
My wife and I always have called this concoction a cappuccino but as reported in The New York Times, what exactly constitutes a cappuccino is evidently quite controversial. Some food writers contend that size is a key factor and that a cappuccino is a four ounce drink and that the American custom of serving small, medium, and large drinks is inappropriate.
Other argue that the key element to a cappuccino is that there are three layers: the expresso (coffee), hot milk, and foam. Of course, even among those who agree that there should be layers disagree on whether the layers need to remain intact. While my wife drinks her cappuccino without stirring, Italians tend to stir the layers together. Finally, some advocate a drink that has no layers at all but has the same consistency throughout. That of course, can easily be confused with a “flat white”-another coffee specialty drink with ambiguous origins and meanings. Guidelines do exist. The Specialty Coffee Association of America and its Barista Guild advocate that a cappuccino have a least a one-centimeter layer of foam. Other guidelines are even more specific.
The Instituto Nazionale Espresso Italian states that the cappuccino should have 25 ml of espresso and 100 ml of steam-foamed milk. Personally, I do not worry too much about who is right. I just know that my wife seems very happy to see me enter the bedroom on Saturday mornings carrying a steaming cup of “cappuccino”.