Every coffee lover is probably aware of, at least, a few of the famous coffee drinks. This knowledge is enough when you enjoy drinking coffee at your local cafe. If you are a coffee lover and often travel to other cities or other parts of the world, you should be aware of more types of popular coffee drinks.
Today, I am going to reveal almost all common types of coffee drinks existing in this world.
Different Coffee Drinks You Should Be Aware Of
You might be knowing that the basis of all coffee drinks is either espresso or coffee. Still, they are different because of the additives like cream, milk, sweeteners, alcoholic liqueurs, and others.
So, let’s explore almost all the coffee in the world:
Black Coffee
Out of all coffee brewing methods, making black coffee is the easiest. You just brew and serve it directly from the pot or carafe. Yes, nothing else is added because any addition will alter the flavor.
Basic Coffee (with milk and sugar)
This type of coffee is prepared like black coffee in the beginning. After that, you should add milk or cream and an artificial sweetener or sugar to change the flavor. Depending upon regions and personal preferences, the basic coffee has many variations.
Latte
This coffee drink is quite popular because of its less acidic nature. More amount of milk and foam topping make this coffee less acidic and less bitter. If you visit any famous café, you may see many types of flavored latte drinks. It is because the number of people who like drinking sweeter drinks is continuously increasing.
Cappuccino
Almost all coffee lovers in the world are familiar with the word cappuccino. It is an extended version of the latte containing more amount of foam instead of hot milk. It is given a different look from latte by sprinkling cinnamon or cocoa powder on top. On the demand of coffee drinkers, cappuccino is also available in different variants such as one having cream in place of milk, or the one infused with a different flavor.
Espresso
Espresso is not only a popular type of coffee everywhere but also acts as the base for many other types of coffee drinks. When you force steam with high-pressure through grounded beans, you get a denser coffee topped with creamy foam.
There are different types of espresso machines in the market, but for brewing the best espresso coffee, make sure you have a high-quality espresso machine. Some other coffee drinks whose base is espresso are:
Caffe Americano
Also spelled as Cafe Americano, it is the type of coffee you get by infusing hot water in the espresso. Its strength remains almost similar, but the flavor differs from the brewed coffee. To decrease the strength, increase the quantity of water. Café Americano further has two variations – Lungo and Long Black.
Manilo
Manilo is famous because of the taste and strength it gets without adding much amount of milk. You can make this type of coffee by adding a regular shot of espresso to a small amount of silky milk (100ml or less than that).
Cafe Con Hielo
It is the iced version of espresso coffee served in a tall glass. It means a single or double serving of espresso coffee is served with ice.
Long Black
Long Black tastes stronger in comparison to Americano because it is made by adding double shots of espresso into a smaller quantity of water (the quantity of water may vary as per individual’s taste).
Caffe Lungo
It is called allonge in French and is often mistaken for a long black or Café Americano. To prepare this type of coffee, do not add hot water to the espresso but brew the whole amount of water. The serving size of Lungo is usually larger in comparison to the Long Black or Americano.
Cortado
In this version of espresso, you add warm milk to decrease the acidic nature of espresso. The serving size of Cortado is small, and the quantity of milk is kept almost equal to espresso.
Yes, you guessed it right. It is from Cuba, and the coffee from Cuban tradition is both sweet and strong. They often mix sugar with coffee beans earlier to brewing. You can prepare it by brewing espresso with sugar.
Doppio
It is the double shot of espresso. Its serving size is 60 ml, which also implies that a single shot of espresso is 30ml. The Italian meaning of Doppio is double, but you may not find the doppio espresso in Italy.
Cafe Zorro
When you add a single serving of Doppio, or double shots of espresso, to hot water in the ratio of 1:1, the result you get is Cafe Zorro.
Macchiato
Macchiato is an espresso-based coffee with a small foam topping. In terms of taste and preparation, it falls between a doppio and cappuccino. Do you know the difference between a latte, cappuccino, and macchiato?
Caffe Crema
It is famous in many parts of the world, such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Caffe Crema is the long-form of espresso and is made with the highest quality of Indian and Brazilian coffee.
Espresso Roberto
When you add a little amount of hot milk in a double shot of espresso, you get espresso Roberto. It is creamy and leaves slightly sweet taste after you drink it.
Espresso Romano
First, let me clear it is not linked to Rome or Italy. Espresso Romano is a regular espresso served with a lemon slice on the side. The lemon runs along the cup’s rim and accentuates the sweetness of espresso.
