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Coffee is one of the world’s top commodities, with world coffee exports in June 2015 amounting to 9.69 million bags! The drink’s “flexibility” is one of the biggest reasons behind its popularity: you can enjoy it plain and simple, add caramel or chocolate to it, have it piping hot or ice cold, and even combine it with ice cream! The plain cup of black coffee you sip every morning is good (it’s included in my list), but there are more ways to enjoy this beverage. Below I have listed the 15 types of coffee to try before you die:

FRAPPUCCINO: The frappuccino is a Starbucks specialty, coffee blended with ice and other ingredients and topped with whip cream. But you don’t have to go out of your way to enjoy this beverage! 

CARAMEL MACCHIATO: This refreshing and tasty iced coffee drink is yet another Starbucks classic, and just like the frappuccino, the caramel macchiato can be prepared in as little as 5 minutes – perfect for quenching your thirst and entertaining guests. 

CAFÉ MOCHA: This variant of the café latte is an American invention, one inspired by the coffee beverage Bicerin. The café mocha is an espresso-based drink with hot milk and chocolate. 

AMERICANO: Many espresso-based drinks use milk, but not the café Americano – or simply ‘Americano’. The drink also uses espresso but is infused with hot water instead of milk. The result is a coffee beverage that has the same strength of drip coffee but with a different flavour. 

TURKISH COFFEE: Turkish coffee boasts an unrivalled taste, body, and aroma – prepared and presented in time-honoured Turkish tradition. This isn’t a type of coffee you can easily find in coffee shops. 

CAFE CUBANO: The café cubano – also known as Cuban coffee or Cuban espresso – is a type of espresso that originated from Cuba when espresso machines were first imported from Italy. This espresso shot is sweetened after brewing and is used as a base for other drinks. Its strength is twice that of traditional American coffee and Cubans drink it as part of their daily morning ritual. 

CAFÉ LATTE: Cafe latte is made from espresso (one-third), steam milk (two-thirds), topped with about a centimetre of foam. It’s one of the most popular coffee beverages around, but one that is often mistakenly identified with the flat white thanks to Starbucks. 

IRISH COFFEE: A cocktail made of hot coffee, sugar, thick cream, and of course, Irish whiskey! The beverage has an interesting history: the coffee was invented and named by Joe Sheridan – Foynes, Country Lemerick’s head chef, after American passengers disembarked one evening during the harsh winter of 1940. The head added whiskey to warm the passengers, marking the birth of the Irish coffee. You don’t have to suffer the same ordeal that the American passengers went through to get a sip of the Irish coffee. 

ESPRESSO: This coffee beverage is made by forcing nearly boiling water under pressure through ground coffee beans, resulting in a brew that’s thicker than those made from other brewing methods. Espresso is a base for various beverages. Learn how to make an espresso and you’re halfway through learning how to make your own cappuccino, café latte, and macchiato. 

CORTADO: The cortado is a favorite in Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, often enjoyed as an afternoon drink. The beverage uses espresso that is cut by a small amount of warm milk, reducing its acidity. The milk used for the cortado is a little cooler than that of the macchiato while having the consistency of the milk used in latte. If you cannot decide between iced and hot coffee, pick the cortado for a change. 

AFFOGATO: It’s hard to decide whether the affogato is a beverage or a dessert, but that hardly matters. You must try this concoction if you haven’t yet! The affogato originated from Milan and its name literally translates as “drowned.” Which is fitting as this coffee-based beverage uses the hot and bitter espresso to melt the gelato, resulting to a creamy pool of coffee and ice cream that you’d want to drown in! 

CAPPUCCINO: This Italian coffee drink is traditionally made with espresso, hot milk, and topped with foamed milk, often prepared with a milk steamer for a thicker froth. 

GOOD OLD PLAIN COFFEE: Plain coffee is special: it’s the most popular drink in the world and consumed daily by 54% of the USA’s 18-and-above population. It’s one of the most traded commodities in the world, second only to oil! 

ICED COFFEE: Iced coffee can be a great, refreshing beverage – but only if you can keep the drink cold without diluting it with ice. We all know that pouring piping hot coffee over a bunch of ice cubes results to a heavily watered-down drink. Keeping the coffee in the fridge ‘til it is cold, on the other hand, leaves the drink wanting in the flavor and aroma department. 

CAFÉ AU LAIT: Café au lait – half brewed coffee, half warm milk, 100% French. The beverage’s name literally translates to “coffee with milk,” very apt as one of its essential components is the thinning of the strong coffee with warm creamy milk. 

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