How to Make Flat White Coffee and What's the Taste Difference Between Flat White and Latte

Friends who often drink milk coffee at Luckin must have heard of "Flat White," a milk coffee beverage that has captured the hearts of many coffee enthusiasts with its rich, sweet flavor and texture. Although this drink is not listed on FrontStreet Coffee's menu, the baristas at FrontStreet Coffee will still prepare it when customers request it.

How to Make Flat White Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee prepares Flat White by first preparing a 200ml ceramic cup and preheating it to slow down the temperature drop of the coffee.

Next, grind 20 grams of coffee powder to extract 27 grams of coffee liquid within 20-25 seconds, taking only the front and middle sections of the Espresso, which is Ristretto (concentrated espresso). Then pour the double Ristretto into the pre-prepared approximately 200ml capacity cup.

FrontStreet Coffee's Flat White coffee to milk ratio is 1:5, meaning approximately 150ml of fresh milk. Choose a milk pitcher you like for frothing. Since the foam layer needs to be thinner and denser, the milk should be frothed with less air than a latte, with temperature best controlled between 55-60 degrees Celsius for better drinkability. Finally, pour the frothed milk evenly into the coffee liquid - latte art is optional.

FrontStreet Coffee uses its own roasted "Sunflower Warm Sun Blend," which consists of 70% Honduras Sherry coffee and 30% Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry coffee. The sherry's whiskey, vanilla, and cream flavors complement the tropical fruit and fermentation notes of the red cherry.

When paired with milk, the Flat White presents notes of vanilla cream, chocolate milk, whiskey aroma, and berry sweetness and tartness. It's smooth and mellow in the mouth with a very long-lasting aftertaste. Compared to many coffee shops that use dark roast beans with predominantly bitter flavors, FrontStreet Coffee's Warm Sun coffee has a smoother texture and richer aroma, thus winning the affection of many customers.

What's the Difference in Taste Between Flat White and Latte?

After seeing FrontStreet Coffee's steps for making Flat White, some might think this resembles a small-sized latte. Here, FrontStreet Coffee will compare the differences between Flat White and Latte.

Typically, latte coffee has a foam thickness of about 0.5cm, presenting a slightly domed full-cup effect after frothing and combining with coffee for latte art. Flat White, however, has the thinnest foam, which must be controlled within 0.3cm; otherwise, it's difficult to achieve the "flat" liquid surface. Regarding specific foam thickness, each coffee shop has its own approach. Some baristas, to allow customers to maximize their tasting of the upper coffee crema, might not froth the milk at all, simply heating it and pouring it into the espresso. At FrontStreet Coffee, we want customers to experience a Flat White that's creamy smooth without being too "watery," so we maintain a 0.3cm foam layer.

When making latte coffee, coffee shops have their own coffee to milk ratios. Flat White typically determines the amount of milk based on the cup size. To present a richer coffee flavor, New Zealand baristas serve Flat White in small 150-180ml cups. With the same amount of coffee but reduced milk quantity, the coffee proportion increases, naturally making the coffee flavor more intense.

Additionally, with the arrival of the specialty coffee era, people have begun to apply more and more single-origin coffees to espresso extraction - what we commonly hear as SOE (Single Origin Espresso). Compared to large-sized lattes and cappuccinos with thick foam, Flat White is better suited to express the terroir flavors of the coffee beans themselves. In Melbourne coffee shops, baristas replace the espresso base with double Ristretto, incorporating foam of similar thickness to latte in a 150ml cup. FrontStreet Coffee, based on its own Warm Sun espresso beans, also replaces the base with double Ristretto.

Is Flat White Better Cold or Hot?

When ordering latte coffee, we can choose to make it iced or hot, but Flat White is only served hot.

This is because baristas hope that when drinking Flat White, every sip allows you to experience the perfect combination of foam and the milk coffee beneath. Only when the foam is very dense, relatively thin, and at a suitable drinking temperature can you taste both the foam and rich coffee liquid in every sip, and finish it quickly before the foam layers separate. After adding ice, the cooled milk coffee will be somewhat diluted and cannot achieve the above effect.

If you're seeking an iced, rich milk coffee experience, FrontStreet Coffee suggests trying the increasingly popular "Dirty" coffee in recent years. Pour extracted espresso over chilled fresh milk, creating a "dirty" visual effect, with a rich mouthfeel that alternates between cold and hot. Without the dilution from ice cubes, the small cup size allows us to experience very full coffee aroma.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473