A friend used to describe the progress of the espresso style coffee drinker as hot chocolate -> mocha-> cappuccino -> latte -> long macchiato -> small macchiato -> short black (AKA espresso). At first it's all about the frothy milk, then it's all about the coffee.

I think a lot of people stop at latte, I stayed at small macchiato for years, then switched to long black, then back to small macchiato then to latte (in cafes, at home I have basically a long black with some cold milk).