How many centimeters should the foam be for a Flat White? Should you latte art a Flat White?

Do you have the habit of letting your phone "eat first"? When we order a hot latte at a coffee shop, do we ever wonder what pattern the barista will bring - a heart, maple leaf, swan, or unicorn? This anticipation, similar to opening a blind box, has become one reason why some people fall in love with milk coffee.

However, FrontStreet Coffee has noticed that some coffee shops don't create latte art when serving Flat Whites, which breaks the beautiful fantasy of those preparing to take photos.

The Origin of Flat White

The origin of Flat White is a controversial topic, with both Australia and New Zealand claiming to be the inventors, leading to numerous debates. What's certain is that since the 1980s, Flat White quickly appeared on coffee shop menus across the United States, becoming popular worldwide as a "latecomer."

After World War II, Italian immigrants brought espresso machines to Australia and other places. Coffee shops specializing in freshly ground espresso gradually appeared in immigrant communities. Local young people quickly became fascinated after trying it. At that time, cappuccino foam would overflow the cup by two to three centimeters. Since consumers weren't used to the thick foam of cappuccinos, they wanted thinner, flatter foam with a stronger coffee flavor. Through continuous "slimming down," the foam thickness successfully became flat and thin, with the cup level even with the rim, giving us what we know today as "Flat White."

Different Definitions of Flat White

The reason why some coffee shops create latte art for Flat Whites while others don't is due to different understandings of Flat White among different countries and even different baristas. Let's look back at the original intention and characteristics of Flat White: to get a milk coffee with less heavy foam, smooth texture, and rich coffee aroma, achieving a perfect combination of foam and milk coffee. This requires the foam to be dense and relatively thin to perfectly blend with the milk coffee below, allowing every sip to taste both foam and rich coffee, and to be consumed quickly before the foam layers separate.

In New Zealand, baristas use a coffee cup one size smaller than latte (around 150ml) to serve Flat White, and consistently use double espresso as the base. This preparation method reduces the amount of milk, increases the proportion of coffee, and naturally makes the coffee flavor richer.

However, in Australia, baristas believe it's sufficient to maintain thinner foam than latte. When serving Flat Whites, they use the same cup capacity as latte, emphasizing more on the difference in foam thickness. Therefore, with the ratio of espresso to milk determined, there's more experimentation with different beans and different milk combinations.

Especially in Melbourne, where over 90% of coffee shops are independent, some coffee shops even replace the base with double Ristretto to better express the aroma of coffee beans in Flat White and stand out in the competitive market. They blend foam equivalent to latte thickness in a 150ml coffee cup. Ristretto refers to extracting less coffee liquid with the same amount of coffee grounds - simply understood as a concentrated version of espresso. Because it extracts more of the front and middle sections, the flavor is richer, but it requires higher quality coffee beans.

At the same time, most coffee shops prepare different types of milk, from whole milk, skim milk, semi-skimmed milk, to soy milk, almond milk, and oat milk, resulting in Flat Whites with completely different tastes.

Therefore, each coffee shop, based on their preferences and skills, combined with the characteristics of their selected coffee beans, different milk pairings, and understanding of Flat White, presents a unique Flat White style. FrontStreet Coffee's Flat White uses Warm Sun Blend espresso beans, adopts double Ristretto, and is prepared with whole fresh milk in approximately 200ml cups.

Should Flat White Have Latte Art?

At this point, everyone should understand that dense and relatively thin foam is one of the main reference factors for distinguishing Flat White from other milk coffees. Thin foam allows better tasting of the coffee liquid, emphasizing a smooth "velvet" texture. As long as the foam can be made thin and perfectly blended with coffee, that's sufficient. Therefore, there wasn't a fixed numerical standard in the early days.

As this drink gradually became popular, to better distinguish it from regular hot lattes and cappuccinos, the thin foam thickness of Flat White was defined between 0.3cm to 0.5cm. The thinner the foam, the easier it sinks during integration. Without enough foam to support the liquid surface, it's easy to cause turbulence when creating latte art patterns, with white foam floating everywhere making drawing difficult. This is why some baristas choose not to create latte art. Of course, for confident and highly skilled baristas, it's another matter - as long as they can handle it, even with thinner foam, they can create exquisite patterns.

When we drink Flat White at a coffee shop, we might as well have a brief conversation with the barista to understand their interpretation of Flat White and the characteristics they want to showcase with their coffee. After all, regardless of the preparation method used, the ultimate goal is to get a delicious and enjoyable "Flat White" coffee.

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FrontStreet Coffee
No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

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