Espresso Drinks Explained: Histories, Recipes and More…

Let me know what I missed!

If you want more along these lines, then I'd recommend checking out these two videos:

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[adamcravets]

In America we say latte when we mean cafe latte. Every coffee shop here knows to make a cafe latte when a latte is ordered. I went to Italy a few years ago and first place we walked into with a coffee bar in it I immediately ordered a latte. The guy looked at me funny, shrugged his shoulders and then produced a cup of steamed milk and handed it to me. And so my Italian education began.

[fli]

Recipes:
0:41 Espresso
2:24 Ristretto
3:02 Lungo
3:29 Espresso Con Panna
3:52 Macchiato
5:12 Espresso Romano
5:42 Cortado
6:18 Piccolo Latte
6:51 Americano
7:41 Long Black
8:15 Cappuccino
9:14 Caffe Latte
10:01 Flat White
11:03 Caffe Corretto
11:38 Mocha
13:38 The Red Eye
14:09 The Breve Latte
14:42 Gibraltar

[ddub]

James is like the David Attenborough of coffee; I could (and sometimes do) listen to him talk about espresso all day long. ☕️🥰

[MataH]

0:41 Espresso - 1-2 to 1-3 water
2:24 Ristretto - 1 to 1-1.5 water
3:02 Lungo - 1-3 to 1-6 water
3:29 Espresso Con Panna - Espresso with cream on the top
3:52 Macchiato - 1-1 milk
5:12 Espresso Romano - Espresso with lemon
5:42 Cortado - 1-1 to 1-3 of expresso to steam milk
6:18 Piccolo Latte - smaller latte. espresso 1-2 to 1-3
6:51 Americano - espresso watered down 1-3 to 1-5
7:41 Long Black - watered down but a bit stronger than Americano
8:15 Cappuccino - 1-3 to 1-5 espresso to milk
9:14 Caffe Latte - 1-4 to 1-6 espresso to milk
10:01 Flat White - some strong latte with flat milk
11:03 Caffe Corretto - espresso with booze
11:38 Mocha - espresso with chocolate
13:38 The Red Eye - filtered coffee with a shot of expresso
14:09 The Breve Latte - latte with half and half
14:42 Gibraltar - 1-2 with foal in a glass. Like piccolo latte

[adamdrake]

When James wishes that everyone has a great day, I truly believes that’s what he wants for me

[portnaluinge]

Even as someone who isn’t particularly new to coffee, there’s still some very handy take-aways in here. Especially, as a fan of an old school Italian macchiato, it helps explain why I keep getting drinks in Britain that aren’t at all what I’d expect.

[PaoloFilardi]

As an italian its very nice to see how many italian words are used to describe these drinks. In Italy we mostly drink:
Caffè (the one you call Espresso in fact we also call It Caffè Espresso)
Caffè macchiato
Caffè corretto
Cappuccino
Latte macchiato (foamy millk with a splash of espresso)
And if you ask for a Latte in Italy you'll get just a Cup of millk 😀

[ericscavetta]

In Spain, there is also the Cafe Bombon, essentially espresso over a layer of sweetened condensed milk (1:1 ratio). It was possibly inspired by Southeast Asian condensed milk + strong robusta blend drip coffee drinks like cà phê sữa nóng (Vietnam) or kopi susu Perhaps these would be classified with Affogato as a dessert...

[AaronTremblay]

You missed the chance to say: “affogato talk about one drink with ice cream and espresso” 🤣 One of my favorite dad-jokes!

[GPflashclass]

Cafe Cubano! An espresso sweetened with sugar, in a unique way. There are a bunch of ways to make it. The way I was taught was to add the sugar to the espresso in the portafilter. I had a Cuban regular who would only order them when I was working. It was the highest compliment :D

[richardvo]

When living in Spain we used to drink "café con hielo" quite a lot. Basically an espresso type short black coffee, served with a rocks glass filled with ice cubes on the side. The idea being that you'd add sugar to the hot drink if you'd like, then pour the hot drink over the ice cubes. A wonderful drink on a hot day. The way Spanish coffee is often roasted incredibly dark it could really use the watering down too.
The Spanish tradition of roasting coffee incredibly dark after spraying it with sugary water ("torrefacto") is something I'd love to see a video on btw. From what I gather it started when there was a shortage of coffee, but stuck around until now.

[lizaechelon]

There is a story about a French guy named Rafael going to the same coffee shop in Moscow in the 1990s. Allegedly, he was bored with the options and he would ask the baristas to prepare something special for him. So, they would take a shot of espresso, some milk, single cream and vanilla sugar and presented it to him. Other guests were so intrigues, so they started ordering it. The word spread and now every coffee shop can offer you this drink - Raf (short for Rafael lol). It is obviously very sweet and is often offered in a variety pf flavours (they substitute vanilla sugar with a plethora of syrups of your choice)

[lukasobi]

Hearing James say the word "flex" is an experience

[lostinAR]

Would love to see you do a piece (maybe you have an I haven't found it yet) on small sweet "national" coffees like the Turkish, Greek, and Cuban coffees.

[pstectg]

Hi James. Italian fan here. Just a little correction: caffe latte is actually super popular in Italy. It's the bog standard breakfast drink for many people, the simplest, opposite of fancy you can get. But you described it perfectly ;-)

[francescasalluzzi]

In the Canary Islands we have a coffee drink called "Barraquito". It's normally served in a small tall glass and it has 4 different layers (from the bottom): condensed milk, licor 43, a shot or double shot of espresso and frothed milk. It all topped with cinnamon and lemon peel. You could call it the sweet Spanish son of the corretto! Worth trying it even with a different liqueur or no liqueur at all!

[ramonj]

Here in Thailand we've also got a "dirty coffee"
Dirty coffee is cold milk or cold milk and cream with a hot shot of dark espresso or ristretto poured over it. Served in a clear glass, the end result appears as an exquisitely messy coffee-milk art that has earned its "dirty" name.

[garthbartin]

One of my favorites is the "Cappuccino Freddo" from Greece. It's espresso over ice covered in milk that's been cold foamed with ice using a milk shake maker (basically an electric powered swizzle stick).

It's really an all around better version of an iced latte because you get the cold of an iced latte with the texture of a hot latte along with some really enjoyable layering.

[KeppyKep]

As an Aussie, I can tell you there are many things we argue with the Kiwis about over whether we made them or they did. Including lots of food things. I didn't know that the Flat White was one of them though! (nor did I know the Long Black was Australian too)

[BeatBiscuit]

I just tried Vietnamese coffee for the first time and I absolutely loved it! The rich, bold flavor and the smooth, creamy texture were absolutely delicious. I particularly enjoyed the way the sweetened condensed milk balanced out the bitterness of the coffee. I will definitely be making this a regular part of my coffee routine from now on!