What Does Flat White Taste Like? Flavor Profile and Characteristics - Differences Between Flat White and Australian White Coffee

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What is Flat White Coffee?

There are many types of coffee, and many people love to drink it. What exactly is a Flat White? And what's the difference between a Flat White and a latte? In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will discuss this globally popular Italian milk coffee with everyone.

Flat White, also known as Australian White Coffee, Little White Coffee, or Australian White Coffee, is a type of Italian milk coffee beverage. It consists of espresso, hot milk, and a thin layer of delicate milk foam.

The coffee flavor of a Flat White is stronger with a slightly sweet aftertaste, and the foam feels smoother with a white dot on top. Compared to the regular espresso used in lattes, cappuccinos, or mochas, it uses ristretto. Ristretto uses the same amount of coffee grounds but extracts less (3/4) of the espresso liquid, resulting in a more refined taste.

When FrontStreet Coffee makes ristretto espresso, they typically use medium-dark roast Italian blend coffee beans. Compared to single-origin coffee beans, blend coffee beans can extract more consistently flavored espresso under pressurized extraction conditions.

How to Make Ristretto Espresso?

Ristretto is a beverage with a shorter extraction time and less coffee liquid than regular espresso. The parameters and process are basically the same as espresso, but ristretto is obtained by reducing the ratio and extraction time.

Making ristretto espresso is very simple; you just need to adjust the time of the Italian espresso. For example, FrontStreet Coffee, after daily adjustments to espresso parameters, uses 19.5 grams of coffee grounds to extract 30g of coffee liquid under 9-10 bar pressure within 28 seconds for this ristretto.

How to Make Flat White Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee stores typically use "FrontStreet Coffee - Sunflower Warm Sunshine Italian Blend Coffee Beans" to extract ristretto espresso. This coffee bean is blended with 70% Honduras Sherry coffee beans + 30% Ethiopia natural Yirgacheffe Red Cherry coffee beans, featuring rich fermented wine aroma, vanilla cream, roasted nuts, and caramel-like flavors.

After espresso extraction is complete, FrontStreet Coffee pours it into a 100ml cup and sets it aside. Then they heat milk and gently aerate the milk surface to create about 0.5cm of milk foam. If you want a stronger coffee flavor, you can slowly pour the frothed milk into the center to maintain the integrity of the espresso crema; if you want to taste the sweetness of the milk, you can mix the milk and espresso thoroughly and evenly.

Flavor Characteristics of Flat White Coffee

Due to the use of a more concentrated coffee extraction method (ristretto) and less milk, Flat White Coffee primarily emphasizes a rich coffee flavor. The milk blended into the coffee also neutralizes the bitter notes to some extent while retaining more of the coffee taste.

Where Did Flat White Coffee Originate?

During World War II, Italians brought espresso to Australia. Due to Australia's abundant milk production, many Italian milk coffee products emerged after improvements and inventions by local cafes.

There has always been controversy about whether Flat White originated in Australia or New Zealand, but in any case, it comes from the Australian region. Later, it appeared on cafe menus in the United States, Britain, and other places, gradually becoming a standard item in major cafes.

In China, the rise of Flat White Coffee was mainly due to Starbucks launching their Flat White Coffee, which is essentially Starbucks' version of Flat White Coffee. This is how Flat White Coffee became well-known to people.

Important Notice :

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