01 — How It Works
35 CITIES MAPPED · 3,001 CONSUMERS SURVEYED · 9 ORDERS IN PLAY · 3 MARKETS
The Signature Order Index
Every recorded coffee type — espresso, café allongé, cappuccino, caffè latte, filter coffee and more — was eligible to top a city's list, ranked by the share of local respondents who order it. The result is a live index, not a fixed podium: it's built to be explored city by city, order by order.
How to read this: Scores are the % of local coffee drinkers naming that order as their go-to. For the UK and Germany, nothing was excluded — even the most predictable order could top a city's list. France is ranked differently — see the France note in the full map below.
02 — Country Infographics
Signature Orders Overview
All cities surveyed, mapped by market. The ◆ symbol marks a city featured in a deep-dive analysis, and ★ the capital. Other cities surveyed are shown as recorded, including ties.
UK: A Coffee Overview
Top 5 orders nationally: Caffè Latte 19.7% · Cappuccino 17% · Americano 9.7% · Flat White 9.4% · Iced Coffee 8.6%
Coffee ritual split: Daily comfort 32% · Identity 15.4% · Social 12% · Functional 11.3% · Hobby 7.8% · Don't drink 19.9%
UK: Coffee facts
Caffè Latte leads nationally at 19.7% — barely ahead of Cappuccino's 17%, the tightest national race of the three markets.
Strongest coffee ritual: Liverpool — 44.7% say coffee is a daily comfort ritual, the highest ritual intensity of any UK city surveyed.
Why we bring it home: 21.8% cite improving quality as the top reason to recreate coffee at home — the UK's lowest quality-motivation score of the three markets, but still the clear #1 driver. Learning a new skill (11.8%) and recreating travel memories (8.8%) follow.
France: A Coffee Overview
Top 5 orders nationally: Espresso 31.9% · Café Allongé 11.8% · Cappuccino 10.6% · Café con Leche 6.6% · Café Noisette 5.4%
Coffee ritual split: Daily comfort 38% · Identity 24.9% · Hobby 10.5% · Functional 9.1% · Social 4.2% · Don't drink 12.3%
France: Coffee facts
Espresso dominates nationally at 31.9% — more than 2.5× second-place Café Allongé (11.8%) — which is why it's excluded from the map pins above.
Strongest coffee ritual: Reims — 48.7% say coffee is a daily comfort ritual, one of the highest scores of any city in France.
Why we bring it home: 36.6% cite improving quality as their top reason to recreate coffee at home — the highest quality-motivation score of the three markets, even with espresso this dominant. Recreating travel memories (12.8%) and learning a new skill (12%) follow.
Germany: A Coffee Overview
Top 5 orders nationally: Cappuccino 23.1% · Caffè Latte 15.4% · Café Crème 14.5% · Filter Coffee 13.7% · Espresso 7.7%
Coffee ritual split: Daily comfort 47% · Identity 21.6% · Functional 9.2% · Hobby 6.2% · Social 5.5% · Don't drink 8.8%
Germany: Coffee facts
Cappuccino leads nationally at 23.1% — Germany's clearest national favourite of the three markets.
Strongest coffee ritual: München — 54.3% say coffee is a daily comfort ritual, the highest single score of any city in the entire study.
Why we bring it home: 35.6% cite improving quality as their top reason to recreate coffee at home. Germany also posts the highest scores of the three markets for reliving travel memories (15.7%) and impressing guests (10.3%).
03 — Featured Deep-Dives
Standout Cities on the Map
Twelve cities, ranked by how decisively their signature order won — from Glasgow's runaway caffè latte to Dijon's iced-coffee surprise. Full profiles below.
NO. 1 ON THE MAP — Glasgow, UNITED KINGDOM · Caffè Latte — 33.3%
Glasgow's espresso lands in a tall glass, not a demitasse. The city's caffè latte score is the highest of any order, in any city, across the entire study — a full third of Glaswegians call it their go-to, with Americano a distant second at 23.3%. At 1841, run by Scotland's oldest roastery, and Gordon Street Coffee near Central Station, the milk runs deep. Ritual runs cooler here than the rest of the UK (22.0%) — for Glasgow, it's the order that matters, not the occasion.
