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Cappuccino Cup Capacity Size - What Size Cup for Specialty Coffee

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, Cappuccino Cup Capacity Size - What Size Cup for Specialty Coffee. Many people often struggle to correctly distinguish between coffee cups and tea cups when purchasing. Typically, tea cups have a shallower base and wider rim to allow the tea's aroma to diffuse and to facilitate appreciating the tea's color, with higher transparency as well, whereas coffee

Before making a Flat White coffee, FrontStreet Coffee will briefly introduce its definition and characteristics.

Flat White Coffee

Also known as Australian White Coffee, Little White Coffee, and Fu Rui White Coffee, it originated in Melbourne, Australia. In the 1980s, after Italians introduced espresso coffee to Australia, this milk coffee beverage was improved to suit local tastes. Because the thin milk foam is level with the cup surface, it was named Flat White.

Like latte and cappuccino, Flat White is also made only from espresso and fresh milk, making it a very popular espresso coffee beverage in recent years. Compared to the balanced taste of latte, Flat White focuses more on the rich aroma of coffee itself, emphasizing the coffee flavor in its preparation; while compared to cappuccino with its abundant milk foam, Flat White's foam layer is thin and delicate, with a smooth texture that makes it easier to taste the coffee liquid.

Where Does Flat White Come From?

Regarding the invention of Flat White, Australians and New Zealanders each hold their own views, insisting that this beverage originated from their country, and the preparation recipes for Flat White coffee made by baristas in both countries are also different. Although we cannot indeed trace which country Flat White comes from, what is certain is that this beverage stems from everyone's pursuit of higher-quality coffee.

Before the 1970s, Australian coffee shops used French presses, manual drip methods, and other ways to brew black coffee. In the early 1970s, Italians brought espresso machines to Australia, officially starting a new wave of coffee trends. Compared to traditional latte and cappuccino, Australians pursued milk beverages with thinner foam and stronger coffee flavor. Thus, milk coffee began to be continuously "improved" in regions like Australia and New Zealand. When the milk foam on milk coffee became flatter and flatter, until it became a thin layer, completely level with the cup rim, it was named Flat White. "Flat" means "level," and "White" refers to white coffee with milk added.

Starting in the 1980s, Australians wrote Flat White on fixed menus, and it soon spread to cafés in countries like Europe and America. Flat White became a popular hot product in China after Starbucks introduced it in 2015 and named it "Fu Rui White" as one of its signature beverages, which means this milk coffee has become mainstream.

Returning to the beverage itself, Flat White uses milk to highlight the coffee's flavor—coffee is the protagonist, and milk is just supplementary. Therefore, in terms of taste, the coffee flavor is more abundant and richer. Additionally, the thin upper foam layer allows every sip of concentrated coffee liquid to come with a velvety dense foam layer. The moderate temperature and smaller cup size allow it to be consumed quickly before the foam layers separate. Besides differences in cup size and milk foam thickness, some baristas replace the base with double Ristretto to better express the coffee beans' aroma, incorporating foam thickness equivalent to latte in a 150ml capacity cup.

Flat White Coffee Ratio Parameters

To present a richer coffee flavor, Flat White coffee needs to address three aspects: foam, milk ratio, and espresso base.

1. Foam

The "Flat" in Flat White means flat, which means a properly made Flat White must have foam as thin as the cup rim, without the foam layer bulging. Typically, latte coffee foam presents about 1cm of bulging, while Flat White coffee foam can only be about 0.5cm; otherwise, it's difficult to achieve a "flat" liquid surface. Regarding specific foam thickness, each coffee shop differs. Some baristas, to allow customers to taste the upper coffee oil to the greatest extent, directly don't foam the milk, just heat it and inject it into the espresso.

2. Espresso Base

The espresso base used in Flat White is not the common Espresso but the richer-tasting Ristretto. Australians believe the latter part of Espresso would "dilute" the coffee flavor, so they only take its early and middle parts, "restricting" the extraction of the latter part, hence called Ristretto. The early and middle parts of Espresso reduce the extraction amount of carbohydrate macromolecules, highlighting the coffee's acidity and roasted aroma more.

For example, FrontStreet Coffee uses 20 grams of coffee powder to extract 40 grams of coffee liquid as the base for Espresso, while Ristretto uses the same 20 grams of powder to extract 28-30 grams of coffee liquid, "discarding" the latter part of extraction.

3. Milk Ratio

Flat White coffee, which pursues a rich taste, adds a smaller proportion of milk to the espresso, with the specific amount of milk determined by the cup size served by the shop. Imagine if the same milk ratio as latte coffee were used, the overall taste would be more like coffee-flavored milk. For example, the ceramic cup used by FrontStreet Coffee for Flat White is 200ml, with two portions of Ristretto 30 grams as the base, requiring 170 grams of hot milk to present a richer, fuller coffee flavor.

Making a Flat White Coffee

Now that we understand the main characteristics of Flat White coffee, FrontStreet Coffee will make a Flat White following the shop's preparation process.

First, wipe the portafilter basket with a clean towel, turn on the grinder and grind 20 grams of coffee powder into the basket, then gently tap it level.

Use a distribution tool to level the powder layer, then use a tamper to evenly press it into a compact puck.

Turn on the extraction switch to release water, moistening the group head while washing away any stuck coffee grounds, then gently lock the portafilter onto the group head and begin the extraction. Pay attention to the weight and time of the extracted coffee liquid. When the electronic scale shows 28-30 grams of coffee liquid extracted in about 27-28 seconds, you can pull down the extraction switch. Pour the two portions of Ristretto into the preheated Flat White cup.

Pour 170ml of fresh milk into the milk pitcher. After frothing, the dense foam will be about 5mm thick. Gently shake the Ristretto base in the cup, then evenly and thoroughly mix the frothed hot milk.

The flavor presentation of Flat White coffee depends on the coffee beans used by each shop. The espresso coffee served at FrontStreet Coffee uses FrontStreet Coffee's own roasted "Frontsteet Sunflower Warm Sun Blend Coffee Beans." The extracted Espresso presents whiskey aroma, vanilla, cream, and berry acidity. When blended with milk, the Flat White coffee presents chocolate milk and whiskey-filled chocolate flavors, with a silky, mellow entrance and a very persistent aftertaste.