Australian Flat White Espresso

A flat white is espresso and steamed milk with a higher share of coffee than a latte and only a thin, glossy layer of microfoam on top. Made on a double ristretto, it tastes of dark cocoa and sweet milk in a small, velvety cup.

Origin & Story

Ask where the flat white comes from and Sydney and Wellington give different answers. Flat whites were being served in Sydney in the early 1980s, and Alan Preston put one on the menu at Moors Espresso Bar in 1985, saying he had brought the idea from far north Queensland. In January 1985 a Parliament House cafeteria in Canberra even hung a sign reading flat white only during a milk shortage. New Zealand has its own claims, from a bar in Wellington in 1989 and a café in Auckland. The argument has never been settled.

What is certain is how it differs from other milk coffees. A flat white has more espresso for its size than a latte and none of the thick foam of a cappuccino. The milk is textured into microfoam, a layer only about 5 millimeters thick, so fine that the surface looks glossy, like wet paint.

Size matters too. In Australia a flat white is often served in a cup of around 200 ml, and in New Zealand in a smaller 175 ml cup. A typical one holds about 50 ml of double espresso under 130 ml of steamed milk.

The drink went global in the 2000s and 2010s, and on 6 January 2015 Starbucks introduced the flat white in its American stores.

To make one, pull a double ristretto, 18 g of coffee into about 28 g, into a 165 ml cup. Steam around 135 ml of milk to 60 to 65°C, stretching it only briefly so it stays dense and smooth, and pour it in a steady stream so the microfoam spreads across the top.

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