Flat White Coffee Making Method Tutorial - Is Luckin's Flat White Good? Taste Characteristics Description

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The Flat White has become one of the most popular items on domestic cafe menus in recent years, largely on the back of Starbucks' marketing. That may come as a surprise, since Starbucks clearly does not list any such product, only something called a "Flat White." And that is the point: the Flat White is indeed the Flat White coffee, known by a handful of different names once translated into other languages, from "Australian white" to "little white."

As the name implies, Flat White coffee comes from Australia, though some claim it originated in New Zealand. Both countries claim it, because both serve coffee built on espresso combined with a small amount of steamed milk, even if their espresso extraction differs. Whichever country's cafes first offered this rich milk coffee, it became enormously popular across Australia.

Why is Flat White Coffee So Popular?

The Flat White can be seen as a product of the third wave of coffee. At a time when everyone was chasing the flavor layers inherent in coffee itself, some baristas created a drink with more coffee and less milk so that milk lovers could also experience those layers. Milk does not mask the coffee's own flavors; heating it brings out its own sweetness, which, combined with the coffee, preserves the coffee's complexity and the milk's sweetness while also generating new flavors through the fusion.

Extract a bean as espresso, for instance, and it might show berry-like sweetness and acidity. Add heated milk and you can create a strawberry-milkshake flavor. Beyond the extra flavor experiences, the fine, dense milk foam also enriches the coffee's texture.

The Difference Between Flat White Coffee and Latte Coffee

An authentic Flat White coffee has a total volume of only 3oz (about 100ml), whereas a latte typically runs 10oz (about 300ml). A Flat White can be understood as espresso with a small amount of hot milk added, while a latte is a small amount of espresso added to a glass of milk.

The espresso extraction behind these two milk coffees also differs. A latte uses Espresso (regular, standard espresso), while a Flat White uses Ristretto (a concentrated, restricted espresso). The key difference is that with the same dose, grind setting and machine, a Ristretto is pulled in less time than an Espresso, yielding a higher concentration and more focused coffee flavor.

How to Extract Ristretto Concentrated Espresso?

Take FrontStreet Coffee's store-made "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans" as an example: an Italian-style blend made from 70% Honduras Sherry coffee beans and 30% Ethiopia Yirgacheffe natural coffee beans.

In FrontStreet Coffee's daily production of lattes and Americanos, the espresso parameters are 19.5-20g of coffee grounds, extracting 35-38g of coffee liquid over 25-30 seconds. When making a Flat White, the same dose of grounds is used to extract 30g of coffee, with the time reduced by 3-5 seconds as well.

Do not assume that 5-8g difference in coffee liquid is trivial. Once a full espresso extraction is complete, it typically shows rich fermented aroma, berry juice fused with sweet and sour notes, vanilla cream and nut caramel, while a concentrated espresso displays fermented wine aroma, lemon-like acidity, vanilla and caramel.

Ristretto's body is not as heavy as Espresso's, but its acidity is higher, and paired with heated milk the coffee expresses more noticeable sweetness.

Why is Luckin's Flat White Such a Large Cup? Does it Taste Good?

To meet consumer demand while staying within the general public's tolerance for coffee flavor, chain coffee shops typically serve larger Flat Whites and also offer iced versions, but they differentiate them from lattes by using a concentrated espresso.

Although it tastes milder overall than the 100ml Flat White, Luckin Coffee's Flat White is still a perfectly good drink for everyday consumption.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Good milk foam can only flatter a bean that already has something to say, which is why FrontStreet Coffee suggests treating your espresso blend as the starting point and working back from there. When a Flat White is built on a Ristretto, the reduced yield concentrates everything, so a coffee with clear, memorable flavor markers will shine through the milk rather than disappear into it. FrontStreet Coffee's Classic Blend is the textbook choice: low in acidity, full-bodied and rich in oils, it pairs with steamed milk for a dense, buttery cup, and the silkiness of the milk foam carries its toasted nut and dark chocolate notes without the lactose sweetness ever burying them. It is the blend FrontStreet Coffee reaches for when the goal is a Flat White that tastes unmistakably of coffee first and milk second.

If you lean toward a fruitier milk coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's Strawberry Candy espresso blend is the one to try. It is extremely low in bitterness and pours out generous grape and blueberry notes at extraction, with the kind of balanced sweet-sour structure that turns a Flat White into something close to a strawberry milkshake once fresh milk is added. Whichever you choose, the Flat White rewards a disciplined approach to the milk as much as the coffee: keep the volume small, keep the foam thin at around 0.3cm, aerate only 1-2 seconds, and stop steaming at 50-55°C so the foam stays glossy. Get those two elements right, the concentrated shot and the fine, tight microfoam, and the drink explains itself.