Is Flat White Delicious? How to Drink It, Preparation Methods and Characteristics Introduction. Is Australian White Coffee Better Cold or Hot?

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What is Flat White Coffee?

Have you ever had a flat white? Many people have tried lattes and cappuccinos, but have you heard of the flat white? Compared to those two espresso-and-milk classics, a flat white is an espresso drink with less milk and more coffee. In different regions, the flat white has been rendered into Chinese as "Ao Bai" (Australian White), "Xiao Bai" (Little White), "Fu Yi White," and "Ao Rui White," among other names.

How to Make Flat White Coffee

To make a flat white, you can either pull one shot of espresso and add it to milk with thin, fine microfoam for a final drink of about 100ml, or use two shots of ristretto with the same thin microfoam for a final drink of about 200ml. Why are there two versions?

The Debate Over the Origin of Flat White Coffee

As for where the flat white came from: during World War II, many Italians fled Europe for the two neutral countries of Australia and New Zealand, and that is how espresso culture took root there.

Which country had it first? Australia and New Zealand still argue about it today. Some say it appeared in Sydney in the 1980s; others claim it emerged in Melbourne in the 1970s. New Zealanders have even protested, insisting that the flat white as we know it today was developed in Wellington in the late 1980s.

To distinguish the two traditions, the flat white has been split into two schools. In Australia, a single espresso is used with a small amount of milk; in New Zealand, a double ristretto is used. Whatever the base, the essence is the same: a milk coffee with a strong coffee flavor - a third option for people who find straight espresso too strong and lattes too milky.

How to Make Flat White Coffee

The steps for making any milk coffee are broadly similar: extract the espresso, steam the milk, and combine them. Nearly all milk coffees follow this path. But as FrontStreet Coffee has noted, the flat white's defining traits are its rich coffee flavor and thin foam. The differences lie in the espresso extraction parameters, the thickness of the microfoam, and the milk-to-coffee ratio.

FrontStreet Coffee uses a double espresso (40ml) and adds 160ml of steamed milk with 0.5cm of thin foam, fully combining them into a final drink of about 200ml.

How to Extract Double Espresso

Regarding the extraction of a double espresso: as freshly roasted beans age, the carbon dioxide inside them gradually decreases. FrontStreet Coffee therefore fine-tunes the espresso extraction every day to keep all of its espresso drinks consistent.

Freshly roasted beans are especially crucial for pulling good espresso. All coffee beans sold by FrontStreet Coffee are shipped within 5 days of roasting. For espresso, it's best to use a dedicated espresso blend, which further stabilizes the flavor and quality of the shot.

To accommodate different cafes' requirements for price and flavor, FrontStreet Coffee offers 4 espresso blends. The single most important thing for good espresso is freshly roasted beans - everything FrontStreet Coffee ships goes out within 5 days of roasting.

FrontStreet Coffee's stores use the "Sunflower Warm Sunshine Blend," composed of 30% Ethiopian natural-processed Red Cherry beans and 70% Honduras Sherry whiskey-barrel-aged beans. It features a rich wine aroma, vanilla cream, berry sweetness and acidity, and roasted nut flavors.

FrontStreet Coffee's in-store double espresso parameters: 19.8g of extra-finely ground coffee, extracted at 9-10 bar to yield 38g of espresso, with an extraction time of 30 seconds.

Since espresso machines and grinders vary by brand and freshly roasted beans behave differently from day to day, these parameters cannot simply be copied.

If you're just starting out, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a middle-of-the-road parameter you can adjust based on how the coffee actually tastes: use 20g of coffee to extract 40g of liquid at a 1:2 ratio under 9 bar of pressure within 25-30 seconds, then adjust according to the flavor in the cup.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A great flat white starts with great ingredients: beans and milk that suit each other, plus a good marriage between the two. A latte aims for absolute balance between coffee and milk, but a flat white puts the espresso front and center, with the milk playing a supporting role - so choose espresso beans with a memorable flavor. For home brewing, FrontStreet Coffee's Classic Blend is a solid pick: a buttery, cheese-like character, mellow and low in acidity, with full, silky crema that pairs beautifully with milk. If you chase floral and fruity aromas instead, go for the low-bitterness FrontStreet Coffee Strawberry Sugar espresso blend: its shot carries full grape and blueberry notes with just the right sweet-tart balance, and mixed with fresh milk it makes a flat white that drinks like a strawberry milkshake - unforgettable.

Milk matters just as much. If the milk is too thin, the flat white will taste watery; if the milk flavor is too strong, it will smother the coffee's aromas. FrontStreet Coffee recommends cold fresh milk from the refrigerator: when steamed in an espresso machine, it brings out more milky sweetness and makes a perfect partner for the espresso. Steam it smooth and fine, keeping the aeration short - for a thin foam, no more than a second or two of air before you sink the steam wand in and build a whirlpool, finishing at around 50-55°C - so the first sip delivers that silky crema rather than a latte-thick cap of foam.

For the demo above, FrontStreet Coffee used its Premium Blend: to highlight the coffee's character, only the front-and-mid-section ristretto is taken as the base (20g of coffee extracting 32g of liquid over 22-25 seconds) before adding 160ml of fresh milk. The finished flat white is visibly silky, and because the temperature is just right you can take a big first sip - creamy hazelnut and white chocolate aromas, rich and mellow, without any heaviness even after finishing the whole cup.