Starbucks Cappuccino

A Starbucks Cappuccino is £4.60 for a Tall and 130 calories in a Grande, which makes it the lightest of the three classic milk drinks Starbucks UK pours from the same two shots. Dark signature espresso goes in first, then a smaller pour of steamed milk than a latte gets, then a foam cap deep enough to hold a spoon upright for a second or two.

The roast comes through here in a way it does not in a latte. Less milk means less of the toffee sweetness that milk sugars bring, so the cocoa and dark chocolate edge of the espresso sits closer to the front. The foam is the point of the drink. Properly made, it should be dry and airy rather than wet and flat, and it lifts the aroma up to you before the first sip lands. That trapped air is also why the first mouthful is cooler than the body of the drink underneath it.

Caffeine is 89.1mg in a Tall and a Grande alike, because both take two shots. Only the Venti moves, at 133.7mg, since it gets a third. Calories run 64 in a Short, 103 in a Tall, 130 in a Grande and 169 in a Venti with semi skimmed milk. A Grande Cappuccino saves 21 calories against a Grande Caffè Latte for the same money, and the difference is milk, not coffee.

It reads as a morning drink to most people and Starbucks baristas will tell you the orders drop off sharply after eleven. The foam does not survive a long walk, so it suits sitting in rather than carrying out. Anyone who wants the same shots with more milk and less air should look at the Caffè Latte, and the Flat White goes the other way with a thin milk layer in a smaller cup.