How to Make Flat White Coffee: Taste Description, Characteristics, and Correct Method - Difference Between Flat White and Latte Making Process and Milk Ratio

When you visit Luckin Coffee, Starbucks, or independent cafes, you'll always notice coffee drinks with "white" in their names on the espresso menu. Different establishments call this coffee by different names - Luckin calls it "Aorui White," Starbucks calls it "Flat White," while independent cafes call it "Australian White Coffee." These are actually all the same Italian milk coffee - Flat White. So what's the difference between Australian White Coffee and Latte? FrontStreet Coffee is here to explain what Australian White Coffee is and why it's called that.

The Origin of Australian White Coffee

Flat white is a coffee drink that originated in Australia, so naturally people are accustomed to calling this coffee "Australian White Coffee." The components of Flat white are actually the same as most milk coffees, consisting of milk, milk foam, and coffee. It's made by blending delicate, tiny milk foam into a single espresso or double ristretto espresso. The word "Flat" originally means smooth, which shows that this coffee brings a smooth sensation to people's palates.

The Difference Between Australian White Coffee and Latte

Coffee Latte in Italian originally means "coffee milk," so this coffee was created by adding a small amount of espresso to milk, allowing people to enjoy milk with the richness of coffee. Therefore, the main tone of this Italian milk coffee should be predominantly milk flavor, with coffee flavor being secondary. However, Australian White Coffee is the opposite of latte - it's made by adding a small amount of milk to double espresso/ristretto espresso, thereby highlighting the espresso flavor. In terms of mouthfeel, latte's 1cm thick foam gives people a smooth and delicate sensation in the mouth - the first sip brings the sweetness of milk dancing with the richness of coffee. Meanwhile, Australian White Coffee's 0.5cm thickness gives people a smooth, light, and delicate sensation - the first sip brings rich coffee with sweet milk running in the mouth.

Does the Fineness and Thickness of Milk Foam Affect Coffee's Mouthfeel?

Taking Australian White Coffee, latte, and cappuccino as common examples: Australian White Coffee has relatively thin milk foam, about 0.5cm thick, with a bright glossy surface and extremely fluid texture, providing a smooth, silky, and light mouthfeel; latte has moderate milk foam thickness (about 1cm thick), with a glossy surface, strong fluidity but not too scattered, providing a smooth, delicate, and full mouthfeel; cappuccino has relatively thick milk foam (about 1.5cm thick), with a relatively dull glossy surface, poor fluidity, providing a dense, solid, and full mouthfeel.

Why Heat Milk and Foam Milk When Making Milk Coffee?

When FrontStreet Coffee makes milk coffee, we use the steam wand of the espresso machine to heat and aerate the milk, utilizing the surface tension of milk proteins to form many tiny bubbles. The fineness of these small bubbles will affect the mouthfeel of the entire milk coffee. During the foaming process, lactose dissolves in milk due to increased temperature and is sealed in the milk through the foaming action, while milk fat functions to stabilize these tiny bubbles. When drinking, these tiny bubbles burst in the mouth, allowing flavors and aromatic substances to be better dispersed and amplified, making the milk produce a sweet, thick taste and texture.

Generally, the steam wand can be positioned with the pitcher spout as the 12 o'clock pivot point, with the steam wand directed toward the 2-3 o'clock or 9-10 o'clock position of the milk pitcher. This positioning allows the milk to rotate as quickly as possible during foaming and form a small vortex, which can draw coarser foam into the milk, giving the milk a dense texture after foaming. FrontStreet Coffee recommends inserting about 0.5-1cm from the steam hole as a benchmark. If the espresso machine's steam is too strong, forming too large a vortex or creating turbulence, you can place the steam wand slightly deeper; if the espresso machine's steam isn't strong enough, you can place the steam wand in a shallower position to allow the milk to form a small vortex quickly without rotating too violently or creating turbulence.

How to Make Australian White Coffee?

Theoretically, Australian White Coffee is only served hot, but with market demand, many businesses have launched cold Australian White Coffee. In reality, cold Australian White Coffee is truly the same as cold latte, as it lacks the textural experience.

When FrontStreet Coffee makes Australian White Coffee, we choose double ristretto espresso as the base, using 20g of coffee grounds to extract 35g of coffee liquid with an extraction time of 26 seconds. However, FrontStreet Coffee needs to remind you that each type of coffee bean may have slight differences in extraction parameters. This extraction plan is adjusted daily by baristas before business hours and is based on the Warm Sun Blend used in the store.

For the milk foaming part, only aerate for one second (one "hiss" sound) or not at all, then heat the milk to 55 degrees Celsius. Finally, pour the frothed milk into the coffee. The coffee-to-milk ratio is lower compared to latte, aiming to create a rich coffee flavor. Therefore, for cup capacity, FrontStreet Coffee chooses 200ml cups for serving Australian White Coffee.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473