Caffe latte....?!
Answers: My sister has lived and worked in Italy for the past 20 years.... in Italy the word latte is MILK. If you went into some where in Italy and asked for a latte you would be given a glass of milk! Cartons of milk are labelled Latte. Why is a milky coffee called a latte in UK? In Italy there is no such thing. Italians only ever drink espresso; or you can ask for a cappuccino / Americano; but there is no such thing as a latte. Why have do we have them here? And how is it any different to a cappuccino?
As far as I had the chance to look at this word, it seems the UK "inherit" it from the US (similar to what happened with the Italian word "panini", by the way); sometimes it also happens Italians introduces new words or new meanings in the UK: an Italian journalist reported many years ago if you go in a clothes shop in London and ask for "a body" the shop assistant would had looked at you like you have two noses, wondering why you want to buy a corpse... :)
That journalist was back in London some years later and he discovered people in cloth shops now know what a "body" is, since many clothes come from Italy labeled that way.
So, sometimes Italians teach English to British :) but more often seems American are trying to teach Italian to British...
So, an American can enter in an Italian bar asking for a latte, getting served milk, but I'm still not sure if he was meaning a "cappuccino" (three parts of coffee, one of milk, lot of foam) or a "caffelatte" (half milk, half coffee, usually no foam, just poured) or even a "caffè macchiato" (coffee with a teaspoon of milk).
here we call them koffie verkeerd, litterly translated it means, coffe wrong, just means a little stong coffee with lots of milk in it, more than cappucino and since they think that coffee is an italian thing, they will use all the meanings form italy to make is sound good and call it a latte. simple
just enjoy them
cuz cafe means coffee and latte is milk....... coffee/ with milk..... get it????
Its because most if not all of the UKs coffee culture comes from America(unfortunately like most things). The difference between latte and cappuccino is that quantities of foam in the drink(which comes from how the milk is steamed). A latte has a small amount of foam at the top of the drink(usually about 1/2 an inch), whereas a cappucino is half foam and half milk. Thats the Starbucks way anyway so im expecting a tirade of negative responses from coffee snobs, but thats how i was taught to make the two drinks.
American Tastes are different than European taste. Even the Sodas are different. We add milk to our espresso and flavored syrups. I don't know that any other country really does that. It is really just an American thing.
In America, lattes have frothed milk and cappuccinos have steamed milk. No one can argue that Italy doesn't have the BEST coffee and coffeeshops ANYWHERE!.. Now, if we could just get more Americans to stop putting all that extra sugary stuff into their coffee (like caramel, syrups, etc.). That isn't REALLY coffee:)-it's coffee for people who don't like coffee:) Nothing beats a good, strong cup of espresso, with nothing added, except maybe a small sliver of lemon peel
Italy is best in world for their heritage values and in all corners of art, fashion , design, taste, food , apparels, drinks, and lot many varieties. The other countries of Europe and America are trying to copy it out to possible extent , but original Italian taste does not have any match. Bravo for your taste and observations.