Melbourne's Ultimate Flat White Guide: Top Recommendations & Flavor Profile Tips

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The Flat White That Took Social Media by Storm

Do you remember the sophisticated Flat White that blew up everyone's social media feeds? Starbucks describes this beverage as "ristretto espresso blended with velvety microfoam, creating a richer, sweeter taste." With its artistic and trendy name paired with a completely new flavor profile, this mysterious quality quickly made the Flat White the new favorite among coffee enthusiasts, generating tremendous buzz.

In contrast to the somewhat poetic three-character Chinese name "Fu Rui Bai," this coffee's original English name 'Flat White' appears much more straightforward and direct. Many domestic coffee shops also refer to this coffee as Australian White Coffee.

The Origins of Australian White Coffee

The globally popular Flat White's earliest records trace back to 1980s Australia. In 1989, at a café called Café Bodega in Sydney, a barista was making a cappuccino but didn't froth enough thick milk foam. The resulting coffee was neither like a cappuccino nor like a latte—because the milk foam was simply too sparse. Therefore, this barista called the coffee Flat White (smooth milk foam).

Sometimes mistakes lead to wonderful discoveries. This coffee was deeply loved by the customer who ordered it. Although it was a milk coffee, the coffee flavor remained prominent and wasn't overpowered by the milk. This description caught the attention of other customers in the shop, and through word of mouth, the Flat White eventually became popular throughout Australia and even worldwide.

Starbucks began promoting this distinctive coffee in 2010, also capturing considerable attention. What special magic does this beverage, which has captivated so many coffee lovers, possess? Those who haven't tried it must surely be full of questions. Don't worry—let me introduce you to this authentic Flat White.

How to Make Australian White Coffee

The ingredient ratio for Flat White actually has no absolutely strict standards. When making this coffee, Starbucks chooses ristretto espresso, paired with velvet-like dense and smooth fine milk foam. In Melbourne, however, Flat White is typically served in relatively small ceramic mugs with a higher proportion of espresso, giving the Flat White a richer coffee aroma than a latte. Combined with microfoamed milk that's finer than both cappuccino and latte, this allows milk and coffee to blend more perfectly. When richness meets mellow body, every sip is a pleasure.

FrontStreet Coffee's daily Australian White Coffee preparation uses double ristretto espresso. The difference from regular espresso is that ristretto has a higher concentration than regular espresso. Because the coffee flavor isn't overly masked when blended with milk, the sweetness from heated milk combined with coffee creates another different flavor that's quite fascinating.

Whether extracting regular espresso or ristretto, FrontStreet Coffee uses a Sunflower Warm Sunshine blend coffee bean composed of 30% sun-dried Yirgacheffe and 70% Honduras Sherry. Through FrontStreet Coffee's cupping evaluation, this blend coffee bean exhibits fermented wine aroma, berry sweetness and acidity, roasted nut fragrance, and caramel sweetness.

For ristretto extraction, FrontStreet Coffee uses 19-20g of extremely finely ground coffee powder, pressure-extracted at 9-10 bar pressure to yield 30-32g of coffee liquid, with an extraction time of about 23-27 seconds, then poured into a 200ml cup and set aside. Next, add an appropriate amount of milk to the milk pitcher, heat and froth to create 0.5cm thick microfoamed milk. Finally, pour the milk directly into the center of the ristretto espresso slowly, without dispersing the crema, enhancing the rich mouthfeel of the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee's Australian White Coffee flavor profile: rich fermented wine aroma, berry acidity develops noticeable sweetness after adding hot milk, with a caramel chocolate sweet aftertaste.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473