What's the Difference Between Starbucks Flat White and Australian White Coffee? Flat White vs Short Coffee Distinctions

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When people walk into a coffee shop, many are captivated by the techniques baristas use to make fancy coffee. Through smooth latte art methods, baristas perfectly blend espresso and milk to create a delicious, rich Italian coffee. Although FrontStreet Coffee's stores focus primarily on pour-over coffee beans with over 50 different types of coffee beans from various regions, FrontStreet Coffee also serves espresso-based coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Espresso Selection

FrontStreet Coffee's espresso menu includes latte, cappuccino, Americano, toffee latte, and mocha latte—each with its own distinctive flavor profile. Espresso drinks like piccolo latte, dirty coffee, and flat white are less frequently featured. Coffees like flat white are more commonly found at Starbucks. The English name for "馥芮白" is Flat White, which is actually the famous Australian White. Flat White has many different translations: generally called "澳白" (Australian White) in coffee shops, Costa calls it "醇艺白" (Artisan White), Starbucks calls it "馥芮白" (Flat White), Luckin calls it "澳瑞白" (Australian Rui White), and McDonald's calls it "澳臻白" (Australian Zhen White). McDonald's Australian Zhen White coffee has less bitterness than other versions of Australian White.

Understanding Flat White

When you first hear the name "Flat White," you might associate it with white coffee or think it refers to coffee with less coffee content and a whiter color. Starbucks' new "Flat White" tastes very similar to a latte, but the bitterness of Flat White is stronger than the milk flavor, slightly more bitter than a latte with a lingering aftertaste; lattes have a stronger milk flavor with a slight bitterness. In our memory, lattes are milk flavor with slight bitterness, while Flat White has bitterness with a hint of milk flavor. Recently, a coffee that has become popular globally and in the Chinese market is actually a variation of cappuccino—"flat white"—originating from Australia with fine milk foam, actually appearing as early as the 1980s.

The Origins and Characteristics of Australian White

Speaking of this, FrontStreet Coffee needs to explain some issues about Australian White. Australian White is a coffee beverage that originated in Australia. But later, some people argued that Australian White actually originated in New Zealand. New Zealanders like to use Double Ristretto, while Australian counterparts use Single Espresso. Australian White blends fine, tiny milk foam into a single espresso or double Ristretto. To some extent, it's somewhat similar to a traditional 5-ounce cup (150mL) cappuccino or latte, so the coffee proportion is higher, the milk foam is lighter and more delicate, and the Espresso flavor is richer while maintaining the aroma of milk.

Understanding Ristretto

"Ristretto" means "restricted," so ristretto is actually restricted-flow espresso, meaning ristretto's flow rate will be slower. FrontStreet Coffee will give you a simple example: if espresso uses 18g of coffee grounds to extract 36g of espresso liquid in about 25 seconds, then ristretto uses 18g of coffee grounds to extract 18g of espresso liquid in about 25 seconds, so ristretto will be very, very concentrated (the grind size will also differ from normal espresso).

When FrontStreet Coffee makes Australian White, they usually blend double Ristretto with milk that has thinner milk foam and serve it in a 180mL coffee cup, which makes the flat white's coffee aroma more intense. Flat white (a 200ml cup): the base is two shots of espresso, and some places extract the esp for longer, using two Ristrettos.

Understanding the Differences Between Coffee Varieties

According to FrontStreet Coffee's understanding, many friends have only partial knowledge about the differences between Australian White, piccolo latte, dirty coffee, cappuccino, and latte, so FrontStreet Coffee will share some relevant knowledge with everyone.

What's the Difference Between Australian White Coffee and Piccolo Latte?

Piccolo latte is more like a miniature version of latte—small cup, small capacity, with less coffee and milk than common espresso drinks. It requires extracting 15 to 20 grams of refined espresso, paired with 4 times the amount of milk. Australian White coffee, as can be known from the previous text, is a coffee that highlights the coffee flavor. Latte is a coffee drink with a large amount of milk added, while cappuccino is a milk coffee with thicker milk foam. Australian White coffee has a more intense coffee flavor/less milk, and thinner milk foam. The preparation methods for Australian White coffee also vary. In the choice of espresso base, New Zealanders like to use double refined espresso (Double Ristretto) to make Australian White coffee, while Australian baristas prefer to use single espresso (Single Espresso).

FrontStreet Coffee believes that Australian White coffee feels more like coffee with milk; latte is more like milk with coffee flavor; cappuccino is like creamy foam coffee. Australian White coffee can better showcase the quality of coffee beans than latte and is more suitable for expressing the flavor characteristics of the coffee's origin region, much like the currently popular SOE (single origin espresso) single origin espresso, which caters to the third wave coffee trend's emphasis on coffee origins and traceability. Dirty coffee uses a cup that has been pre-chilled in the refrigerator, then refrigerated fresh milk is placed in the cup first, followed by pouring espresso. Visually, the coffee appears to stain the white fresh milk, and when tasting, the fusion of hot on top and cold on bottom brings a unique layered texture.

The Key Differences: Coffee Ratio and Milk Foam

When searching online for the differences between these three coffees, you'll find that most explanations focus on the thickness of milk foam. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the thickness of milk foam only affects the coffee's texture to a certain extent but doesn't determine the coffee's flavor—the main difference between Australian White, cappuccino, and latte lies in the coffee ratio.

In fact, the differences between the three can be categorized by the richness of coffee aroma: Australian White > Cappuccino > Latte; and in terms of milk foam thickness: Cappuccino > Latte > Australian White. Flat White's requirement for milk is to remove the relatively loose surface foam and keep only the more delicate middle part.

How to Make a Delicious Australian White Coffee

The above is some basic knowledge about Australian White coffee. Below, FrontStreet Coffee will continue sharing how to make a delicious Australian White coffee. Before making Australian White coffee, you need to select espresso beans first. Good espresso beans extracted into espresso can significantly enhance the quality of Australian White coffee.

Currently, FrontStreet Coffee uses the Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend, which is sold in-store. This blend uses Honduras Shirley and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee. Through continuous blending by FrontStreet Coffee's baristas, a relatively perfect blending ratio of 7:3 was achieved. The resulting espresso has distinct fruit acidity, along with berry flavor aroma and wine fragrance, with a comfortable sweet aftertaste.

You might be confused here—why can only espresso beans be used to make espresso coffee, not pour-over coffee beans? This requires considering the roasting degree of coffee beans. Generally, espresso beans have a darker roast degree, known as Italian roast. Pour-over beans generally have a light to dark roast degree. Using light roast for espresso extraction will result in more acidity, producing espresso with poorer flavor. FrontStreet Coffee believes there's another reason: cost issues. Generally, pour-over coffee beans require cupping scores above 80, belonging to the specialty coffee level, while espresso beans mostly use commercial blends, which naturally cost much less than pour-over coffee.

How to Make Flat White Australian White Coffee?

Step 1: Prepare the Espresso Base

FrontStreet Coffee chose espresso, using 20g of coffee grounds to extract 27g of espresso liquid in 20 seconds.

Step 2: Froth the Milk

The milk foam should be as minimal and thin as possible. Pour the frothed milk into the espresso, blending until eight-tenths full, then gently create a simple pattern. Because Flat White's milk foam is relatively thin, patterns easily lose shape, so it's recommended to make simpler heart patterns or dot patterns, or no latte art at all. A delicious Australian White coffee is ready!

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Important Notice :

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