Most coffee-drink names describe a ratio of espresso to water or milk, not a different brewing method. Once you know the base shots, the rest of the menu is just addition.
The three base shots
- Ristretto ("restricted" in Italian): the same dose of coffee, less water — a shorter, more concentrated shot, often sweeter and less bitter since less of the later, harsher extraction makes it into the cup.
- Espresso: the standard shot most recipes (including our brewing guide) are built around.
- Lungo ("long"): the same dose, more water run through it — more volume, but also more of the bitter, later-extracted compounds.
Milk drinks, built on the same shot
- Macchiato: espresso "marked" with a small amount of milk foam — mostly coffee.
- Cortado: equal parts espresso and steamed milk, with little to no foam.
- Cappuccino: espresso, steamed milk and a notably thick layer of milk foam, in roughly equal thirds.
- Flat white: espresso with steamed milk and a thin layer of microfoam — more milk than a cappuccino, less foam.
- Latte: espresso with a much larger volume of steamed milk and a thin foam layer — the mildest, most milk-forward of the group.
A machine's steam wand type has a real effect on how easily these milk textures are achieved — manual wands give more control over foam thickness, automatic systems are more consistent with less technique.
Roast levels
Roast level is a measure of how long and hot the beans were roasted, not a different type of bean:
- Light roasts retain more of the bean's original acidity and origin-specific flavor notes (fruit, floral, tea-like), with less roast-driven bitterness.
- Medium roasts balance origin character with roast-developed sweetness and body — the most common default for espresso blends.
- Dark roasts develop pronounced roast flavors (chocolate, caramel, sometimes smoky or bitter notes) that increasingly mask the origin character underneath.
Arabica vs. robusta
Arabica beans make up most specialty and espresso-blend coffee, prized for a wider range of flavor notes and generally lower bitterness. Robusta beans have notably more caffeine and a heavier, sometimes harsher body, and are often blended into espresso in small amounts specifically to boost crema — the reddish-brown foam on top of a well-pulled shot.