Are you flat white and boring?

When ordering your coffee be warned - it could actually give the barista an idea of whether your rich or poor, trendy or a bit old fashioned.

According to an Australian study the sort of coffee you drink says a lot about who you are and where you're from.

Apparently the cappuccino is the drink of the poorer folk who live in the outer suburbs while those that are better off prefer to down a latte.

Older folk stick with the equivalent of what they normally drink at home so go for the flat white - the nearest thing to instant coffee and milk - while "trendy young things" have variations on the espresso. Young men prefer the espresso and young women, a latte.

Zippy Central owner Morgan Wilson isn't sure the Australian trends fit here in Rotorua but said coffee choice did say a bit about a person.

"People definitely stick to their favourites. I'd say flat white and lattes would be for the general population and the average coffee drinkers, while the cappuccino is more for those who don't go to cafes so much."

And Mr Wilson said the younger population tended to be mochaccino drinkers. He said not many people downed espresso these days - those that ordered them were either tourists or hardened coffee drinkers "who had been through a few drinks to get to that".

Mr Wilson said anything with trim milk was a woman's drink - with about 50 per cent of woman ordering "skinny" milk.

Cherie Flay, the owner of Rotorua's Indigo Cafe, wasn't sure she agreed with the study. She said because Rotorua had the tourists and locals it was often hard to see trends.

She agreed more mature people often stuck to what they knew - like the flat white or the cappuccino and the younger ones liked the flavours.

But hot chocolates were still as popular as ever, she said.

The study's author Dr Sandro Mangosi said most people drank instant coffee at home but treated themselves when they went out.