What's the Difference Between Flat White and Piccolo? How to Make a Mini Latte? What Does Piccolo Latte Mean?

The Piccolo Latte, like the Flat White, is an espresso-based milk coffee invented in Australia. However, unlike the immensely popular Flat White today, the Piccolo Latte has largely faded into obscurity. If we look at the menus of surrounding coffee shops, we'll find that hardly any of them offer a Piccolo Latte, including FrontStreet Coffee.

Most people learn about the Piccolo Latte through online introductions to niche coffee beverages. In almost every collection of obscure coffee drinks, the Piccolo Latte is invariably included. Therefore, it's not an exaggeration to call it a "popular contender" among lesser-known coffee drinks. This brings us to the question: "Since both were invented in Australia, why has the Piccolo Latte remained so unpopular?"

Regarding this point, many coffee enthusiasts online believe the reason for its obscurity lies in its original purpose – it wasn't initially created for commercial sales.

Unlike the Flat White, the Piccolo Latte's origins aren't contested by any country, as it truly is a milk coffee with pure "Australian heritage" invented in Australia. The most widely accepted story of the Piccolo Latte's birth suggests it was created to reduce material waste during machine calibration. Some might not understand what this means, so FrontStreet Coffee will briefly explain below. As we all know, coffee shops need to perform morning calibration before daily operations. The calibration targets espresso coffee, with the goal of maintaining consistent output and ensuring that constantly changing coffee beans can extract the same delicious flavor. The calibration process mainly consists of two parts. First, the espresso itself. Since espresso serves as the base for all espresso-based drinks, its extraction rate and flavor are the most critical elements to ensure.

Next comes the latte, as lattes have consistently been the most popular espresso-based item in most coffee shops, both historically and currently. The calibration mainly ensures that the current espresso flavor won't be masked by large amounts of milk (while also testing if the diluted espresso shows any negative characteristics). If it does, the espresso extraction needs to be readjusted. Under normal circumstances, to prevent excessive tasting during calibration, baristas don't drink the entire coffee – they just take a small sip and discard the rest, otherwise they'd easily consume too much caffeine. However, Australian baristas considered this wasteful. So they came up with the idea of using a split portafilter, dividing the extracted espresso into two portions. One portion is used to taste the espresso directly, and once the flavor is confirmed to be appropriate, the other portion is used to make a small latte for tasting. This not only saves material costs but also saves considerable time.

Later on, Australian baristas began selling these small lattes made using this method as a separate menu item. Since both the cup size and materials used were half those of a regular latte, they named it: Piccolo Latte. "Piccolo" means "small" or "mini" in Italian, so the translation could be either "small latte" or "mini latte." However, most people prefer to call it a Piccolo.

Clearly, this isn't the main reason for the Piccolo's obscurity. In fact, the Piccolo is mainly unpopular only in China; abroad (especially in Australia), it remains quite popular. Because the Piccolo has a small cup size and doesn't fill you up too much, it aligns well with the foreign "quick and efficient" coffee culture. Additionally, its price is significantly lower than other milk coffees, allowing locals to enjoy a delicious milk coffee for less money. Therefore, this milk coffee that's friendly to both the stomach and wallet naturally became a "hot item" in foreign coffee shops. This is also the fundamental reason why the Piccolo moved from behind the scenes to center stage! When Australian baristas calibrate new beans, they use this method to share and taste with regular customers, similar to how FrontStreet Coffee often hosts pour-over coffee sharing sessions. Over time, this mini latte found its way onto coffee shop menus.

Why Isn't the Piccolo Popular in China?

Beyond differences in food culture, the fundamental reason the Piccolo hasn't gained popularity in China lies primarily in its preparation. The traditional Piccolo is made using a single shot of espresso – by today's standards, approximately 20ml of espresso, combined with about four times that amount of steamed milk (with thin foam), resulting in a cup size of around 100ml.

Since single-shot filter baskets have been phased out over time, everyone now uses double-shot filter baskets to extract espresso. Without a high volume of customers, if a business chooses the traditional Piccolo preparation method, it means one of the split espresso portions will have "nowhere to go." It either gets discarded or consumed by the staff. Moreover, due to the small cup size and minimal milk usage, baristas need to increase the milk amount when frothing for a Piccolo to reach the standard frothing consistency. This results in leftover milk in the pitcher after preparation. Like the extra espresso, this milk is either discarded or consumed by the staff.

These preparation costs inevitably get passed on to the customer, which is why despite the Piccolo's cup size and materials being only half those of a latte, its selling price is nearly the same as a latte. From this perspective alone, serving a Piccolo isn't beneficial for either the business or the customer. Some businesses might try a different approach: since splitting the espresso creates waste, why not extract a Ristretto instead and use the short-pull espresso to make the Piccolo? This could also accommodate the preparation of Flat Whites, essentially achieving two goals with one method.

However, this approach has its drawbacks – it requires an additional grinder and a separate extraction recipe specifically for the Ristretto. Obviously, this is neither feasible nor necessary for most coffee shops, which is why most Flat Whites today are still made using traditional espresso. This works for Flat Whites, but not for Piccolos. The Piccolo is a small milk coffee, and if using a full espresso shot, it means less milk while maintaining the same cup size, resulting in very high coffee concentration. For most people, this coffee concentration is difficult to accept. If the milk amount increases along with the coffee, then it essentially becomes a regular latte or Flat White. Considering these two points, we can understand why the Piccolo rarely appears on Chinese coffee shop menus.

The Modern Comeback: Coffee Combos

Although the Piccolo rarely appears on its own, it can make a "group debut"! In recent years, the popular "Coffee 101" Combo is a format that splits espresso to create different coffee combinations for serving. The small latte made in this context is essentially a Piccolo. Therefore, many people may have never deliberately ordered a Piccolo, but have actually already enjoyed this mini latte coffee without realizing it. (Final note: FrontStreet Coffee doesn't serve Piccolos! Nor do we serve combos!)

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