The name cosmic cappuccino sounds like something from a science fiction movie, but what does it actually refer to? Well, it turns out that cosmic cappuccino is a color. Astronomers from Johns Hopkins University have decided that the most common color found throughout our immense and diverse universe is a beige one. Rather than characterize it as something closer to black (which seems like it would make more sense), beige is the “average” color of the universe. After some controversy surrounding the official name, they decided to change the name to Cosmic Latte rather than cosmic cappuccino.
The first time they tried to designate a universal color, they picked a light turquoise, but after investigating further they decided that beige was more appropriate. When they announced the color of the universe in 2002 there was a vote to decide the official name and out of 10 choices the result was Cosmic Cappuccino. Why not have such a trendy name for the color of our universe? In the end astronomers decided that Cosmic Latte is a more interesting choice because the word latte has connections to the Latin word latteo, which is part of the Milky Way concept.