National Cappuccino Day, a time to celebrate an exquisite coffee

With it’s delicious taste that wakes you up thanks to a shot of expresso, a foamy texture that embraces your lips as you sip, and a fluffy white canvas that gives coffee baristas the opportunity to create some art, the cappuccino has been one of the favorite beverages among the coffee lovers.

What is National Cappuccino Day?

Thanks to its popularity, this exquisite beverage has gained its personal celebration date. Each year, on November 8th, millions of people can honor this coffee drink during the National Cappuccino Day.

Whether you decide to buy one at your favorite coffee shop, prepare one by yourself, get one for someone special, or share some pictures on social media, there are many activities that you can do to enjoy the cappuccino.

While doing so, you can join the celebration by using the hashtag #NationalCappuccinoDay. 

What is a cappuccino?

A cappuccino is made with espresso, steamed milk, and foam. This coffee drink needs is well-known for its structure, which requires an even splitting of its ingredients into equal thirds. In order to avoid an acid taste, the cappuccino relies on the milk, which isn’t mixed in to obtain a rich flavor from the espresso.

Though it originated thousand years ago with a completely different recipe, nowadays people have explored fun and creative crafting ways when it comes to making a cappuccino.

Not only can you customize this drink with a sweetener or a milk substitute, but there have been different coffee shops that have shown their artistic side by decorating the foam with amazing designs and even offering a rainbow cappuccino. 

Differences between cappuccino, latte, and flat white

This has been one of the main questions that has created debates among the coffee drinkers. It’s perfectly normal to get confused. I used to mistake one for another every now and then! Fortunately, thanks to the knowledge sharing of the wide variety of coffee beverages, we can learn how to distinguish a cappuccino from a latte and flat white, which are the main drinks that tend to be mixed up.

The differences between cappuccino, latte, and flat white rely on the quantity:

Cappuccino: Requires one shot of espresso. Uses less than in the latte, and it has a thicker foam layer than the flat white.

Latte: It’s made with an espresso. It needs more milk than a cappuccino and flat white. It has little foam. The latte has sweeter notes thanks to the milk’s quantity. It tends to be served in an 8-ounce glass, which makes it larger than a cappuccino or flat white.

Flat White: It has two shots of espresso or ristretto (a more highly concentrated espresso), highlighting an intense coffee flavor. The flat white uses little milk and comes with a thin foam.

Facts about the cappuccino

There are a lot of curious facts about this tasty coffee drink. Here are a few that might interest you: 

If you decide to visit Italy, make sure not to order your cappuccino only at breakfast and before the clock hits 11:00 a.m.

While this isn’t a law that if you break, you’ll be committing a sin. In Italy, coffee culture is taken seriously. 

Also, Italians tend to drink milky beverages only in the morning because they considered it to be heavy. Thus, they associate the cappuccino as a breakfast drink. So, even if you can find a cappuccino at a coffee shop, you can opt for following the Italian tradition by ordering a caffè, which is how the Italians call the espresso, since this word actually refers to the coffee technique whereas the former word refers to a normal coffee. However, if an espresso is too strong for your taste, why not try a marocchino (a coffee that has a bit of espresso, cocoa powder, and foam)? 

In 2019, a Guinness World Record regarding this foamy coffee was broken by Liza Thomas, an Australian barista.

Liza managed to serve 420 cappuccinos, by herself, at a rate of seven coffees per minute.

She used a commercial coffee machine with a maximum of four espresso shots management at the same time. The event took place during the opening of Social Café, a shop located on Bribie Island, Queensland. This coffee house is part of Bribie Island’s RSL Club, an organization that supports men and women that served, or are currently serving, at the ADF (Australian Defence Force). Each cappuccino filled a cup of 142 ml (5 oz), meaning that Liza created 2,100 oz of the frothy coffee! 

Based on an anual survey of global prices by Deutsche Bank, Statista reported that, prior to the pandemic, in 2019, the most expensive cities for purchasing a cappuccino were: Copenhagen ($6.30 per cup on average), Dubai ($6 per cup),Hong Kong (average cost of $5.7), and a tie between Oslo and Paris (both have an average of $5.50 per cup). In the United States, it was reported that some cities with the highest prices are Boston ($5.20 approx.), New York ($5 on average, similar to Helsinki), and Chicago ($4.90). In the meantime, the top three cheapest prices for a cappuccino were found in Milan ($1.67 on average), Buenos Aires ($1.91), and Rome ($2).