Here's a fun fact: if you walk into an Italian café and order a "latte," you'll get a glass of milk. That's because "latte" literally means milk in Italian. What we call a latte is actually a "caffè latte" – espresso with steamed milk – and Italians typically only drink it at breakfast, often while dunking a pastry.

The modern latte as we know it wasn't actually perfected in Italy, though. It was an Italian-American barista named Lino Meiorin who claims to have invented the "caffe latte" in Berkeley, California, during the 1950s. He created it specifically for customers who found Italian cappuccinos too strong. The drink really took off in Seattle during the 1980s, where cafés began supersizing it into those giant 16-ounce cups that would horrify any Italian grandmother.

The latte's milk-to-espresso ratio (typically 3:1 or even higher) makes it the perfect canvas for latte art – those Instagram-worthy hearts and rosettas that baristas pour. This art form actually originated in Italy during the 1980s when barista Luigi Lupi began experimenting with milk patterns. But it was David Schomer in Seattle who really developed and popularized the technique in America.

Here's the kicker: despite being one of the most popular coffee drinks worldwide, traditional Italian coffee culture considers drinking milky coffee after 11 AM a digestive crime. So that 3 PM latte? Totally American.