The Evolution of Espresso-Based Drinks: From Italian Tradition to Global Phenomenon

In the spring of 1983, an American marketing executive stopped in his tracks while walking through the streets of Milan. It was early morning, and inside an espresso bar, a suited lawyer and a construction worker stood side by side at the counter, each holding the same small cup. The barista pulled the lever, the cup changed hands, money was exchanged, conversation flowed — all of it in under two minutes. Howard Schultz would later describe the moment as “like a light going on.”^[1] He had come to Italy as marketing director for a coffee bean distribution company, but what he saw in that alley was not the bean business. It was a ritual. A community. Schultz wanted to take it back to America.

Yet the cultural rules that Italians had preserved for generations around espresso-based drinks — cappuccino only in the morning, no milky coffee after a meal, standing at the counter and drinking quickly — were an entirely different world from the “third place” Schultz had in mind. This article explores how Italian tradition was formed, why it changed as it spread around the world, and what emerged from that process.

The Origins of Cappuccino: A Name That Began with a Monk’s Habit

It is widely known that cappuccino is related to the Capuchin Order, but the precise nature of that connection is often misunderstood. The name of the Capuchin Order itself derives from “cappuccio” (hood), with “cappuccino” being its diminutive — the friars wore brown habits with a distinctive pointed hood over their heads.^[2] The coffee drink came to share this name because its color — a deep brown with a touch of milk — resembled the color of the friars’ robes.

What makes the history even more interesting is that the name “cappuccino” was first established as a coffee drink not in Italy, but in the Habsburg Empire of Austria. By the late eighteenth century, coffee house menus in the Habsburg Empire listed a drink called “Kapuziner” — a strong coffee topped with whipped cream and dusted with cinnamon or chocolate powder.^[3] After the Congress of Vienna in 1815, as the Austrian Empire came to rule Lombardy, Trentino, Venetia, and other regions of northern Italy, this Kapuziner culture traveled south into Italy, where it underwent local adaptation to produce the form we know today.^[3]

The modern cappuccino — espresso topped with steamed milk and foam — first appears in documentation in the 1930s.^[4] Photographic evidence from that era shows a drink still closer to the Viennese whipped-cream style, and the fully established form of today’s cappuccino, made with steamed milk foam, only settled into its definitive shape after the Second World War, once espresso machines had become widespread.^[4]

Italy’s traditional standards for cappuccino proportions are strict. A single shot of espresso (around 25ml), steamed milk, and dense foam in equal thirds — a total volume of roughly 150–180ml. The moment it grows larger or the milk proportion increases, Italians no longer call it a cappuccino.^[5] And there is a correct time for drinking cappuccino. For Italians, it is a morning drink. Ordering a cappuccino after eleven in the morning will earn you a raised eyebrow from the barista.^[5]

The Italian Culture of Latte: Milk Belongs in the Morning

In Italy, “latte” simply means milk. Ask for a “latte” in a café and you will receive a glass of milk. To get the coffee drink, you must say “caffè latte.”^[5]

Caffè latte has long been a morning home drink in Italy. The practice began with brewing strong coffee in a moka pot at home and mixing it with warmed milk; the version made with steamed milk at an espresso bar came later. The reason this drink is reserved for mornings is bound up with Italian ideas about digestion. Milk is filling enough to stand in for a meal, which makes it suitable for breakfast, and Italians believe that drinking a milky drink after eating interferes with digestion.^[5] This is not something fully verified by medicine, but it is part of a food culture passed down over hundreds of years.

Outside Italy, caffè latte became simply “latte” — orderable at any time of day, in any size — as a result of the globalization of American coffee chains like Starbucks from the 1990s onward. In the United States, countless variations emerged: iced latte, vanilla latte, caramel latte, and more. The drink moved in an entirely new direction, far from its Italian roots.^[6]

The History of Latte Art: From Milan to Seattle, and Then the World

There are two origin stories for latte art — one Italian, one American.

