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When Starbucks launched its new coffee item "Flat White" in 2012, it once became a favorite among Starbucks fans. This is because it has the silky mouthfeel of a latte, as well as the rich taste of a cappuccino. For those who enjoy milk coffee and hope the coffee is a bit more intense, Flat White is a wise choice～
Flat White is actually a hybrid coffee between a latte and a cappuccino. It also uses espresso as a base with milk added, has double the espresso of a cappuccino, and at the same time has the slightly glossy, fine steamed milk foam of a latte, yet it lightly covers the top of the coffee in a thinner layer. Flat White, with the rich aroma of a cappuccino and a lighter, denser milk foam than a latte, has become the perfect ratio in the minds of heavy caffeine addicts.
The name 馥芮白 is a direct transliteration of the pronunciation of Flat White, and it is also Starbucks' exclusive translation for this beverage, which it has also registered as a trademark. Other coffee brands and coffee shops call this coffee "澳白咖啡."
Flat White coffee's origin
However, if you do not know the cultural background behind Flat White, you might think it is merely another beverage made of milk and espresso. In fact, Flat White came from the Australia-New Zealand region of the 1980s, which emphasized specialty coffee culture. After World War II, a large number of European immigrants introduced Italian espresso there. Thereafter, independent of European and American culture and while inheriting the third wave revolution, it developed its own distinctive extended coffee beverages, such as Flat White, ristretto, piccolo, and other unique items.
Specialty coffee studies origin and processing methods, and mostly uses light roasting to preserve the unique fruit aromas and flavors of coffee beans from different origins, and is brewed by hand, which is why it places even more emphasis on the barista's craftsmanship and unique latte art skills. From roasting to brewing, slight differences can create different tastes. Even the same batch of coffee beans will carry different personal flavors depending on the barista handling them.
Flat White coffeeHow is it made, and how many shots of espresso are in it?
For Flat White coffee, Starbucks uses 2/3/4 shots of ristretto. Ristretto is also a type of espresso, but compared with the espresso used to make lattes and Americanos, ristretto is more concentrated. This is also the secret behind why Flat White has a richer coffee taste among milk coffee products of the same size～
How is ristretto made?
Ristretto refers to espresso. Ristretto means "restricted." We can understand it as "restricting" the extraction amount of coffee, taking only the front and middle part of the espresso, thereby increasing the concentration of the coffee.
For example, Front Street's Espresso extraction plan is 20 grams of coffee powder extracting 40 grams of coffee liquid, with a powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:2 and a time of 30 seconds. Extracting Ristretto means extracting only 70% of the Espresso, that is, 20 grams of coffee powder extracting 28 grams of coffee liquid, and the time will naturally be shortened accordingly. In addition, you can also make the flow rate slower by adjusting the coffee grind finer, making the coffee liquid more concentrated. Since each coffee shop will make different adjustments according to the coffee beans used and the specific flavor and mouthfeel the barista wants to present.
Flat White coffee's preparation method
For the Australian white coffee produced daily at FrontStreet Coffee stores, 28-30g of ristretto is used, paired with about 180ml of hot milk steamed to a 0.5cm thickness of milk foam, and mixed evenly.
Is Flat White high in calories?
Flat White is milk + ristretto. The coffee itself has relatively few calories, but milk is not low in calories. You can roughly think of it as drinking a cup of whole milk. Whole milk has a fat content of 3.0%, semi-skimmed milk has a fat content of about 1.5%, and fully skimmed milk has a fat content as low as 0.5%. Friends who want to lose weight can choose flat white first; its recipe contains only coffee and milk, so the calories are much lower by comparison.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
