Café au lait

Café au lait is coffee with hot milk added. It differs from white coffee, which is coffee with cold milk or other whiteners added. In Europe, café au lait stems from the same continental tradition as caffè latte in Italy, café con leche in Spain, kawa biała ("white coffee") in Poland, Milchkaffee ("milk coffee") in Germany, tejeskávé in Hungary, koffie verkeerd ("incorrect coffee") in the Netherlands and Flanders, cafè amb llet (“coffee with milk") in Catalan Countries and café com leite (“coffee with milk") in Portugal and Brazil. The Portuguese language has many more terms for slightly different forms and served either in a large cup or in a glass, such as meia de leite or galão. In Italy, numerous variations go from a simple caffè latte to latte macchiato to cappuccino. In both Italian and Portuguese languages, there is a lot of further elaborate terminology for clarifying the desired strength of the coffee, its roasting, the temperature at which the final product is to be served, ... In the French-speaking areas of Switzerland, a popular variation is the café renversé (“reverse coffee"), or commonly just renversé, which is made by using the milk as a base and adding espresso, in reversal of the normal method of making a café au lait. In Andalusia, Southern Spain, a similar variation is called manchado (“stained"). In northern Europe, café au lait is the name most often used in coffee shops.[citation needed] At home, café au lait can be prepared from dark coffee and heated milk; in cafés, it has been prepared on espresso machines from espresso and steamed milk ever since these machines became available in the 1940s—thus it merely refers to a "coffee and milk" combination, depending on the location, not to a specific drink.

Source: Wikipedia