Italian baristas had long possessed the skill of creating small patterns in milk foam. But it was in Seattle, United States, that this was developed into a systematized technique, given the name “latte art,” and spread to the world. In 1986, Jack Kelly, a barista at Uptown Espresso in Seattle, developed “microfoam” — steamed milk with an extremely fine bubble structure, giving it a velvety texture.^[7] This dense, fluid milk foam became the technical foundation of latte art.

David Schomer, a former Boeing engineer who founded Espresso Vivace in Seattle in 1988, was inspired by Kelly’s microfoam technique and took up the development of latte art. Vivace barista Lisa Persons first reproduced a well-formed heart pattern in 1989,^[7] and Schomer himself independently re-created the rosette pattern in 1992 after seeing it in a photograph taken at Cafe Mateki in Italy.^[7] Schomer then organized a course called “Caffè Latte Art,” systematized the technique, and disseminated it to baristas around the world.

Afterward, Italian barista Luigi Lupi exchanged ideas with Schomer via the internet in the late 1990s, bringing about a technical exchange between two continents. The methodology Schomer had developed, combined with Italy’s espresso tradition, led latte art to become a formal competition category at the World Barista Championship,^[7] and today it has become an independent art form in which thousands of baristas compete worldwide.

There is a reason latte art matters beyond mere visual decoration. Well-executed latte art is an indicator that the milk and espresso have been properly integrated. Without properly formed microfoam, the pattern cannot be drawn; without a rich crema on the espresso, the milk cannot settle over it. Latte art is the result of skill, not the goal of it.

The Globalization of Espresso: What Starbucks Created and What It Changed

Inspired by Milan in 1983, Howard Schultz introduced a small espresso bar corner into a Seattle Starbucks location in April 1984.^[1] That day, the store welcomed around 1,000 customers instead of its usual 200. Yet Starbucks’ co-founders at the time decided not to expand the experiment, reasoning that “the core business is bean distribution, and a coffee bar is a sideshow.”^[1] Schultz eventually struck out on his own, founding his own coffee bar chain “Il Giornale” in 1986, and acquired Starbucks in 1987.

Starbucks then spread cappuccino, caffè latte, caffè mocha, Frappuccino, and other drinks across the United States and then the world. The transformation was not simple diffusion. Where Italy’s culture was to stand at a counter and drink a 150ml cappuccino in two minutes, in America this became expanded into a 500ml “Grande” or a 700ml “Venti.” Syrups, spices, and plant-based milk alternatives were added. The very modifications that Italians regard as cultural blasphemy became, in global markets, the engine that spread these drinks even further.^[6]

Starbucks did not open its first store in Italy until 2018.^[1] That was 35 years after Schultz had drawn his inspiration from a Milan espresso bar. One reason for the delay was concern that Starbucks’ drinks were so different from Italian coffee culture that they would be difficult to accept locally.

Australia and New Zealand’s Flat White: Another Variation

As espresso-based drinks spread around the world, each region produced its own variations. The most intriguing example is the flat white, which emerged from Australia and New Zealand.

The debate over the origins of the flat white continues to this day. The Australian side claims that Alan Preston of Moors Espresso Bar in Sydney first put the drink on the menu in 1985.^[8] A document reviewing Sydney cafés from May 1983 does include the expression “flat white coffee.”^[8] The New Zealand side argues that in 1989, barista Fraser McInnes at Bar Bodega in Wellington accidentally invented the drink while attempting to make a cappuccino — the milk foam failed to rise sufficiently, resulting in something new.^[8] There is also the view of coffee historian Ian Bersten, who argues that a similar drink already existed in England in the 1950s.^[8]

More interesting than the debate over origins is the context in which this drink emerged. Australia and New Zealand saw large numbers of Italian immigrants settle in the 1950s and 1960s, giving espresso culture an early foothold there. But the drink culture of both countries did not simply copy the Italian original — it evolved in a direction favoring larger volumes and a smoother milk texture. The flat white is smaller than a latte (around 160ml), has thinner and denser milk foam, and carries a higher milk proportion than a cappuccino. This subtle difference created a distinct drink category of its own.

