Flat White Coffee Recipe Steps: Starbucks Flat White Coffee to Milk Ratio Parameters and Flavor Characteristics

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If latte's coffee and fresh milk are a well-matched couple, then the piccolo latte pair are inseparable lovers—blending into each other with a dense, silky texture and richer coffee aroma that's truly captivating.

Although latte coffee is delicious, some people always feel that the milk flavor dominates. So Australians, who have always loved researching milk and espresso combinations, accidentally created the Flat White in the 1980s—a coffee with rich flavor, thinner foam than latte, and a texture as light as goose down that has taken the world by storm.

What is Flat White?

Flat White, also known as Fu Rui Bai/Australian White/Little White/Pure Art White Coffee, is an Italian milk coffee that highlights coffee flavor. Although the preparation method is similar to latte, there are differences in the concentration of espresso used, the thickness of steamed milk foam, and the overall volume.

How to Steam Milk into Foam?

Step 1: Pour milk according to the cup capacity minus the coffee liquid amount divided by approximately 1.2. (1.2 assumes that steaming milk expands its volume to 1.2 times; this number depends on the amount of foam you need and your latte art habits.)

Step 2: First, turn on the steam once to discharge cold water from the pipes. Generally, the shaded area is where the steam wand should be placed. It's recommended that the steam wand connects with the milk pitcher's spout.

The depth of the steam wand in the liquid depends on the coffee machine's steam pressure. If pressure is low, place it on the surface; if steam is moderate, just bury it in the milk; if steam is very strong, place it directly at 1cm or deeper—no problem.

Step 3: Aeration stage. Turn on the steam switch, and you'll hear a "squeak—squeak" sound. This is the frothing stage. The frothing time varies depending on the desired foam thickness (longer frothing time = thicker foam).

Generally, milk froths from 5 parts to 6 parts volume. "Latte coffee foam thickness 1cm requires about 3 seconds of frothing time"; "Flat White coffee foam thickness 0.5cm requires about 2 seconds of frothing time." The milk rotates in a unified direction to form a vortex.

Step 4: Texturing stage. After frothing, the milk foam will separate into layers—the upper layer is the coarse foam after frothing, while the lower layer is relatively unfrothed (commercial machines generally don't distinguish much between frothing and texturing stages). This step positions the steam wand toward the upper foam layer, incorporating the foam into the lower layer for full integration. This process occurs at around 55-65 degrees Celsius.

Step 5: Turn off the steam, wipe the steam wand, and release some steam. Then observe if there are bubbles on the foam surface. If there are, you can gently tap the milk pitcher on the table to release the bubbles.

At this point, the foam and milk in the pitcher will form distinct layers, so before pouring into coffee, you need to slightly tilt the pitcher at a fixed position on the table, then rotate it clockwise in a fixed circle until the foam surface becomes smooth.

How to Make Latte Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee's store preparation of latte coffee uses two regular shots of Italian espresso. Using 20g of extra-fine ground coffee powder, 94-degree Celsius hot water is quickly passed through the coffee powder layer under 9-10 bar pressure, extracting 40g of espresso liquid at a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, with extraction time of 28-32 seconds.

Then heat and froth the milk to 1cm thick foam and uniformly blend it with the extracted espresso at a 1:7.5 coffee-to-milk ratio, with the final product approximately 300ml.

How to Make Flat White Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee's store preparation of Flat White coffee uses two regular shots of ristretto espresso. Using 20g of extra-fine ground coffee powder, 94-degree Celsius hot water is quickly passed through the coffee powder layer under 9-10 bar pressure, extracting 32g of espresso liquid at a 1:1.6 coffee-to-liquid ratio, with extraction time of 25-30 seconds.

Then heat and froth the milk to 1cm thick foam and uniformly blend it with the extracted espresso at approximately 1:6 coffee-to-milk ratio, with the final product approximately 180ml.

What's the Difference Between Italian Espresso and Ristretto Espresso?

Ristretto espresso is actually more concentrated Italian espresso (under the same extraction parameters). FrontStreet Coffee's method of making Flat White coffee is similar to Starbucks, both using double ristretto espresso shots. FrontStreet Coffee daily uses a Sunflower Warm Sunshine blend coffee bean made from 30% sun-dried Yirgacheffe blended with 70% Honduras Sherry for espresso extraction.

When extracted at a 1:2 ratio for Italian espresso, the coffee expresses fermented wine aroma, berry sweetness and acidity, vanilla cream-like smoothness, and roasted nut caramel sweetness.

When extracted at a 1:1.6 ratio for ristretto espresso, the coffee expresses fermented wine aroma, intense berry sweetness and acidity, vanilla cream-like smoothness, and distinct caramel-like aftertaste.

Important Notice :

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