Latte vs Cappuccino vs Flat White: The Real Differences

All three drinks start with the same thing: espresso. A cappuccino adds a little steamed milk and a thick layer of foam. A flat white adds a little more milk, textured so finely that there is almost no foam at all. A latte adds a lot of milk with a thin layer of foam on top. Same coffee, different amounts of milk, and milk in a different state.

That is the whole difference, but it changes how each drink tastes more than people expect.

At a glance

The sizes are typical rather than fixed. They vary between countries and between cafés, and a coffee chain's "large latte" can be well over 400 ml. What stays constant is the relationship: the flat white and the cappuccino are small and coffee-forward, the latte is large and milky.

What actually changes in the cup

How much milk

Many cafés now pull a double shot, roughly 36–40 g of espresso, for each of these drinks. What differs is how much milk joins it.

In a flat white, that double shot meets something like 130 ml of milk. In a latte it might meet twice that or more. Since the espresso is the same, every extra millilitre of milk makes the coffee taste a little more distant. That is why a flat white tastes so much more of coffee than a latte, even though nothing about the espresso has changed.

How much of the milk is foam

The second variable is texture. Steaming draws air into milk, and how much air you let in decides the drink — the steaming guide covers the technique.

• Cappuccino: stretched the most. The traditional rule of thumb is a third espresso, a third steamed milk and a third foam, though most modern cappuccinos have rather more milk than that. The thick cap of foam makes it feel light and airy.
• Latte: stretched a little. Mostly silky steamed milk with a thin layer of foam, often enough for latte art.
• Flat white: stretched least of all. Velvety microfoam folded right through the milk, with a thin, flat surface — which is where the name comes from.

What it does not change

Caffeine comes from the espresso, not the milk. A flat white, a cappuccino and a latte made with the same shots contain the same amount of caffeine. The latte tastes milder; it is not a lower dose. If you want less caffeine, ask for a single shot, or decaf — not more milk.

The cappuccino

The cappuccino is named after the Capuchin friars, and specifically after the brown colour of their habits, which the drink's mix of coffee and milk resembles.

In Italy it is a breakfast drink. It is usually drunk before about eleven in the morning, often with a pastry, and rarely after a meal, when milky coffee is thought too heavy — the post-lunch coffee is an espresso. Order a cappuccino at three in the afternoon in Rome and you will be served one, but you will have marked yourself as a visitor.

The flat white, and who invented it

The flat white is the one drink here whose history is genuinely contested, and both sides argue about it with real feeling.

Australia's claim centres on Alan Preston, who put a flat white on the menu of Moors Espresso Bar in Sydney in 1985 and said he had brought the idea from far north Queensland.

New Zealand's claims come from Auckland, where Derek Townsend and Darrell Ahlers of Cafe DKD described developing it as an alternative to the Italian latte, and from Wellington, where Bar Bodega's version is said to have begun around 1989 as a cappuccino that would not foam properly.

Nobody has settled it, and it is unlikely anyone will. What is clear is that the drink grew up in the espresso cultures of Australia and New Zealand, had spread abroad by the mid-2000s, reached UK Starbucks by 2010, and arrived in American Starbucks stores in January 2015 — at which point it became, for much of the world, a standard menu item.

The latte

Latte simply means milk in Italian, which is why ordering "a latte" in Italy gets you a glass of milk. The drink is caffè latte, coffee with milk.

It is the most forgiving of the three, both to make and to drink. The large volume of milk softens a harsh shot and rounds off a sour one, which is part of why it became the default café order in so many countries. It is also the best canvas for latte art, because its thin, glossy layer of foam holds a pattern well.

The smaller relatives

A few drinks sit between espresso and the three above.

• Macchiato — an espresso "stained" with a spoonful of milk foam. Small, strong, barely milky.
• Cortado — espresso "cut" with a roughly equal amount of warm milk, with little or no foam. Common in Spain.
• Latte macchiato — the reverse of a macchiato: a glass of steamed milk "stained" by espresso poured in on top, which leaves distinct layers.

Which to order

• You want to taste the coffee: a flat white, or a cortado if you want it smaller still.
• You like a light, foamy texture: a cappuccino.
• You want something mild, large and creamy: a latte.
• You want less caffeine: any of them with a single shot or decaf. Changing the drink alone will not reduce it.

If you make these at home, the drinks are all the same skill applied differently: a well-dialed shot and milk steamed to the right texture. Master the milk once, and the three drinks are just three settings.