What is australian white coffee and where did it come from?

Australian White, Flat White, Australian Rui White, and Artisan White all name the same drink: a milk coffee with thinner foam and a stronger coffee flavor than a latte. Australia and New Zealand both claim its origin, a debate that remains unresolved. Australian cafes preferred thin-foam milk drinks, and by the 1980s the drink appeared on fixed menus.

Espresso machines arrived in Australia in the early 1970s through Italian migrants, shifting cafes away from French presses and manual drip brewing. Starbucks later introduced the drink in China in 2015, taking it mainstream. For anyone asking white coffee what is, the answer is simple: a small-volume milk coffee built on dense, relatively thin foam and a prominent espresso taste.

Walk into any coffee shop, and the menu's Australian White, Flat White, Australian Rui White, and Artisan White all actually point to the same drink—Flat White. Its foam is thinner and its coffee flavor is stronger, and in recent years it has been highly sought after in the specialty coffee wave. This article will start with the controversy over Flat White's origin, sort out its essential differences from a latte, analyze the production philosophies of baristas from different places of origin, and share Front Street Coffee's complete parameters and preparation steps for recreating this rich milk coffee at home, taking you through a comprehensive understanding of this small-volume classic Italian milk coffee.

There is no doubt that names such as Australian White, Flat White, Australian Rui White, and Artisan White appearing on cafe menus all actually point to the same drink—Flat White. Also belonging to the milk coffee family, why has this drink won so much favor? Next, Front Street will talk with everyone about this highly popular milk coffee.

Flat white Was it actually born in New Zealand, or Australia?

Regarding the origin of Flat White, Australia and New Zealand each insist on their own version, and this debate remains unresolved to this day. Before the 1970s, Australian cafes mainly relied on French presses and manual drip brewing to make black coffee. In the early 1970s, espresso machines were brought to Australia by Italians, setting off a new wave of coffee enthusiasm. Compared with traditional lattes, Australians preferred milk drinks with thin foam and prominent coffee flavor. By the 1980s, Australians began to put Flat White on fixed menus, and it gradually spread to cafes in Europe and America.

Regardless of whether this drink was born in Australia or New Zealand, one thing is certain: it subsequently became rapidly popular around the world. The fact that Flat White could become a hot item in China is thanks to Starbucks introducing it in 2015 and making it one of its flagship products under the name "Flat White," which also marked this milk coffee's formal entry into the mainstream.

Why is Flat white so popular?

The original design intent of Flat White is to let the drinker feel the perfect blend of milk foam and the coffee-milk beneath it in every sip. Only when the milk foam is sufficiently dense, relatively thin, and the coffee temperature is slightly lower can every sip be guaranteed to include milk foam, and can it be quickly finished before the foam separates into layers. For this reason, Flat White has extremely strict requirements for coffee bean quality and milk frothing—if the beans are of poor quality, the espresso extraction is not ideal, or the milk foam is frother too coarsely, the small-volume Flat White will easily expose these flaws completely.

With the arrival of the specialty coffee era, more and more people began using single-origin coffee for espresso extraction, commonly known as SOE (Single Origin Espresso), that is, espresso made from coffee beans from a single origin. Compared with large-volume lattes and thick-foam cappuccinos, Flat White can better showcase the origin flavors of the coffee beans themselves. Out of the pursuit of coffee aroma and richness of mouthfeel, people naturally prefer the small-cup, rich Flat White.

What is the difference between Flat white and latte?

Both are made only from milk and espresso, but there are clear differences in preparation methods and tasting experience. Caffe Latte means milk in Italian, emphasizing the balance between coffee and milk—you can taste the flavor of coffee as well as the sweet richness of milk, with the two complementing each other without masking each other's flavors. Flat white, on the other hand, uses milk to highlight the coffee flavor; coffee is the protagonist, and milk plays only a supporting role. Therefore, Flat White tastes more coffee-forward and richer.

When New Zealand baristas make Flat white, they choose a smaller coffee cup than for a latte (about 150 ml), and uniformly use a double shot of espresso as the base. With less milk and a higher coffee ratio, the coffee flavor is naturally richer. Melbourne baristas replace the base with a double Ristretto, incorporating milk foam of a thickness comparable to a latte into a 150 ml cup. Ristretto refers to extracting espresso with the same dose of coffee grounds but a smaller liquid yield, making it a reduced version of espresso, more focused on the front and middle stages of extraction, with a richer mouthfeel, and therefore with even higher requirements for coffee bean quality.

In Australia, however, baristas believe it is enough to simply maintain thinner milk foam than a latte. When they serve Australian White, they use the same cup size as a latte and emphasize more the difference in foam thickness. Compared with milk coffees such as lattes and cappuccinos, Flat White has the thinnest milk foam, usually between 0.3 and 0.5 cm. The foam must be thin enough to be level with the rim of the cup and must not bulge above it, so that every sip of rich coffee liquid carries a dense layer of foam.

Can you also make Flat white at home?

Many friends, because they love Italian coffee, have equipped themselves at home with pressurized espresso machines and grinding equipment, hoping to make a rich and delicious Flat White at home, so they come to ask Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) about the parameters for making Flat White.

Front Street believes that the popularity of Flat White stems from everyone's pursuit of the flavor and mouthfeel of specialty coffee beans. Therefore, every coffee shop presents a unique Flat White style based on the coffee beans it uses and its own understanding. For example, the espresso blend used by Front Street is its own roasted "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend," composed of 70% Honduras Sherry coffee and 30% Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry coffee. Sherry's whiskey, vanilla, and cream flavors combine with Red Cherry's tropical fruit and fermented notes, making the coffee in the cup rich yet soft.

For the coffee base, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses a double Ristretto, extracting 30 grams of coffee liquid from 20 grams of coffee grounds, with an extraction time of 22-24 seconds. But Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) needs to remind everyone that the extraction plan for each coffee bean will have slight differences. This extraction plan is the parameter adjusted by the barista every day before opening, based on the Warm Sun Blend used in the store.

Pour the extracted coffee liquid into a pre-prepared cup, then pour 150 ml of milk into a milk pitcher and froth it. When frothing the milk, the amount of air introduced should be less than for a latte, and the foam layer should be thinner and denser. The temperature is best controlled at 55-60 degrees Celsius, making it easier to drink. Finally, pour the frothed milk into the coffee; whether or not you pour latte art is fine. Because the thin milk foam does not bring the liquid surface level with the coffee cup, its appearance looks flat, which is why it is also called flat white coffee.

Front Street's Flat White presents the mouthfeel of chocolate milk and whiskey-filled chocolate, accompanied by the sweet-tartness of berries. It is smooth, fragrant, and rich on entry, with a very long finish.

Of course, if you do not like coffee with any acidity and prefer the bitter, roasted taste of dark-roasted coffee, it is recommended to use Front Street Classic Espresso Blend to make Flat White. This coffee combines three major origins—Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam—and is produced by roasting first and blending afterward, allowing the essence of each bean to be better expressed and perfectly integrated in the cup.

When using Front Street Classic Espresso Blend to make Australian White coffee, we use a double espresso as the base, that is, a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, extracting 40 g of coffee liquid from 20 g of coffee grounds, with an extraction time of 28-32 seconds. Then combine 150 g of frothed fresh milk with thin milk foam and dense crema, and pour a nice little pattern. In this way, a rich, sweet, and caramel-aromatic Australian White coffee is complete.

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