Whenever you go to any great café, you usually encounter two main kinds of drinks: latte and mocha. For the sake of this article, you decided to only get one (to save on budget)… but you do not know which one to pick first.
So, what’s the difference between latte and mocha? Is latte supposed to be sweeter than mocha? Does mocha have a more bold taste?
Today, we will be discussing their different tastes and aspects of both latte and mocha.
With the information we will provide to you, it is up to you to think and see which drink is better for you to get on these occasions. Let us start, and read on!
What’s The Difference Between A Mocha And A Latte?
Whenever you visit any café, you get to choose from a wide variety of coffee options, with most of them made with espresso and milk. The top two choices you can find are latte and mocha.
For starters, the latte has more milk than espresso, and usually has a mild, light coffee taste, thanks to the more milk it has.
On the other hand, mocha has more milk than espresso and usually has a chocolate taste in them, either coming from the coffee beans and laden with a chocolate taste, or from additional chocolate being added to the formula. Its taste can be described as bold yet sweet.
In cafes, lattes are usually styled as a mild milk-with-coffee drink, with a thin layer of foamed milk on the top (usually with a beautiful design crafted by the cafe’s talented baristas, called latte art).
It is sometimes sweetened (depending on the choice of the customer), and is healthier than mocha in terms of calories, with only having about 120 calories per serving.
Mochas usually have an additional chocolate taste to enhance their already-chocolate-laden beans, and again, you taste the coffee more than its milk with espresso.
Even with its emphasis on coffee, mochas are sweeter due to the presence of the sweet chocolate in your drink, neutralizing the bitterness of your coffee drink with milk. You can get more energy on calories alone from mochas, giving you about 310 calories per serving.
Even with all those differences, there are still a lot of similarities between lattes and mochas. Both are made with coffee and milk, both are served at between 8 ounces, 10 ounces, 12 ounces, or up to 16 ounces (around 220 to 450 ml).
Lattes and mochas both still have the same amount of caffeine, since usually one or two shots of espresso are given to both lattes and mochas.
A Quick Note on Milk:
How about milk? Does the milk you use, change the drink you have, by either flavor and style?
Well, not really. The formula for both lattes and mocha still stays the same, no matter what milk you get or use. The milk can still change your drink’s flavor, just a little bit.
In both lattes and mochas, the milk often used is either steamed milk or frothed milk.
Frothed milk is made when air bubbles are added into the milk to become milk foam on top of your drink.
Frothed milk usually makes your coffee drink sweeter, for as the temperature of the milk heats up, the sweetness increases, due to the lactose inside the milk being more soluble.
Steamed milk is made with the same process as frothed milk, but fewer air bubbles are formed, and the entire cup with milk is mixed.
The fats of the milk break down until you have a microfoam for your milk, formed by microbubbles inside it.
So, the milk does not change both lattes and mochas at all, to an extent. You just have the choice to either have frothed milk that is sweeter or steamed milk that is healthier.
What Is The Difference Between Mocha And Latte?
· Latte has more milk than espresso (with the ratio usually being 2/3 milk and 1/3 coffee).
· Lattes have a light and mild coffee flavor, emphasizing its creamy taste.
· Lattes also usually have a thin layer of foamed milk at the top (with a design on many coffee shops).
· Mocha has more espresso than milk, and it usually has additional chocolate (with its ratio being usually ⅖ espresso, ⅖ chocolate, and ⅕ milk)
· The taste of mocha is usually described as sweet and bold.
Quick Facts:
· Lattes are sometimes sweetened, depending on your order.
· Lattes are usually consumed during breakfast. In Italy, these Caffe lattes are usually prepared at home.
· Lattes are healthier than mocha in terms of calories, providing about 120 calories per serving.
· You can add your flavors in lattes. Some popular flavors coffee lovers have added are vanilla, chocolate, and caramel.
· Lattes are a shortened form of its Italian name: Caffe e latte, meaning milk coffee.
· Lattes are similar to cappuccinos, except those are made of espresso and steamed milk with a layer of milk foam on top.
· There is a national day for lattes, observed on the 7th of October.
· Even with its higher espresso content, mochas are sweeter than lattes due to the chocolate it has, balancing the espresso’s bitterness.
· Mochas give you more energy than lattes by calories, usually providing around 310 calories per serving.
· Coffee became popular around the world thanks to a small town in Yemen called Mocha, which became the center of the world’s coffee trade during the 15th to the 28th centuries. This is also where mocha coffee got its name.
· Mocha is short for caffe mocha, and mocha latte.
· Mocha coffee was inspired by another drink called Bicerin, which originated from the city and country of Turin, Italy.
· The chocolate used in mocha can either be cocoa powder or chocolate sauce.
· You can also use chocolate milk for your mochas, or replace your brown chocolate with white chocolate.
· Both lattes and mochas are usually served in cafes in sizes ranging from 8 to 16 ounces (around 220-450ml)
· Even with the differing tastes, both drinks still have the same caffeine content.
Conclusion
In summary, a latte is a milk-and-espresso drink, but more milk is added into the drink to make a mild, light, and creamy taste.
Mocha is also espresso and milk, but more of that espresso and chocolate taste is added to provide a bold yet chocolatey-sweet taste in your mouth.
Now that you know the main differences between both lattes and mocha, why not start making your right at home, or get a professionally-made drink at your local coffee shop? The possibilities are endless!
Start now and enjoy your very own latte and mocha drink! Thank you for reading and checking us out!