Recreate it at home: Double espresso into a tall glass, steamed milk to three-quarters — thin foam, not a cappuccino cap.
NO. 2 ON THE MAP — Stuttgart, GERMANY · Cappuccino — 30.6%
Stuttgart's cappuccino score is the highest in Germany, and it isn't close — 30.6%, well clear of café crème in second place (15.3%). It's a classically Italian-leaning city, and Herbert'z Espresso Bar, built around its regulars' table, pours both the cappuccino and the slower café crème tradition still very much alive underneath it. Its ritual score (45.5%) tracks with Germany's overall lead as the most ritual-driven of the three markets.
Recreate it at home: Double espresso, thick glossy foam, equal thirds. For café crème: a longer shot, less milk.
NO. 3 ON THE MAP — Cardiff, UNITED KINGDOM · Caffè Latte — 28.6%
Cardiff is the one city in the entire 35-city study where identity beats habit — 25.0% call coffee "part of my lifestyle," edging out daily comfort ritual at 22.2%. Its 28.6% caffè latte score is the highest of any UK city, and at The Plan, tucked into the historic Morgan Arcade, and Uncommon Ground in the Royal Arcade, the order is chosen the way you'd choose an outfit — deliberately, and to be seen in.
Recreate it at home: Make it personal: one bean, one milk, one ratio — your own signature "regular."
NO. 4 ON THE MAP — Bristol, UNITED KINGDOM · Cappuccino — 24.2%
Bristol's coffee identity is classic, not showy. Its cappuccino score is the highest of any UK city — no small feat in a country led by caffè latte — paired with one of the strongest ritual scores anywhere in the survey (40.0% call it a daily comfort). Boston Tea Party, the Bristol-born chain, and Small Street Espresso, a decade-old fixture in the Old City, both pour it by the book.
Recreate it at home: Double espresso, thick glossy microfoam, then equal thirds of espresso, milk and foam.
NO. 5 ON THE MAP — Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM · Cappuccino — 21.1%
Leeds treats coffee as a shared ritual, not a solo one. Its 21.1% cappuccino score reinforces a reputation as one of the UK's best cities for independent coffee, while its 19.6% "social activity" score is the highest of any UK city surveyed — coffee here is something to sit down for. Laynes Espresso, by the train station, and La Bottega Milanese, serving Italian café culture since 2009, both know the order by heart.
Recreate it at home: Double espresso, thick foam, equal thirds. Set two cups, not one — make it the reason to sit down together.
NO. 6 ON THE MAP — Liverpool, UNITED KINGDOM · Cappuccino / Americano — 18.8%
Liverpool refuses to pick a side — cappuccino and Americano tie exactly at 18.8%, a city split evenly between milk and black. But where Liverpool leads outright is ritual: 44.7% call coffee a daily comfort, the highest of any UK city surveyed. At Cafe Tabac, serving the city since 1974, and 92 Degrees Coffee, the Georgian Quarter's own micro-roastery, coffee isn't a treat — it's routine, and the routine is the point.
Recreate it at home: Double espresso, thick foam, equal thirds. Make it the same way, at the same time, every day.
NO. 7 ON THE MAP — Frankfurt, GERMANY · Caffè Latte — 18.3%
Frankfurt can't quite make up its mind — caffè latte narrowly leads at 18.3%, with cappuccino and café crème tied close behind at 17.6% each, making it one of the most evenly split cities in the entire study. What isn't split is the ritual: 51.4% call coffee a daily comfort, one of the highest scores anywhere. Café Laumer, a Westend institution, and family-run Wacker's Kaffee Geschäft, three generations deep, serve the full range without picking a favourite either.