Caffe Gommosa
With roots in the Pacific Northwest of America, its name implies rubbery coffee. It happens when you pour a shot of espresso over a marshmallow.
Ristretto
It is a small, but highly-concentrated, shot of espresso. To prepare Ristretto, you take the usual quantity of ground coffee but add almost half the water. You can also say that a Ristretto is the opposite of Lungo.
Guillermo
To prepare a Guillermo, you pour a single or double shot of hot espresso over the lemon slices. You can also serve it on ice, or with a hint of milk.
Espresso Con Panna
This famous Italian coffee drink means espresso with cream. In this coffee, the espresso is topped with whipped cream to bring a caramelly and rich flavor.
Filtered Coffee or Drip Coffee
Filtered coffee is also known as drip-brewed because the usual process to make it involves passing hot water slowly over the roasted coffee grounds held in the water. In the drip brewing method, water seeps through coffee grounds and absorbs the flavor, essence, and oil of those grounds. The water then drips into a collecting vessel, such as a carafe, and used coffee grounds will be left on the filter.
Depending upon the user-preferences, people prefer using three types of filters – paper filter, mesh filter (of fine wire), and small reusable cloth bag.
French Press
The French press is a coffee maker in which coffee is made by placing coffee grounds in an empty vessel and adding steamed water to it. When you are preparing coffee with a French Press, you should use coarser grounds because if you use finer grounds, they will pass through its filter and mix into your coffee.
Unlike automatic and electronic coffeemakers, it is a manual coffee making device in which you usually put around 1-ounce (28 grams) of coffee into 15 fluid ounces (450 ml) of hot water. Make sure the water temperature is between 93-96-degree Celsius. If you want to drink a French Press at home, make it in one the best French Press coffee makers.
Percolated Coffee
This kind of coffee drink is prepared with the help of coffee percolators. A percolator is a pot in which coffee is made by continuously cycling the steamed water through coffee grounds until you achieve the desired coffee strength.
Percolated coffee was a famous drink until the 1970s, but percolators lost charm once drip coffeemakers arrived in the market.
Turkish Coffee
The traditional serving of Turkish coffee includes a Lokum and water. You make if by first immersing coffee grounds into water and then heating the same until it boils. Remember, you shouldn’t heat it for longer because, in that case, you’ll get less foam.
Another thing you should know about Turkish coffee is that you can enjoy it with four levels of sweetness – with zero sugar, with half a teaspoon of sugar, with medium sugar, and with a large amount of sugar. Before boiling, make sure to add, stir, and dissolve all sugar and coffee in the solution.
Moka
You need a Moka pot and a stovetop to brew Moka coffee. In Moka pot also, hot water is passed through coffee grounds but with lower pressure than that in an espresso maker. In Moka coffee, the most important is flavor, and it depends on the following:
- quality of coffee beans
- level of roast
- quality of the grind
- amount of heat
When you prepare Moka coffee, the flavor and caffeine are efficiently extracted from the coffee grounds. Yes, you get a stronger brew.
Cold Brew
It is also known as cold pressing or cold-water extraction. The best cold brew coffee method involves soaking coffee grounds in cold water for around 12-24 hours. After this period, grounds are separated from the water. This concentrated mixture is then diluted with milk or water. Finally, you can serve it chilled, with ice, or with other ingredients like chocolate. You can prepare a cold brew at home if you have one of the best cold brew coffee makers.
Vacuum Coffee
A different procedure is used to make Vacuum coffee. There are two chambers in a vacuum coffee maker or Siphon. They are used to produce coffee by creating a vacuum and vapor pressure in those chambers.
Iced Coffee
Don’t mistake it for the Cold-brew coffee because the hot brew method is used to make it. However, it is served cool. Many variants of iced coffee are famous in different parts of the world. They are:
Freddo Espresso
I could’ve placed it under espresso, but that is not its specialty. This iced-coffee is an espresso covered with foam. Also, it belongs to the category of the best type of iced frothy coffee drink.
Frappe
It is quite a famous iced drink in Greece and is usually the spray-dried instant coffee covered with the foam. The best thing with a frappé is that you can customize it as per your taste.
Freddo Cappuccino
In popularity, it is the same as Freddo Espresso. The process to make Freddo Cappuccino is also like Freddo Espresso, but changed in the last. In the end, you should follow a 2:1 ratio while adding milk and ice with espresso shots.
Shakerato
It is another version of iced coffee you can make by shaking ice cubes and espresso together. It is also one of the simplest iced coffee brew methods.
