Differences Between Starbucks Flat White and Australian Latte Coffee - Italian Espresso Milk Coffee Taste and Flavor Characteristics Introduction

"Flat White" - the first time hearing this name, one might naturally associate it with white coffee, or perhaps a coffee with less coffee content and a whiter color. Today, more people enjoy walking into a coffee shop and ordering from the barista: "Hello, I'd like a Flat White." But what exactly is Flat White coffee? How did it come about?

Starbucks and the Flat White

The most familiar milk coffee to everyone is undoubtedly the latte, and Starbucks built its global empire with this milk coffee that originated in Europe. Until around 2015, Starbucks had been vigorously promoting Flat White in the Chinese market, but with little success. It wasn't until Starbucks' arch-rival - the Australian coffee brand Gloria Jean's Coffee - wanted to enter the Chinese market that Starbucks had to increase its efforts in promoting Flat White.

Starbucks had indeed tried to conquer the Australian coffee market before. Around 2000, after investing heavily in the Australian coffee market, Starbucks was ultimately defeated by Gloria Jean's Coffee, which had over 500 stores in Australia at the time. Starbucks had to withdraw from the Australian market in disgrace.

Starbucks' vigorous promotion of Flat White is not without reason. Flat White actually originated in Australia, which is why it's generally translated as "Australian White Coffee" or "Aussie White Coffee" for short.

The Origin and Controversy of Flat White

The name "Flat White" didn't appear until the 1960s. The term "Flat White" appeared in the 1962 British film "Danger by My Side," but at that time, "flat white" was not a coffee name but rather used to express that the coffee was of average quality, tasting light and unpleasant.

It wasn't until the 1980s that the term "Flat White" was used to refer to a coffee product. Interestingly, the origin of Flat White is quite controversial - one theory claims it originated in Australia, while another suggests New Zealand.

New Zealand's Claim: One theory suggests that Flat White appeared on a 1985 menu at the Canberra Parliament House, where due to seasonal reasons, milk couldn't be frothed properly. Another theory states that in 1989, a New Zealand barista named Frank Mlnnes was making a cappuccino using skim milk. Since skim milk lacks sufficient fat to create foam, the result was a milk coffee with extremely thin foam, thus named Flat White.

Australia's Claim: In the mid-1980s, the term "Flat White" appeared on the menu of an Australian café, and a magazine about coffee shops also mentioned this product. Additionally, an Australian newspaper published an article translating latte coffee as "Flat White" as a satire of the then-popular latte.

Understanding Ristretto Coffee

In the minds of many people, Starbucks' Flat White and latte taste quite similar, except that the Flat White has a stronger coffee flavor than milk, with deeper bitterness and a more pronounced coffee aftertaste. In fact, they share the same origins but developed into different schools. The North Queensland, Melbourne, and Sydney regions of Australia all have Italian communities and are the second place after Italy to have an espresso culture.

Whether originating from Australia or New Zealand, ultimately, Flat White as a beverage originated in the Oceania region. Not only is the origin of Australian White Coffee controversial, but its preparation is also debated. New Zealanders prefer to use double-shot ristretto, while Australians prefer to use single-shot espresso.

At this point, some might wonder, what exactly is ristretto coffee? The term "Ristretto" comes from "restrict" and "narrow," which can be literally understood as a restricted-extraction espresso with less liquid output, derived from the basis of espresso. When extracting coffee using the same amount of grounds, ristretto has a shorter extraction time and yields less coffee liquid.

More directly, ristretto is essentially a high-concentration, low-extraction version of espresso. Since only the front portion精华 (essence) of the coffee is extracted, its flavor is more concentrated, with less bitterness and a richer, fuller mouthfeel.

Flat White Preparation and Characteristics

Flat White is made by blending fine, tiny milk foam with a shot of espresso or double ristretto. To some extent, it's somewhat similar to a traditional 5-ounce (150mL) cappuccino or latte, but with a higher proportion of coffee, thinner and finer milk foam, allowing the espresso flavor to be more robust while still maintaining the aroma of milk.

Since all three are made with frothed milk, some might wonder about the differences between cappuccino, latte, and Australian White Coffee. Through online research, you can find the most intuitive image showing the differences between these three coffees, distinguished by the ratio of coffee to milk and the thickness of the foam.

When FrontStreet Coffee prepares these three coffees, different capacity cups are used to help distinguish them. Latte uses a 300ml wide-mouth ceramic cup, cappuccino uses a 180ml narrow-mouth ceramic cup, and Australian White Coffee uses a 210ml glass cup.

Among the three, latte uses the highest proportion of milk, while Australian White Coffee uses less milk. From this, we can deduce that latte has a stronger milk flavor, while Australian White Coffee has a more intense coffee flavor. However, the thickness of the foam makes it easier to distinguish between the three: cappuccino has the thickest foam, followed by latte, while Australian White Coffee has the thinnest foam.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flat White Recipe

FrontStreet Coffee's preparation steps for Australian White Coffee are as follows:

FrontStreet Coffee uses double-shot ristretto as the base when making Australian White Coffee. Through parameter adjustments, FrontStreet Coffee uses 20 grams of coffee grounds to extract 40 grams of ristretto, with an extraction time of approximately 28 seconds.

Since the characteristic of Australian White Coffee is its rich coffee flavor, less milk is used. When frothing milk, attention should be paid to the amount of air injected. FrontStreet Coffee suggests letting the milk spin first, then injecting just a little air before entering the smoothing phase. Additionally, the foam in Australian White Coffee is very thin, making it difficult to form patterns when latte art is attempted. Therefore, after fusion, you can inject from the center point to form a small dot or create a heart shape.

FrontStreet Coffee's stores use Sunflower Warm Sun Blend coffee beans when making Australian White Coffee. This espresso blend consists of 70% Honduras Sherry coffee beans and 30% natural Yirgacheffe coffee beans. The Honduras coffee beans in this blend are of the Caturra, Catuai, and Pacas varieties. Thanks to low-temperature fermentation in sherry whiskey barrels for 30-40 days, the Honduras coffee beans have developed rich, wine-like aromas. The rich vanilla flavor in sherry whiskey thus contributes to the unique flavor profile of sherry whiskey.

Such uniquely styled coffee beans naturally have multiple preparation methods at FrontStreet Coffee's stores. Sherry coffee beans are also available on FrontStreet Coffee's pour-over coffee menu. Sherry coffee in pour-over form also carries rich whiskey aroma, vanilla, and cream flavors, making it equally worth tasting.

The Australian White Coffee served by FrontStreet Coffee has a rich whiskey aroma with vanilla and cream flavors, with an aftertaste reminiscent of having just finished dark chocolate.

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Important Notice :

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