Wednesday, September 16 2026

Flavor Characteristics of Flat White Coffee | Is the coffee base of a flat white espresso? What is the ideal coffee-to-milk ratio for a flat white?

November 27, 2025
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In recent years, with Starbucks' promotion offlat white, many friends who originally drank lattes and cappuccinos have also started switching to flat white. Some friends who came to the Front Street store first asked about Furuibai, then Aoruibai, then Australian white coffee, and finally directly asked about flat white. Do you all know that this is clearly the same coffee? Why are there so many different names for it?
 

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This coffee, originally named Flat White, was originally introduced from Australia. In 2000, Starbucks entered the Australian coffee market, but still lost to the Australian local brand Gloria Jean's, and ultimately withdrew from the Australian market in 2008. In 2014, Gloria Jean's Coffee entered the Chinese market, and Starbucks needed to make its own Flat White popular before Gloria Jean's could achieve success with Flat White.
 
And so, Starbucks launched "Furuibai" in 2015 and promoted it heavily.
 
 
Origin History
 
According to information found by Front Street, the use of flat white to describe coffee can actually be traced back to a 1962 British filmDanger by My Side. In this film, flat white was used to describe coffee of poor quality, completely different from what we now understand as flat white.
 
At present, two countries are in dispute over the origin of flat white: one is Australia, and the other is New Zealand.


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[Australia]
 
As forflat white, the earliest written record can be traced back to the mid-1980s.
 
In May 1983, in a magazine called Sydney cafe, Miller's Treat cafe mentioned flat white coffee on their menu.

In April 1984, an article in a local Sydney newspaper satirized the popularity of latte, writing: "Latte coffee (caffea latte), translated, means flat white."

In 1985, Alan Preston of a Sydney cafe called Moors Espresso Bar added this beverage to their permanent menu, claiming that he brought the idea from his hometown of Queensland to Sydney. In the 20th century


In the 1960s and 1970s, cafes in Queensland often offered "White Coffee & flat"


In January 1985, a cafeteria in Parliament House in Canberra posted a sign saying "flat white only," because seasonal issues prevented milk foam from forming.
 

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[New Zealand]
 
The claim that Flat White originated in New Zealand comes from Derek Townsend and Darrell Ahlers of DKD Cafe in Auckland, who claimed that this coffee could replace Italian latte. Others have stated that Australian-style white coffee Flat White originated in 1989 from a failed cappuccino at the Bodega bar on Willis Street in Wellington, New Zealand, when a barista named Fraser Mclnnes tried to make a cappuccino using low-fat milk that was difficult to foam. Because there was not enough milk foam, it could not be called a cappuccino, so he named this cup of coffee Flat White.
 

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How to MakeAustralian White CoffeeFlat White?
 
Front Street mentioned earlier that the origin of Australian-style white coffee Flat White is disputed, and the two disputed countries of origin also have different ways of making it.
 
Among them, Australians tend to use one shot of espresso when making Australian-style white coffee; New Zealanders use a double shot of ristretto when making it.
 
[How Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Makes Australian-Style White Coffee]


This time we use Front Street Classic Espresso Blend, a recipe composed of beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a deep roast, which can maximize the coffee's rich aroma and also allow everyone to easily extract abundant and dense coffee crema. It is very suitable whether for making Americano diluted with water or latte paired with milk.

 

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Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s extraction parameters for making espresso are as follows:

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Pressure: 9bar 
Temperature: 90.5~96 degrees
Time: 20~30 sec
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:1.7~1:2
Dose: 12g (single espresso) 20g (double espresso)
Extraction yield: 20ml (single) 40ml (double)


 
For milk, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses full-fat fresh milk, and froths the milk to a temperature between 50 and 60 degrees (if the temperature is low, the lactose in the milk cannot be brought out; if the temperature is high, the protein in the milk is destroyed and the texture will feel grainy). The thickness of the milk foam is 3 millimeters.
 
 
What is ristretto?
 
The original name of ristretto is ristretto. The word ristretto comes from restrict and narrow, literally meaning to restrict flow rate. That is to say, ristretto is slower in flow rate than ordinary espresso.


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Espresso is made by forcing high-pressure and extremely hot water through finely ground dry coffee powder, with an extraction time of 25 to 30 seconds, to produce a highly intense and rich coffee beverage.
 
The production process of espresso and ristretto is almost the same. The amount of coffee powder, water temperature, and pressure used are exactly the same, but the yield and time are different.
 
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s extraction parameters for making espresso: 20 grams of coffee powder, extracting 35 grams of coffee liquid, taking 27 seconds.

 
Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)'s extraction parameters for making ristretto: 20 grams of coffee powder, extracting 27 grams of coffee liquid, taking 20 seconds.


 
Through many experiments by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), it is known that regardless of the extraction method, the first substances extracted from coffee are light-molecular-weight acidic substances, followed by sweetness, and finally heavier-molecular-weight bitter substances. Therefore, compared with espresso, ristretto has noticeably more acidity and sweetness and less bitterness.


The flavor extracted from Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) ristretto is mainly dark chocolate and roasted hazelnut, with acream-like smoothness, low acidity, balanced mouthfeel, and lasting aroma. Espresso, on the other hand, can extract heavy-molecular-weight flavors, showing overall notes of dark chocolate, caramel, and maple syrup in the finish, with a mouthfeel that ismellow and solid, and full in flavor.
   

 
What is the difference between Australian white coffee, latte, and cappuccino?
 
Front Street has learned that when searching online for the differences among the three, many discussions only talk about the thickness of the milk foam. However, this is not the case. The thickness of the milk foam only affects the coffee's mouthfeel to a certain extent, but does not affect the coffee's taste. The key to determining the different tastes of the three is the ratio of coffee to milk.


 
In fact, the differences among the three can be divided by the intensity of coffee aroma: flat white > cappuccino > latte; and by the thickness of milk foam: cappuccino > latte > flat white. Flat White's requirement for milk is to remove the looser foam on the surface and retain only the finer part in the middle.
 
 
Flat White, Starbucks calls it "Furuibai", COSTA calls it "Chunyi White", and Luckin calls it "Aoruibai". The name can change, but the essence is Flat White. For friends who want to taste the coffee flavor but do not want the coffee flavor to be too strong, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends trying Flat White.


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For more specialty coffee beans, please add the private WeChat Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

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

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