Where Do Coffee Beverages Get Their Names From?

In true coffee nerd fashion, we’re delving deeper into the world of coffee culture to understand where coffee beverages get their names from. 

Every day, somewhere in the world, a coffee lover is ordering (perhaps, making at home) an espresso, a macchiato or a flat white. But why is a macchiato called a macchiato? Who decided to give these drinks the names they have? 

Behind this simple question lies a vast ocean of stories. Stories that point to language roots, to geographical identities, and also to the ingredients used in brewing the beverage.

The Influence of History & Language

For the most part, a lot of classic coffee drinks derive their names from historical contexts and language roots. 

You’ll find that many of the following drinks have some association with Italy & its coffee culture. Let’s take a look at what these names really mean.

• Espresso comes from an Italian word, esprimer, which literally means “to press out” and refers to the way in which hot water is forced through a bed of coffee to produce the espresso. An Italian inventor, Angelo Moriondo, patented the first espresso machine in 1884 in Turin, Italy.

• Latte means “milk” in Italian. The latte was originally called caffè latte in Italy. Over time, the name of this beverage was shortened to latte.

• Cappuccino is named after the Capuchin monks whose brown robes resembled the colour of cappuccino. This drink dates back to the Italian coffee houses in the 1700s. 

• Cortado takes after the Spanish verb cortar, which means “to cut”. A little milk is used to cut down the intense flavour of the espresso in this drink, and that’s the inspiration for the name.

• Macchiato in Italian means “stained” or “marked” and refers to the dash of foamed milk added to a shot of espresso that stains the surface.

• Americano literally translates to American in Italian. The name goes back to WWII, when American soldiers stationed in Italy would water down a shot of Italian espresso to make it more palatable. Hence, the drink came to be known as an Americano.

• Affogato in Italian is “to drown” and refers to the shot of espresso that drowns the ice cream/ gelato in this classic dessert drink. 

• Frappe is a French term that, although it translates to “struck”, is intended to refer to the ice being crushed in a blender while making this beverage. 

From Geographical Origins & Cultural Trends

Several other coffee drinks take the name of the region where the coffee was first produced or has some kind of connection to. 

• Mocha, for instance, takes after a trading port in Yemen known as Mokha. Also, this Yemeni coffee variety originally has chocolate tasting notes. That’s why Mocha now represents a combination of coffee and chocolate.

• Irish coffee gets its name from a beverage created by an Irish chef in the 1940s. He would add whiskey to the coffee to help travellers bear the cold weather. 

• Dalgona coffee is a recent cultural trend that took the world by storm. During a trip in Macau, a South Korean actor noticed that his coffee tasted similar to the honeycomb toffee (called dalgona in Korean) back home. When he mentioned this on a TV show, it became a viral sensation, and people began to refer to it as Dalgona coffee.

The Role of Branding

Businesses and coffee professionals have also played a crucial role in setting trends, innovating new coffee beverages, and using the power of branding to popularise coffee recipes.

• A frappuccino is a combination of the words frappe and cappuccino. It’s the name given to a crushed ice coffee drink by an American coffee giant. 

• Bulletproof Coffee is the name of the brand by Dave Asprey, an entrepreneur. It also refers to the diet trend of adding fats to coffee that he popularised. The intention with this name is to highlight how the coffee serves as a bulletproof cover against fatigue and provides a significant energy boost.

Descriptive Names

Finally, some names of beverages are mere descriptions of what they look like or the ingredients used to make them. 

• Black Coffee

• Flat White literally refers to the flat layer of microfoam that rests on the surface of the cup.

• Long Black results from a double shot of espresso added to hot water, which creates a “longer” cup of black coffee.

• Cold Brew has to do with the style of brewing coffee wherein it is brewed in the refrigerator, unlike the typical way of brewing coffee hot.

• Red Eye Coffee borrows its name from red eye flights, which require people to stay awake overnight and, therefore potentially, consume more coffee. A red eye coffee is a cup of drip coffee that has an additional shot of espresso added to it for more caffeine.

Which of these coffee drink names were you not familiar with? Comment and let us know.