In this article I will talk about the most popular type of coffee from a luscious latte to an exuberant espresso, a marvelous mocha, or magnificent macchiato and the famous cappuccino and the beans used to make great coffee.

Let’s get cracking on with this article and if you are really curious as what those coffee drinks are in Starbucks or your local coffee house – keep reading!

The 4 Types Of Coffee Beans

Most people can name only two different types of coffee beans. Only the most dedicated coffee lover can name all 4! If all you can name is Arabica and Robusta, it’s normal as these two account for 90% of all coffee beans sold worldwide. If you can name all 4 Kudos, you bonafide coffee lover!

Arabica Beans

By far, Arabica is the most commonly used type of coffee bean and the preferred choice for most coffee enthusiasts due to their taste. Arabica beans have a more complex flavor than robusta beans, are a touch sweeter yet have far less caffeine than Robusta beans and work very well with straight black coffee like a Caffe Americano. Arabica beans account for 60% of all coffee beans sold worldwide.

Robusta Beans

This is my own personal preference as Robusta beans work well as I like my coffee. Robusta beans account for 30% of all coffee beans sold. They are used in instant coffee, espresso drinks and are often added to an espresso blend that is predominantly Arabica due to their high caffeine content, which is approximately double that of an Arabica bean.

Robusta beans have a more bitter flavor than the other 3 beans and are much cheaper than the others. I love coffee the Vietnamese way, Robusta works well, perfectly well with coffee this way.

Liberica Beans

Liberica beans are named after the African nation of Liberia and are bigger than the other 3. Their taste is smokey, fruity and floral. If you see irregular shaped coffee beans, grab them as they are likely to be Liberica beans. These are by far the most difficult types of coffee beans to find and most likely you will need to order them to try them.

Excelsa Beans

Excelsa beans have been re-classified lately to be a member of the Liberica family. Despite this, their taste is very different when you compare them to the Liberica coffee bean family. This is something that is absolutely true as I tried a variety of coffee drinks both with and without milk.

Excelsa beans account for only 7% of the coffee sold worldwide and are mostly found in the South East of Asia – A part of the world I love after living there for some 10 years.

Read: Blended coffee meaning

Top 10 Most Popular Coffee Type Of Coffee Drinks

Now, we have covered the beans let’s get on with detailing what the most popular coffee drinks are and how they are made. The next time you are at your local coffee chain, you will know what these are.

Latte

A latte is undoubtedly one of the most popular coffee types in the world. It is simply an espresso shot with three parts steamed milk. A latte is often referred to as a style as we have a flat white, essentially a hipsters’ latte, a green tea latte, Chai latte, Caramel latte, Latte with chocolate and of course, a macchiato latte and almond latte macchiato.

Lattes are served in 9 ounce (270ml) ceramic cups with a double espresso and steamed milk that has a layer of frothed milk.

Latte drinks have grown in popularity due to baristas and their gift for latte art and coming up with exotic designs. It is literally impossible to see a classic latte without some kind of latte art, even in the humblest of coffee shops.

Mocha

Named after the Yemen city of Mocha. It is very similar to a macchiato but has chocolate. The name came to us due to the coffee beans from around the area having a chocolaty hint to them.

A café mocha is an idea for you if you love the taste of both chocolate and coffee. Perfect for coffee lovers who are chocolate lovers too. It is one of the most popular types of coffee on the Starbucks menu and is certainly no regular coffee, not with that fine marriage of two favorites of coffee and chocolate.

Cappuccino

The stories of this coffee drink, and it’s relationship to the Capuchin monks and the color of their habit is absolutely true. I’ve had it told to me by many Italians.

An authentic cappuccino is strong and is combination of an espresso shot, (I like a double shot) and milk foam in equal parts and served in a cappuccino cup, a standard 9 ounce (270ml) cup. It is very common to sprinkle cocoa powder and have a few flakes of very dark black chocolate.

Over the years, it has become common for baristas to do their famed latte art on the foam, making this coffee drink more attractive.

The foamed milk is very easy to make and is in 2 layers of milk and the microfoam. Like a latte, the milk is steamed milk poured into an espresso coffee, then a layer of foamed milk is added on top.

When you taste your cappuccino you should be able to enjoy the balance between the coffee and the milk and a touch of a chocolate flavor due to the sprinkling of cocoa powder. Some coffee shops will have a special cappuccino cup which is transparent and shows the beauty of the drink.

There is no need for you to have a specialty cappuccino maker as you home espresso maker will make you great coffee of all genres.

Macchiato

The macchiato I touched on earlier and is a drink that is another of the top sellers in Starbucks. A Macchiato varies from place to place and barista to barista. This Italian coffee is originally an espresso with a stain of milk and foam.

This coffee favorite dates back to the 16th century. It is prepared in layers and looks great served in a transparent glass.

A Macchiato is enjoyed by espresso lovers that want a creamier texture and a softer flavor. Commonly it is made with steamed milk, or milk foam with a touch of caramel and espresso. Favorites are latte macchiato, espresso macchiato, caramel macchiato and the delicious almond latte macchiato.

Clearly, if you want to learn how to be a quality home barista you need to learn how to make a top quality cup of espresso as it is the base for many drinks.

Caffe Americano

A caffe Americano dates back to World War Two when American soldiers stationed in Italy requested drip coffee and sought their straight black coffee from home. It’s an espresso-based drink with one or two shots of espresso with hot water added to dilute the strength.

I have seen some people add milk and cream, mostly British people looking to imitate a more UK style white coffee.

Café Bombón

I love Café Bombón Although it is a Spanish favorite, a place where I spend 10 years of my life, I fell in love with it about 10,000 miles away in Vietnam where the same recipe is used with their famed Café Sua Saigon.