Recreate it at home: Single or double espresso, mostly milk, thin foam. For café crème: a longer shot, less milk.
NO. 8 ON THE MAP — Sheffield, UNITED KINGDOM · 3-way tie — 17.4%
No order wins outright in Sheffield — caffè latte, cappuccino and flat white tie exactly at 17.4% — but the city's flat white score is the strongest of any in the UK, tracing back to Tamper Coffee, which brought "Kiwi café culture" to the Sellers Wheel building in 2011. Sheffield's ritual score (25.7%) is more modest than its neighbours' — here, it's the order that carries the city's identity, not the occasion around it.
Recreate it at home: Double espresso, then top with well-textured microfoam for a flat white, thicker foam for a cappuccino, or more steamed milk for a latte.
NO. 9 ON THE MAP — Lille, FRANCE · Filter Coffee — 15.2%
Close enough to Belgium to feel it, Lille's coffee culture runs on filter, not espresso — Filter Coffee leads at 15.2% once the national default is set aside, ahead of a three-way tie for second. MUDA, one of the city's leading specialty roasters, captures that shift toward slower, more considered filter coffee, alongside a small but loyal following for café noisette — an espresso "stained" with a dash of hot milk.
Recreate it at home: Brew through a slow pour-over or drip method, not an espresso machine — a gentler cup to drink over time.
NO. 10 ON THE MAP — Strasbourg, FRANCE · Café con Leche — 12.5%
Strasbourg sits on the German frontier, and its coffee order shows it. Once espresso (still the outright leader at 25.0%) is set aside, Strasbourg leans further into Café con Leche — a Spanish-style milk coffee — than any other French city. Café Bretelles, the city's original specialty coffee shop in Petite France, pours the hybrid best. It also holds France's strongest "lifestyle and identity" secondary score (35.8%).
Recreate it at home: Double espresso into a tall cup, an equal measure of warm, lightly frothed milk. Pause before drinking.
NO. 11 ON THE MAP — Lyon, FRANCE · Cappuccino — 11.4%
Lyon's espresso culture is one of the strongest in France (38.6% outright) — but look past it, and a careful cappuccino emerges, the kind of attention Lyonnais diners bring to a bouchon meal. Mokxa, a specialty roaster with an intimate café in Croix-Rousse, is the name most tied to the city's growing coffee-craft scene, backed by a strong "lifestyle and identity" secondary score (26.8%).
Recreate it at home: Double espresso, thick glossy foam, equal thirds of espresso, steamed milk and foam.
NO. 12 ON THE MAP — Dijon, FRANCE · Iced / Filter Coffee — 11.1%
Dijon breaks from France's hot-coffee-first habit harder than anywhere else in the study. With espresso set aside, Iced Coffee ties with Filter Coffee at 11.1% — the most unexpected entry on the entire map. Caffè Gufo, beloved by local connoisseurs, and Espresso-t, run by a French barista championship finalist, both lean into the city's specialty-coffee streak. Dijon also posts one of the highest "I don't drink coffee" shares of any city (25.0%).
Recreate it at home: Brew a double-strength coffee, cool it, then pour over ice rather than diluting hot coffee directly.
06 — Methodology
How We Chose Them
Signature orders are based on real survey responses from 3,001 nationally representative consumers aged 18+ across the UK, France and Germany (1,000 / 1,001 / 1,000 respectively; 2,801 of whom drink coffee), broken out across all 35 cities covered by the research — 12 in the UK, 14 in France, 9 in Germany. For the UK and Germany, every coffee type recorded was eligible to top a city's list, reported as-is including repeats and ties. France excludes espresso only, given its runaway national lead (31.9%), showing each city's second go-to instead. A second question on people's personal relationship with coffee — daily ritual, lifestyle/identity, social occasion, purely functional, or hobby/passion — built the Coffee Ritual Index. Featured cafés were selected for local reputation and long-standing status within their city's coffee scene.
SOURCE — GREENPARK, FIELDWORK 24–29 JUNE 2026
