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The espresso-based milk coffee made from espresso and milk—Flat White—is translated differently across various cafes, such as Luckin's Australian White Coffee, Starbucks' Fu Rui Bai, and Costa's Smooth Art White.Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) is here today to talk about whatFlat White coffeeis.

What isFlat White?

Flat White originated in Melbourne, Australia (some also claim it originated in New Zealand), and is the most commonly ordered coffee in cafes in both New Zealand and Australia. Aside from the dispute over its origin, the methods of making Flat White also vary. Front Street believes that the biggest characteristic of Flat White is: a milk coffee beverage with a richer taste, less milk, and thinner milk foam.

Based on the characteristics of Flat White, two different preparation methods have emerged. For example, New Zealanders use a double ristretto as the base and add steamed fresh milk, presenting a rich-tasting milk coffee. Australians use a single espresso, blended with thin milk foam to create a milk coffee. The specific preparation method varies depending on the coffee beans used by each shop and the flavor profile they want to express.

We use Front Street's classic Italian blend coffee beans, a recipe combining beans from three origins: Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It uses a deep roast, which maximizes the coffee's rich aroma and allows everyone to easily extract rich and dense coffee crema. Whether making an Americano diluted with water or a latte paired with milk, it is very suitable.

Differences between Flat White, Latte, and Cappuccino

Compared with the common latte and cappuccino, Flat White differs most in milk foam and milk ratio.

The "Flat" in Flat White means flat, which is to say that a well-made Flat White must have a milk foam layer so thin that it is level with the rim of the cup, and the foam layer must not bulge. Among the three common hot milk coffees, cappuccino has the thickest milk foam, generally 1–2 cm, while the thinnest, Flat White, is generally 0.3–0.5 cm. Latte coffee's milk foam mostly forms a dome of about 0.5–0.7 cm, while Flat White's milk foam can only be below 0.5 cm; otherwise it is difficult to achieve a "flat" liquid surface.

As for the specific thickness of the milk foam, every coffee shop differs. Some baristas, in order to let customers taste the upper layer of coffee crema to the greatest extent, do not froth the milk at all, but directly heat the milk and pour it into the espresso. Front Street hopes that the mouthfeel customers get from Flat White is dense and smooth, so it retains a 0.3 cm milk foam layer.

A Flat White pursuing a rich taste adds a smaller proportion of milk to the espresso, with the specific amount of milk depending on the cup size served by the shop. Imagine if the same milk ratio as latte were used; the overall taste would be more like coffee-flavored milk. For example, the ceramic cup used by Front Street shops for Flat White is 180 ml. With two ristrettos totaling 30 grams as the base, 150 grams of hot milk need to be added to present a richer and fuller coffee flavor.

How to make a good-tasting Flat White?

For the coffee base, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses a double ristretto. A 20-gram dose of coffee powder extracts 30 grams of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of 22–24 seconds. However, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) needs to remind you that the extraction plan for each coffee bean will differ slightly. This extraction plan is the extraction parameter adjusted by the barista before business every day, based on the Warm Sun blend used by the shop.

Pour the extracted coffee liquid into a pre-prepared cup, then pour 150 ml of milk into a milk pitcher and steam it. The milk should be steamed with less air intake than for a latte, with a thinner and denser foam layer, and the temperature is best controlled at 55–60°C, making it easier to drink.

Finally, pour the steamed milk into the coffee. Because the thin milk foam does not make the liquid surface level with the coffee cup, its appearance looks rather flat, hence another name: Flat White coffee.

The espresso extracted from Front Street's "Front Street Classic Italian Blend Coffee Beans" presents rich aromas of dark chocolate, butter, and macadamia. After blending with milk, the Flat White presents a taste of chocolate milk and caramel biscuits, with a smooth, fragrant, and mellow entry and a very long finish.

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