Café Bombon is made with condensed milk and a shot of espresso. The condensed milk is added first with and espresso topping it up with the espresso shot sitting on top of the condensed milk. Often the Spaniards will either switch out the condensed milk for Baileys Irish cream or, typically in Valencia, Horchata de Chufa, a tiger nut milk.

In Vietnam, the condensed milk is mixed with regular milk for a thicker, sweeter coffee and served with ice.

Frappé

The well known and popular cup of coffee Frappé originated in Greece in 1957 and is drunk in the streetside cafés of the Southern European nations.

The original Greek version was invented by a complete accident by an employee of Nestle. The name comes from the French word Frappé which is descriptive of beverages chilled with ice.

The drinks’ creator Giannis Dritsas was originally promoting a new chocolate drink for children at a fair. On his break, his coffee break, he could not find the hot water he needed to make his coffee. Instead, he used a similar recipe to the chocolate drink he was promoting, added instant coffee, ice and gave it a good shake and, viola, the café frappé was born.

It is made with instant coffee powder, spray dried coffee powder. Spray dried coffee allows you to get the frothy topping as it contains almost no oil.

However,

Regular Nescafe instant coffee will be fine. You need ice cubes, sugar a little water and evaporated milk. Put the ingredients in a cocktail shaker alongside some ice cubes. Shake vigorously for a minute or two and serve in a glass with ice and traditionally, a straw.

Turkish Coffee

This is a coffee culture classic, and it is debated as to where the absolute origins lie, as Armenian coffee and Bosnian coffee are very similar and geographically and historically, these regions are linked. Let’s call it a mixture of coffee culture!

There are similar variants as far a field as Poland, Czech Republic and Lithuania as well as their nearby rivals Greece.

What I find fascinating is this coffee plays a large part in traditional weddings in Turkey and is used for fortune-telling, just as we would imagine fortune-tellers reading tea leaves.

Salt is added to the coffee by the brides’ family to judge the grooms’ character.

Turkish coffee is made with very fine grounds similar to that of an espresso with any type of coffee bean. Arabica beans are best for this type of coffee.

The coffee grounds are brewed unfiltered and left in your cup of coffee when served. It is very common for the coffee beans to be ground with a manual grinder.

The sugar is added to the coffee while it is brewed and, thus, when requesting a Turkish coffee you must say how sweet or unsweetened. It is taken to the boil, the point of boiling over and re-heated two times more to get the desired level of froth.

Often it is served in a very traditional coffee cup and with a small sweet to eat. It is common for this coffee to be flavored with ambergris, mastic salep or cardamom.

Eiscaffee

As the name suggests, this is Ice Coffee. To be more precise, ice cream and coffee. It is a cold coffee that originates in Germany with variations being found in other countries such as Italy’s Affogato.

Traditionally, it is made with brewed coffee, vanilla ice cream and topped with whipped cream.

Espresso

This is probably the most famous and best known coffee to come out of Italy. An espresso is also a roast, and thus, technically, can only be brewed using beans of coffee that are an espresso roast. Commonly, a dark roast blend of Arabica beans with around 20% Robusta beans are used to increase the caffeine content.

To make an espresso, you really do need to use an espresso coffee machine that can produce the required amount of pressure, which is approximately 9 bar of pressure or 132 PSI is needed to extract a good espresso with the famous crema.

If you are just starting on your coffee journey, I strongly suggest that you learn how to make a good quality cup of espresso and how to pull a great shot of espresso. An espresso forms the base of many milk based coffee drinks from the café au lait (a latte) to many of the drinks I have mentioned above.

With a proper professional espresso machine, and when you learn to make hot milk using the steamer you can also make some very nice hot chocolate drinks and start to experiment with recipes of your own such as a blond macchiato with white chocolate and chocolate sprinkle on top!

Frequently Asked Questions About Most Popular Type Of Coffee

What Is The Number 1 Coffee In The World?

Many coffee lovers, coffee enthusiasts and experts agree that the rare Geisha bean from Panama is the number one coffee in the world. It is often used by baristas at competition events and to brew award-winning coffee. At auctions the Panama Geisha is often the most expensive.

What Coffee Does Starbucks Use?

Starbucks uses Arabica coffee beans from Latin America, Africa and Asia. Starbucks create and uses their own blends. It is not known what the exact blend is.

They tell you which country or geographic location their beans are from but not a precise Provence, mix or ratio, these are considered trade secrets!

What Are The Top 5 Coffees In The World?

The top 5 coffees based on taste and quality are: 

• 1 Panama Geisha. 
• 2. Hawaiian Kona Coffee.
• 3. Tanzania Peaberry coffee. 
• 4. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee. 
• 5. Kenyan AA Volcanica Coffee. 

What Are The 4 Types Of Coffee?

The four types of coffee beans are Robusta, Arabica, Liberica and Excelsa. Each of these coffees has a very different flavor profile.

What Coffee Does Hilton Hotels Use?

The Hilton hotel chain of resorts and hotels use coffee that is exclusively created for them by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. They use Brazillian Cerrado coffee grounds that have a tasty bold and dark aroma with very earthy notes. There is a subtle bitter-sweet finish.

What Kind Of Coffee Do Most Restaurants Use?

Most restaurants use a good quality medium roast coffee. They don’t aim to have high end or premium coffee beans or a roast that is too light or too dark. Restaurants aim to use the type of coffee that is middle of the road and one that everyone will accept and goes well with the food on their menu.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – Most Popular Type Of Coffee

Billions of people drink coffee worldwide every single day and there are so many variations, the drink and its method of elaboration varies from country to country. I find it incredible that a country, Italy that does not grow coffee is responsible for some of the most popular type of coffee drinks available.

Which one is your favorite coffee drink? – Mine? I’ll have a Macchiato!

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