(Craig) Hi, I'm Craig, aka WheezyWaiter, aka "Where's John Green?" And this is mental_floss. And today, we're at location at the Gaslight Coffee Roasters in Chicago to talk about everyone's favorite caffeinated beverage - coffee. Okay, maybe not everyone's favorite beverage, but with billions of cups of coffee being served per day, coffee is one of the most traded commodities in the world. It's also one of the most drank commodities by me. Well, I guess that would be beer, but it's up there.

How coffee drinks are labeled varies throughout the world - for example, when you order coffee in France, you'll probably get something like this, or if you order a latte in Italy, it'll likely be this. But today we're going to talk about different drinks you can get here, in a café in America.

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1. Let's start with one of the more basic items on our list - espresso. Not "expresso", Mom! A shot of espresso is made by blasting hot water through compacted, finely ground beans. The result is a smaller, but more concentrated, drink than a regular cup of drip coffee. I'm going to be drinking a lot of coffee today, aren't I?

2. An espresso doppio, which can be ordered as a double shot of espresso, is two shots of espresso poured into one glass. And no, a shot or two of espresso does not have more caffeine than a cup of coffee.

3. If you want to establish yourself as a true coffee snob, you might want to add variety to your shot of espresso. Also, when you drink, go: "Eh-huh-huh, m'yes, this is delicious! Mm-hm!", like that. Typically, water is forced through an espresso shot for 15 to 30 seconds, but it a shot is pulled for longer than that, allowing more water to go through the beans, this is called an espresso lungo. This allows for more caffeine, but makes the drink more bitter.

4. If you'd like the opposite of that, a smaller portion of super-concentrated coffee, then you'd probably want an espresso ristretto. Which is an espresso shot pulled for less than 15 seconds. And also the name of my next punk rock band that I'm starting. It's an Italian influence. Italian punk rock - I don't think it's been done before.

5. The Americano is when hot water is added to a shot or two of espresso, to fill a regular-sized cup. It is said to have originated in World War II, when American GIs were abroad in Europe, and couldn't find a normal, American coffee, and started requesting that hot water be added to espresso to get as many sips out of the drink as they were used to.

6. Reversing the order is called a long black, where you put the espresso into the cup of hot water. See, this is the Americano, this is a long black, I'm going to taste it and demonstrate here. So... mm, okay, now this is going to taste very different. It tastes exactly the same.

7. If the taste of coffee is too strong, there are a ton of options - literally, 2000 pounds of options - to take the edge off. So, pay attention, okay? Certainly, one of the most recognizable names of the coffee business is the latte, which is made with steamed milk, espresso, and often some sort of flavoring - I prefer vanilla...

8. ...but you could do chocolate is you want, and if you do, then it's called a mocha latte. Mocha means chocolate.

9. And if the latte isn't hearty enough for you, perhaps you'd rather have a caffè breve, which is a shot of espresso with steamed half-and-half cream. Let me do a quick taste test - oh my God, Mark, you're not going to make me drink all of this, are you? You know how much work it takes to get this body?

10. Ordering a macchiato generally refers to a latte macchiato, meaning "milk stained". To make this drink, you fill up a mug with steamed milk, and stain it with a shot of espresso.

11. Another version of the macchiato is the caffè macchiato, or "coffee stained". Which is when you start with a shot of espresso and add a small amount of frothed milk on top.

12. A cappuccino, which got its name from the color of the robes worn by the monks of the Capuchin order, differs from a latte because it is made with one-third espresso, one-third steamed milk, and one-third milk foam.

13. That is, unless you order a wet cappuccino, which means more milk,

14. or a dry cappuccino, which means less milk. Either way, it's going to be wet, though, because it's liquid. So, just be ready for that.

15. Café au lait is essentially a latte made with coffee instead of espresso. Translated from French, it means, "coffee with milk". But that is confusing, because maybe you noticed, they all seem to have two ingredients.

16. If you'd like a milky coffee beverage, but don't want to waste precious time sipping a lot of liquid, consider a cafè bombón, which is milk poured over a shot of espresso. You're a busy person; save your time. Study. Go to work. Do what you do. I don't know... what are, what do you do? Why are we still talking?

17. Rather have whipped cream on top? That's called an espresso con panna,

18. and a cortado is an espresso shot with an equal serving of warm milk. I don't know if I'm pronouncing this right, though; it could be like "espresso con panna" (Italian accent)... I don't know how you pronounce that. Cortado, I think I got that right.

19. What if you like coffee and you like espresso, and you can't choose between them? Well, why not have both, fickle man? A combination for a cup of coffee with a shot of espresso in it, is the red eye. Whoo!

20. Rather use decaf coffee? That could be called a lazy eye, or as I like to call it, "why would you drink decaf coffee"!

21. Two shots in a coffee is called a black eye,

22. Three shots? Dead eye, four shots? Eye of the tiger. I just made that one up; if you need that many, you should probably go to bed.

23. Let's say for the sake of argument, you hate the taste of coffee, which I don't believe is possible. But you're meeting a friend at a coffee shop, and want to order something off the menu. First off, I'm impressed that you made it this far in the video and you don't like coffee. Secondly, may I suggest that you order a steamer, or a babyccino, which is steamed milk, but contains no coffee. And if that's too boring, you can add a shot or two of flavor.

24. Maybe the conversation with said friend isn't going so well, and you need some "encouragement". (I'm talking about booze!) You could order a corretto, which is a shot of espresso mixed with brandy, cognac, or liqueur.

25. Or a black and white - the black being one part coffee liqueur, and the white being one part milk.

26. Let's finish up with some coffee options to order on a nice, hot day. First is the... what is it? I forgot... oh! The affogato, which is a scoop of ice cream topped with a shot of espresso.

27. Or how about the frappé [frapp] - or frappé [frap-pay]; I don't know how to pronounce it - which is a shot of espresso with ice water, and usually accompanied by flavoring of some sort.

Thanks for watching mental_floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of these nice people. Every week, we endeavor to answer one of your mind-blowing questions. And this week, Mark forgot to bring a question. So, thanks, Mark!

I'm going to answer my own question! How do you pronounce frappé [frapp]? Okay, I'm going to look it up.

(phone) Frappé [frap-pay].

(Craig) Frappé [frap-pay]! That's how you pronounce it! Mind-blowing!

Thanks again to Gaslight Coffee Roasters in Chicago, for allowing us to shoot here. If you'd like to see more of my videos on WheezyWaiter, you can click here, or my other project, the Good Stuff. And, if you have a mind-blowing question of your own, leave it in the comments. Thanks again, and DFTBA.

All right, so we're all done, guys? That's great, because I got to go be awake for three days, see you guys.