Gourmet Coffee Drinks at Home - Easy Tips For Making Cafe Latte and Cappuccino at Home

By DJ Toman

Gourmet coffee drinks at home are easy to make with a few simple tips listed in this article.

Cappuccino and cafe latte are favorites that many coffee lovers order at the coffee shop. If you would like to make these coffee drinks at home, here are some simple instructions, to save money and avoid a trip to the coffee house. At home you can experiment with making your favorites, for pennies per drink instead of paying coffee house prices.

This article gives simple, plain language to brew and serve great coffee drinks.

Both the cappuccino and cafe latte are based on espresso. Let's assume that you have a standard espresso machine capable of foaming (frothing) milk. In addition, you'll need to have gourmet coffee beans finely ground for espresso, milk (I prefer skim milk) , and the flavoring you want (optional but lots of people like chocolate).

Making espresso at home

Cappuccino and latte drinks both begin with espresso. To make espresso shots, you place your ground espresso into the portafilter, press to compact the ground coffee, leaving the coffee's top surface smooth. Then place the filter into the machine and start steaming the milk to at least 140 degrees or slightly hotter if you prefer. By heating the milk without waiting for the espresso, you can start mixing your specialty drink immediately after the espresso is brewed.

Once you've brewed two ounces of espresso for one drink, you can follow the instructions for cappuccino and latte shown below.

Cappuccino recipe prepared at home

• Steam your milk with extra foam - cappuccino requires extra foam in the milk. Tip the pitcher holding the heated milk and bring the steaming apparatus (wand) just under the top surface, raising the steam wand as the foam is created but keeping the wand just below the surface. Make foam enough to fill one third of your coffee mug. When the foam is ready, turn off the steam wand. Follow the rest of the instructions in the order listed.

• Brew - pour your espresso shots into the cup first.

• Add milk - add hot milk to fill your cup two thirds full.

• Add foam - finish filling your cup with foam you spoon into the cup, and your cappuccino is ready to enjoy!

For flavored cappuccino, place flavoring into your cup before you add the espresso shots. Stir the flavoring with the espresso and milk, then add the foam topping.

Cafe latte home recipe

Cafe latte is prepared the same way, except you use less foam. So, you'll use the steam wand to warm the milk and create a little foam, and brew the espresso shots. Add the espresso shots to your cup, fill the cup nearly full with heated milk, and leave room for a short layer of foam. Some people add whipped cream, but that is optional.

As with cappuccino, for a flavored latte you add syrup or other flavor into the cup first, and stir it into the shots and heated milk.

Cappuccino and cafe latte are both much easier now, right?

Once you're comfortable preparing basic latte and cappuccino drinks, you can start experimenting with different flavors of espresso beverages.

DJ Toman is a lawyer and coffee enthusiast living in Greensboro, North Carolina. He is the author of http://www.CoffeeDaydreams.com, a site dedicated to gourmet coffee and choosing the best coffee makers. Even beginners get helpful tips about how to brew and enjoy the coffee of their dreams.

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Coffee Variations

1. Caffè espresso or espresso (from Italian; sometimes erroneously pronounced or spelled in English expresso) is a concentrated coffee beverage brewed by forcing hot water under pressure through finely ground coffee.

2. Caffè Macchiato (It. "stained"): A small amount of milk or, sometimes, its foam is spooned onto the espresso. In Italy it further differentiates between caffè macchiato caldo (warm) and caffè macchiato freddo (cold), depending on the temperature of the milk being added; the cold version is gaining in popularity as some people are not able to stand the rather hot temperature of caffè macchiato caldo and therefore have to wait one or two minutes before being able to consume this version of the drink. The caffè macchiato is to be differentiated from the latte macchiato (described above). In France, known as a "Noisette".

3. Espresso con Panna (It. "espresso with cream"): Espresso with whipped cream on top.

4. Latte (It. "milk"): This term is an abbreviation of "caffellatte" (or "caffè e latte"), coffee with milk. An espresso based drink with a volume of steamed milk, served with either a thin layer of foam or none at all, depending on the shop or customer's preference.

5. Flat white: a coffee drink made of one-third espresso and two thirds steamed milk with little or no foam. (Very similar to "latte", see entry for lattes below).

6. Breve (It. "short"): Espresso with half-and-half.

7. Cappuccino: Traditionally, one-third espresso, one-third steamed milk, and one-third microfoam. Often in the United States, the cappuccino is made as a cafè latte with much more foam, which is less espresso than the traditional definition would require. Sometimes topped (upon request) with a light dusting of cocoa powder.

8. Mocha: Normally, a latte blended with chocolate. This is not to be confused with the region of Yemen or the coffee associated with that region (which is often seen as 1/2 of the blend "mocha java").

9. Americano (It. "American"): Espresso and hot water, classically using equal parts each, with the water added to the espresso. Americano was created by American G.I.s during World War I who added hot water to dilute the strong taste of the traditional espresso. Similar to a long black.