Do you know how many cups of coffee are consumed across the globe daily?

1. 500 million?
2. 1 billion?
3. 2 billion?

We won’t leave you in suspense – but if you picked 2 billion, well done, you’re right! Lot of coffee consumption isn’t it, when there’s 8 billion people on planet Earth.

Some of you may not drink coffee at all, but we think it’s a safe bet to argue that most do. We drink it at home, at breakfast, on breaks, after meals. It can be drunk with spirits, neat as espresso, with milk, oat milk, soya and with numerous names. Walk down any high street in Britain, or drive along any road, and you will see sellers of coffee – from giant global chains to small independents, all sating our taste for coffee.

You probably order the same thing every time – cappuccino, latte, white Americano – and perhaps from the same chain or independent. You get used to a taste and style and, as a creature of habit, probably rarely deviate.

But apart from the plethora of coffee beans, the equipment used to make it – stove-top, cafetière, coffee press, capsule or even instant – you may want to know more about what each coffee style stands for when you’re staring at a machine or menu and wondering what is the difference between a latte and a mocha, a cappuccino and a macchiato.

Well wonder no more – as we provide a “cut out and keep” guide for you to experiment with the next time you order coffee. There’s hundreds of variations of these, of course, so the for sake of brevity, we’ve specified a lucky seven only.

1. Black coffee. This surely needs no explanation? It’s served hot from coffee beans with nothing added.
2. Espresso. Many assume that espresso and black coffee are the same and they’re partially correct. It is indeed black coffee and often unadorned with sugar – but the beans are more finely ground and it makes for a more syrupy drink. Espresso, of course, forms the base for latte and cappuccino drinks.
3. Latte. One of the more popular choices as the espresso base is tempered by the addition of milk. It is usually formed of three equal measures: espresso, steamed milk, frothed milk. There are of course multiple versions of lattes when flavoured syrups are added.
4. Cappuccino. Similar to latte, but with a thicker layer of foam and often topped with chocolate sprinkles in UK chains which may please or irritate you.
5. Macchiato. This is an espresso with a shot of milk. The word macchiato actually means stained or spotted in Italian, which should give you some idea of this coffee style.
6. Americano. This is espresso topped up with hot water, often coming with a small pitcher of cold milk if you specify white Americano.
7. Mocha latte. Just like the latte, but with the sweet addition of cocoa powder, melted chocolate or syrup.

These are just seven examples of hot coffee drinks – we will look at cold coffee drinks in a future post, as well as alcoholic versions like Irish coffee.

Our question to you now is a simple one – what coffee will you order the next time you’re out? Will you stick to your usual or will you work through each of the seven we’ve specified above?