In 2015, Starbucks added the flat white to its global menu, bringing the drink worldwide attention. Because the Starbucks press release supported the Australian origin story, it provoked a strong backlash from New Zealand.^[8]

Macchiato, Cortado, Affogato: Variations on Espresso

Some drinks emerged locally as espresso spread around the world; others were born from Italian and Spanish tradition before being carried outward.

Espresso Macchiato takes its name from the Italian word “macchiato,” meaning “stained” or “marked.”^[9] A small amount of milk foam placed on a shot of espresso — maintaining the strong espresso flavor while softening it slightly — this drink has long existed in Italian bars as the choice between a straight espresso and a cappuccino. With an espresso-to-milk ratio close to 2:1, it carries the lowest milk proportion of any espresso-based drink. By contrast, the “Latte Macchiato” introduced by Starbucks — made by pouring espresso into milk in reverse order to emphasize a visual layer — is conceptually different from the traditional Italian macchiato.

Cortado is a drink that emerged in Spain in the early 1960s.^[9] Its name comes from the Spanish “cortar” (to cut), and it aims for a balance in which the steamed milk “cuts” the acidity of the espresso, with both mixed at a 1:1 ratio. After spreading to Portugal and Cuba, it became internationally known in the latter half of the twentieth century. With more milk than a macchiato but more espresso character than a latte or cappuccino, it has drawn particular attention within the specialty coffee world.

Affogato takes its name from the past participle of “affogare” (to drown) in Italian — it is a dessert-drink made by pouring a shot of espresso over gelato or vanilla ice cream.^[10] The precise origins of this drink are unclear; it presumably came into being sometime after espresso machines became widespread in the late nineteenth century. Its first documented appearance in the English-speaking world dates to the early 1990s.^[10] In Italy it is treated as a post-meal dessert, while outside Italy it is more often classified as a café drink.

The Tension Between Italian Tradition and Globalization

In Italy today, there are efforts to maintain national standards for espresso-based drinks. The Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano (INEI), a private certification body established in 1998, has formalized production standards for authentic espresso.^[13] According to these standards, a genuine Italian espresso is a drink of around 25ml extracted from 7g of coffee at 88–90°C over 25–30 seconds, with a crema on the surface ranging from golden to reddish-brown.

Behind this movement lies a complex tension. Italy is uncomfortable with the reality that Starbucks’ “Caramel Macchiato” and its syrup-laden Frappuccinos are sold to the world under Italian names. At the same time, Italian coffee culture itself is not standing still. In the twenty-first century, the specialty coffee movement has spread within Italy too, creating a situation in which the traditional espresso bar culture and the methodology of Third Wave Coffee coexist and compete.

The intriguing paradox is that Italy’s strict coffee culture rules — cappuccino only in the morning, standing and drinking quickly — may actually have made these drinks more appealing to the world. Where there are rules, there is history; where there is history, there is a story. What Starbucks sold to the world was not only espresso drinks but the aura of that Italian story — and at the same time, by reinterpreting that story in an American way, it provoked discomfort even in Italy itself.

Conclusion: Between Making Rules and Breaking Them

Order a cappuccino at a Milan espresso bar at eleven in the morning and the barista will make it without a word — but something will be visible in his expression. Behind these drinks lies a complex history in which climate, food culture, beliefs about digestion, and even the coffee houses of the Habsburg Empire are intertwined. That history was partly made by Italy, partly carried in from Austria, and partly reinvented by an engineer in Seattle.

Following the evolution of espresso-based drinks, an interesting pattern emerges. Each drink was born within a tradition, but only took on its global form when it encountered another culture. Cappuccino came from the Habsburg Kapuziner; latte art was completed at the intersection of Italy and Seattle; and the flat white was a new branch that grew from a coffee culture transplanted to the Southern Hemisphere by Italian immigrants. The fact that these drinks are still evolving means this story is not yet over.