is just so much more it’s incredible. Even though all this was available before the Coffee Mongol commercialized coffee completely, it didn’t have much interest with any of us. And then the phenomenon, Now we cant seem to live without all these wiled coffee flavor’s.

Lets take a step back in time:

At the beginning when the coffee giant first started out in Seattle in 1971, Starbucks coffee was just three friends with a passion for fresh gourmet coffee, Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl and Gordon Bowker, they opened a small shop and began selling fresh-roasted, gourmet coffee beans and brewing and roasting accessories.

In 1980 Zev Siegl wanted out to explore his opportunities elsewhere. By that time Starbucks coffee was the biggest roaster in Washington with six different stores. In 1981 the little coffee giant managed to get the attention of Howard Schultz, a plastics salesman that noticed the huge supply of plastic drip coffee thermoses they were buying from Hammarplast.

Starbucks Coffee 1982, history was marked forever when Baldwin hired the highly energetic Schultz as the new marketing developer. It was not long after that he was sent on a business trip to an international housewares show in Milan, Italy 1983. Schultz was amazed and amused with the vibrant coffee culture of Italy. In another town nearby Verona, Schultz had his first caffe’ latte’ and, as he noticed people at the cafe talking and laughing exiguously while sipping on their coffees in the luxurious surroundings, ideas starting flowing.

In what he describes as an epiphany, the idea hit him, “I could start a community gathering place like the great coffee house of Italy in the United States?” he thought to himself. This idea would place Starbucks coffee history into the annuls of business journals for many years to come.

Latter on, while back in the united states, Schultz’s idea did not go over well with Baldwin and didn’t think it would be a good idea to wager over into the restaurant business aswell distracting him from his original goal of selling whole coffee beans. However, he did let him try out a small espresso bar in the corner of one of the coffee stores. It was an immediate success and Schultz branched out on his own and opened Il Giornale, a coffee house named after Italy’s largest newspaper, ‘The Daily’.

1987 Starbucks coffee was up for sale and Schultz managed to raise $3.8 million by convincing investors of his vision, one hundred and twenty-five outlets in the next five years. Schultz modified the Starbucks bare-breasted mermaid logo into a more socially acceptable figure, changed the name of Il Giornale to Starbucks and converted the six existing Starbucks coffee roasting shops into a more elegant, suitable coffee houses. Starbucks coffee history was just starting to take form.

Shultz reached his goal and more by 125 stores in 5 years, 1992 there were 165 cafes up and running. Today there are more then 8,000 stores in 30 different countries and annual revenues over $7.5 billion.

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