Is Piccolo Coffee Just a Small Latte? Flavor Differences Between Piccolo Coffee and Flat White

A few days ago, a regular customer came to the store for a casual chat. During our conversation, he shared, "I saw an interesting coffee name on the menu at XX Coffee called 'Piccolo'."

"Did you try it?"

"I ordered it, and it's a quite exquisite milk coffee. The taste is quite good, somewhat like a latte, but also somewhat like a Flat White! However, the portion was too small."

"That's right. Piccolo is just its nickname, its actual name is small latte."

Is Piccolo coffee just a small latte? Piccolo coffee is very famous in Australia, with its reputation no less prominent than Flat White. As for why this coffee is called "Piccolo," it actually relates to translation.

The foreign name for Piccolo coffee is "Piccolo Latte," named by Australian baristas using Italian. "Piccolo" means "small" in Italian. Therefore, the actual name of this coffee is "small latte," but since Australia is an English-speaking region, the literal English translation naturally became "Piccolo (latte) coffee."

And whether from the name or from the taste and structure of the beverage, Piccolo coffee is indeed a small latte coffee, more precisely, 1/2 cup of a regular latte.

The Origin of Piccolo Coffee

The emergence of Piccolo coffee was not for the consumer market. Piccolo coffee (small latte) was originally used by roasters or baristas to test coffee beans or extraction parameters. Coffee testing generally includes espresso itself (or Americano) and milk coffee (mainly latte). Since it's only for testing flavor expression, making a latte according to standard specifications would be somewhat wasteful and time-consuming.

So they used a split portafilter to divide a shot of espresso into two portions, one for direct tasting, and the other made into a small latte according to proportion for tasting.

Sometimes, coffee shop owners would also use this method to make small lattes for their regular customers to taste new coffee beans. Over time, small lattes (Piccolo coffee) began to be used for service. Its advantage lies in being able to taste a latte coffee for less money, without worrying about the fullness brought by large cups, fitting the coffee culture of quick consumption.

The Technical Challenge of Piccolo Coffee

Piccolo coffee is not just as simple as a small latte. It's precisely because it's no different from a latte except for the small cup size that Piccolo coffee is relatively rare in China. However, making a small latte suitable for service is definitely more difficult than making a regular latte.

Traditional Piccolo latte coffee uses a 3-ounce (90ml) glass cup, made with a single shot of espresso (20g or 30ml) combined with 60ml of steamed milk. The first difficulty lies in frothing 60ml of milk into milk foam, which greatly tests the barista's milk frothing technique. Some baristas who feel their skills are insufficient will choose to add more milk to reduce the difficulty, but this approach wastes more materials.

Next is the fusion and latte art. Because the cup size is really too small, achieving uniform fusion and latte art同样greatly tests the barista's skill level.

After being introduced to the market, some coffee shops have given Piccolo coffee more distinctive characteristics. For example, in the base, some coffee shops will use Ristretto, making the resulting Piccolo coffee fuller and more fragrant than a latte.

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