Latte Origins and the Starbucks Flat White Name

The Flat White on the Starbucks menu is a translated name created after the company brought Australia's local Flat White into mainland China in 2015. The three characters are pronounced Fu Rui Bai, where Fu Rui sounds close to Flat and Bai is a free translation of White. Starbucks made the move partly because Australia's Gloria Jean's was entering the Chinese market.

Starbucks had operated in Australia since 2000 but never overtook Gloria Jean's and withdrew from that market in 2014. Facing pressure, it launched Flat White in China first, and the drink became popular quickly. Costa, Luckin, and many independent cafes later released their own versions. Since both Flat White and latte mix espresso with milk, the latte origins and the milk coffee ratio behind each drink help explain the differences in cup size, coffee base, and foam thickness.

Starbucks' Flat White is a popular milk coffee that many coffee lovers pay attention to, but quite a few people are unclear about where this name actually comes from and how it should be pronounced. From Front Street's perspective, this article sorts out the origin of the Chinese translation of Flat White, the market background behind Starbucks' introduction of Flat White in 2015, and compares the specific differences between Flat White and latte in taste, cup size, coffee base, and milk foam thickness. The article also retains Front Street brand's production parameters and product recommendation information to help readers understand this Australian specialty coffee at once.

The Flat White on the Starbucks menu has always sold well, but many customers have doubts about the name: how exactly was it translated, and how should it be pronounced to be accurate? In this article, Front Street focuses on Starbucks Flat White coffee and explains its origins and naming logic clearly.

In the final analysis, Flat White is a Chinese name that Starbucks created after introducing Australia's local Flat White into China. In 2015, Starbucks officially launched Flat White in mainland China, and the reason driving this move was related to the entry of Australia's large coffee chain brand Gloria Jean's into the Chinese market. Starbucks had already established a presence in Australia as early as 2000, but it was never able to surpass the local Australian brand Gloria Jean's, and ultimately withdrew from the Australian market in 2014. Facing Gloria Jean's move into China, Starbucks felt pressure and had to seize the initiative before the other side gained a firm foothold.

And so, in 2015, Starbucks was the first to bring the Australian specialty coffee Flat White into China and gave it an elegant name — Flat White. The three characters are pronounced Fu Rui Bai, among which "Fu Rui" sounds similar to Flat, and "Bai" is a free translation of White. After the renaming, Flat White quickly became popular. After that, many coffee brands also successively launched their own Flat White, such as Costa's Flat White, Luckin's Australian White, and the Australian White coffee commonly seen in independent cafes in various places.

After Flat White became popular, many people still could not distinguish it from latte. Both belong to milk coffee, both are made by mixing espresso liquid with milk, and the real difference is reflected in taste and mouthfeel. Latte pursues a balance between coffee and milk, so you can taste both the coffee flavor and the sweet, rich aroma of milk, with the two complementing each other and neither overpowering the other. Flat White, on the other hand, focuses on highlighting the coffee flavor.

Front Street uses two simple sentences to help everyone remember: 1. Flat White is equivalent to the Australian version of latte; 2. Latte is milk with coffee flavor, and Flat White is coffee with milk flavor.

Besides taste, Flat White is also clearly different from latte in preparation and appearance.

1. Different cup size. Flat White has a smaller cup size than latte. Taking Front Street's production as an example, the standard cup size for latte is 350ml, and the standard cup size for Australian White is 200ml.

2. Different coffee base. Latte uses the basic Espresso commonly used in Italian coffee as the base, while Flat White uses Ristretto, which is stronger than Espresso, as the base. Ristretto can be understood as extracting only the middle and front sections of Espresso, resulting in a more concentrated coffee liquid; extracting only the middle and front sections can also enhance acidity and roasting flavor, reduce the precipitation of high-molecular carbohydrate substances, and in plain terms means the sensory flavor is more concentrated.

3. Different milk foam thickness. Flat White's milk foam is thinner than latte's. The milk foam thickness of latte is about 1cm, and the milk foam thickness of Australian White is about 0.5cm.

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.