A cafe latte and regular cuppa joe are different drinks for different people. Some love the smoothness of black coffee while others enjoy the thickness in their latte. When you compare them side by side, there is one question that pops up quite often.
Is a latter stronger than a regular coffee? Regular coffee is stronger than a cafe latte as it comes with more caffeine content. The milk added in a cafe latte makes it sweeter thereby reducing its perceived strength as well. If a latte is made with two espresso shots, then their caffeine levels will be greatly improved. Even then, the perceived strength will be higher in a brewed coffee.
Is Latte Stronger Than Coffee?
Although we have given a short and sweet answer above, let’s discuss this in detail as it would give you more understanding about this subject.
Before we state the obvious, let’s take a look at how both the drinks are made.
Let’s start with a good old cup of regular coffee.
Regular or brewed coffee is made by several methods.
You can use a French press, Moka pot, Aeropress, or a simple coffee maker to get a nice cup of drip coffee.
To make a regular coffee, you’re going to need a coffee ground of your choice and water. Then you can proceed with the brewing method you pick and make your coffee.
Other than coffee and water, anything else is just extra.
Now, let’s shift focus to the cafe latte.
What’s a latte?
Latte is milk in Italian.
That should give you a decent idea about this coffee drink.
If you’re still clueless(?), a latte is made with coffee, water, and milk.
So, how do you make a cafe latte?
To make a latte, you’re going to need an espresso machine. A latte is composed of an espresso shot, steamed milk, and then some frothed milk (or just froth) on top.
If you’re trying to make one at home, you can simply add milk to your coffee and call it a latte i.e. milk coffee. It just won’t be a cafe latte and that’s fine.
You can also make an espresso with a french press. If you are interested, do read so that you can make an authentic cafe latte without an espresso machine at home.
Who Wins The Strength Test? Latte or Regular Coffee?
If you’re wondering about which one of these is the more potent drink, then we have to favor the cup of brewed coffee.
Coffee brewed from ground coffee beans will look and feel stronger when compared to anything that comes with foamed milk or steamed milk.
The reasoning here is pretty simple.
The milk you add to your espresso coffee is what makes the cafe latte.
Although espresso is one of the strongest coffee drinks out there (considering the small amount), it loses its potency when mixed with hot milk.
You can also have an iced latte and whatever we just said would still hold true.
Here’s the kicker.
Sometimes, you can add a couple of espresso shots to your cafe latte. In this case, the latte is a lot stronger and can be compared to the raw strength of a regular brewed coffee.
Also Read: What is the Weakest Coffee?
How Much Caffeine Is In A Latte vs Coffee?
A typical latte comes with 75 to 100 mg of caffeine while a regular brewed coffee comes with 100 mg of caffeine considering both drinks are 8 oz in size. If you’re going to drink a bigger latte (usually 16 oz), then you will get a lot more caffeine than a cup of black coffee.
The caffeine level in your latte or your regular coffee is more or less constant. It is not going to change unless you make changes to your coffee recipes.
For example, some people would prefer a cafe latte with a couple of espresso drinks in it. This doubles the amount of caffeine content and is not a good choice for all people.
Can you increase the caffeine content in your everyday coffee?
Yes, you can.
A classic mistake would be to brew your coffee for a longer period. That won’t work and will result in over-extraction which makes your coffee bitter.
If you’re looking to increase the caffeine content in your black coffee i.e. make it stronger, then you should increase the amount of ground coffee used.
Using more coffee will result in a stronger cup of joe and will keep you alert for a lot longer.
Does Grind Size or Roasting Matter?
Grind Size:
When it comes to a latte, you’re not going to experiment with the grind size of the coffee beans used.
Espresso uses a fine grind and that’s it. No toying with that.
But the brewing method you use for your daily coffee can change and grind size will play a part there.
For example, you will use a coarse grind for a cold brew or french press, a medium grind for drip coffee makers, and a fine grind for Aeropress and Moka pot.
But does this change the overall strength of the coffee made?
Not really.
Most brewing methods are going to give you caffeine amounts in the range of 100 to 150 mg per 8 ounces.
When you compare this with the caffeine content of an espresso shot, your cup of joe will always out-caffeine a latte.
So no, the grind size of the beans you use makes very little difference to the difference in strength between the two drinks.
Roasting:
Thanks to its density, light roasted beans will have slightly more caffeine when compared with dark roasted beans.
Can roasting impact the strength of a coffee drink?
In theory yes but practically no.
A coffee made from light roast beans will have more caffeine making your cup more potent.
An espresso shot is usually made with dark roast beans. But if you were to use light roasted beans for your espresso shot, it would have a lot more caffeine content in it.
When adding steamed milk to it, it will be a much stronger drink than your regular cafe latte.
However, we use dark roasts for espresso for a reason.
That’s the standard and with that in practice, you won’t get a latte that is stronger than a cup of black coffee in any way.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re looking for a stronger coffee, then a cup of black coffee is surely the way to go.
If you’re a latte lover who just wants to know if your coffee of choice could beat a coffee in terms of strength, we’re really sorry.
But you can double the amount of caffeine in your cafe latte by adding an extra espresso shot. Since there is milk in your latte, your drink won’t become excessively strong but you will feel that extra punch.
You can also try drinks like latte macchiato or macchiato or even an iced coffee if you’re looking for stronger drinks than your regular cafe latte.