Palazzo
It is famous in Southern California, and you’ll require a Moka pot to prepare it. A Palazzo is double espresso shots, chilled just after brewing, and blended with sweet cream.
Mazagran
This form of cold coffee is from Algeria. A blend of ice and coffee, it is usually served in tall glasses. Depending upon the taste of coffee drinkers, sometimes rum, water, lemon, or sugar is added to it.
Ice Shot
It is from Australia and is much like Mazagran. One serving of this coffee includes a single espresso shot poured into a usual latté glass containing only ice. Ice shot with ice-cream topping is quite popular.
Flavored Coffee
Flavored coffee is an additional flavor added to the coffee, no matter it is espresso, basic, or any other form of coffee. To enhance the taste in your cup, different kinds of coffee flavors are available in the market.
Some common variants of flavored coffee are:
Caffe Marocchino
When you sprinkle cocoa powder on the combination of espresso and hot milk, you get Caffè Marocchino.
Melya
In this coffee, you can find that honey and cocoa powder, and sometimes cream adds to the flavor.
Mocha
Also known as mochaccino or café mocha, it is also one of the variants of caffe latte that has the following:
- 1/3-part espresso
- 2/3- part steamed milk
- A small part of chocolate (usually in the form of chocolate syrup)
When vending systems prepare Mocha, they use chocolate powder instead of syrup. The chocolate in Mocha is usually dark and sometimes, milk.
Cafe Bombon
It is a popular coffee drink from Valencia, Spain. To prepare it, you need to take a glass and add condensed milk slowly to the espresso until it sinks underneath and creates two bands of different colors.
In different parts of the world, this recipe is known with different names. For example, it is famous as Kopi Susu Panas in Malaysia, and Gafeh Rorn in Thailand.
Combination Coffee
It is not the name of a single coffee drink, but a category. The common combinations are:
Coffee and Espresso
Yes, you read it correctly. It is a combination of regular coffee and espresso. People do it to enhance either the caffeine content or the strength of flavor.
Coffee and Tea
I don’t think I need to describe this combination because it is quite clear. So, I am revealing some common combinations of coffee and tea:
- Black Tie: Combination of traditional Thai iced tea with double espresso shots.
- Chai Latte: Combination of the caffè latte’s steamed milk and spiced tea concentrate.
- Red Tie: Combination of traditional Thai iced tea with a single espresso shot.
- Yuen Yeung: Popular in Hong Kong, it is a mix of milk tea from Hong Kong and coffee.
Coffee and Alcohol
Also known as Liqueur Coffee, it is the combination of simple brewed coffee and whipped cream with one shot (25 ml) of liqueur. The best way to serve it is transparent liqueur coffee glasses as they allow you to see cream and coffee separately.
Here are the most famous coffee drinks belonging to this category:
- Caffe Corretto: This Italian drink is the combination of one-shot each of espresso and liquor.
- Irish Coffee: It is a cocktail of Irish whiskey, hot coffee, and sugar with cream as the topping. Its most common variant is Baileys Irish coffee drink.
- Rüdesheimer Kaffee: This German drink is the mix of brandy (Asbach Uralt), sugar, and coffee plus whipped cream topping.
- Pharisee: It is also a famous German coffee drink consisting of double shots of rum in a mug of black coffee. It also has a whipped cream topping.
- Carajillo: There are several ways to prepare a Carajillo. It is from Spain and is a combination of coffee and whiskey, brandy, rum, or anisette.
- Gunfire: Yes, it has an Army background. You can make it by mixing black coffee with rum.
Instant Coffee
As the name suggests, it is the coffee you can prepare instantly. For that, you should have dehydrated coffee powder or coffee granules, which are rehydrated with steaming water. Instant coffee is not exactly, but much similar to traditional coffee.
Indian Filter Coffee
It is a sweetened milk coffee containing chicory (20% – 30%) and darkly roasted coffee grounds (70% – 80%). It is most famous in the southern states of India. Other names of this coffee are:
- Mysore Filter Coffee
- South Indian Coffee
- Kaapi
To get the ultimate taste and texture in your cup, make sure you are familiar with the classification of coffee beans.
Final Words
So, these are the most famous coffee drinks from different parts of the world. By now, you might be certain about the best type of coffee to drink.
I want to know two things from you:
- Which all coffee drinks mentioned in this article are known to you?
- Which coffee drinks you think are famous but not a part of this article?
You can provide your answers in the comments below. I’ll make sure to read and reply to each comment. Also, I will extend this article with coffee drinks suggested by you.
Keep coming back for more exciting information related to the coffee-world.
