Has Starbucks sneaked cappuccino off the menu?

The drink has disappeared from the Starbucks menu in stores in New York, San Francisco and Starbucks’ homeland, Seattle

The cappuccino may have come under threat after the introduction of the flat white earlier this year (Getty Images)

It used to be a symbol of sophistication. But now the cappuccino may be out of fashion after reports that Starbucks has taken the drink off its menu in some parts of the US.

Cappuccino has disappeared from the Starbucks menu at stores in New York, San Francisco and Starbucks’ homeland, Seattle, almost 30 years after it was introduced by the Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz in 1986, although it is apparently still available to people who order it.

It may have come under threat after the introduction of the flat white earlier this year. The flat white is traditionally a maximum 10 ounce coffee consisting of a double shot of espresso with micro-foam milk, giving it a velvety texture that is a subtle middle ground between the foam of a cappuccino and the warm milk of a latte.

One former Starbucks employee has suggested that baristas have always struggled with getting the right foam-to-milk ratio for a cappuccino, while the introduction of the flat white left them ‘baffled’.

The removal of the cappuccino gives baristas ‘more margin for error’ because flat whites use whole milk and two stronger ristretto shots, while both cappuccino and lattes use semi-skimmed milk and one normal shot of coffee, he said.

Starbucks did not return requests for comment by press time.