Nicole Millard pours steamed milk to top off a cappuccino at the downtown Java House on Friday, Jan. 14, 2011, in Iowa City. A traditional cappuccino is one-third espresso, one-third foam and one-third steamed milk. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the difference between a cappuccino and a latte.

Before I researched and wrote the story about coffee drinks on this page, I didn’t either.

As I interviewed Java House operations manager Nicole Millard at the downtown Iowa City coffeehouse, I confessed the story was mainly for my benefit.

I think of myself as a coffee drinker. After all, I’ve been drinking coffee since I was a preteen. But never, or rarely, black.

Before the days of flavored coffee creamers, I added a spoonful of sugar and a little milk to each cup of coffee I drank.

Then, convenience stores started to carry cappuccino in such exotic flavors as English toffee, white chocolate and pumpkin spice. I’ve tried them all — the sweeter the better.

My addiction to fake, sweet cappuccino lessened about 10 years ago when I was working in Atchison, Kan.

The newspaper office was right next to a gas station, making a daily coffee run way too convenient. A co-worker introduced me to her version of half-and-half. Because the cappuccino was so sweet, she filled half the cup with brewed coffee.

Since then, I have been unable to have a straight-up convenience store cappuccino. I always have to put black coffee in it to tone down the sweetness.

I always assumed convenience store cappuccino was probably nothing close to the real thing. But I would get around my lack of knowledge at coffee shops by ordering the special or something that had words like mocha, caramel or toffee. Want whipped cream on top? You bet.

But there has been the occasional trip to a coffee shop where my ignorance is exposed and I have to ask if a certain drink is flavored.

So, now I am armed with the knowledge that a real cappuccino or latte is not sweet and you have to specify if you want a flavor.

I’m not so sure I’ll give up my sweet tooth completely, but I am weaning myself off the flavored coffee creamer I put in my travel mug every morning. Lately I have been putting a dab of honey in my coffee to sweeten it.

I also plan to broaden my palate at coffee shops. If I could get to the point where a gas station cappuccino is too sweet, I think I can try a straight cappuccino, or even an espresso shot, made by a professional barista at a coffee shop.

On a different topic, I am still looking for your stories for a Valentine’s feature about how certain foods or restaurants trigger romantic memories. Last week I shared the story of my husband bringing me chicken noodle soup the night we were engaged because I was sick. It was unromantic in a romantic kind of way.

Now, I have to believe if I have a romantic food memory, so do you.