What is a flat white?

Everything you need to know about the coffee drinker’s favorite

TL;DR The flat white is a small specialty coffee, typically consisting of a double espresso mixed with a small amount of steamed whole milk with very little foam. It’s crisp, a little sweet, with a fantastically strong coffee taste to back it up.

What is it?

The flat white is, without a doubt, one of the best coffees out there. The perfect ratio of espresso to steamed milk has made it a fan favorite across the globe. Although relatively new to the world of cafes and espresso bars, the flat white has certainly cemented itself as a coffee house staple and is one of our most requested drinks in the Forest of Dean.

Similar in concept to the latte, a flat white consists of a double shot of espresso mixed with a small amount of steamed milk on top, typically producing around 8 fluid ounces or so of drink, usually presented in a much smaller cup than that of a latte or a cappuccino as well. The milk used should be thick, full of fat, and creamy to the taste, and foam, although present, shouldn’t be any thicker than a latte. It’s ideal for anyone who finds a latte too weak for their taste.

The Flat White is by far and away a much stronger coffee than that of a latte or a cappuccino, and that gives it a certain personality, as a lot more of that espresso taste will shine through in the beverage itself. 

As far as baristas are concerned, it’s an incredibly complex drink, not necessarily in its ingredients and construction, but to create beautiful latte art on top requires no small amount of skill, particularly for advanced patterns, as there’s far less room to work with in a flat white cup than that of a regular latte cup.

The Coffee

Similar to the other coffee shop staples out there, all good flat whites start with a double espresso. Without a doubt, this key ingredient really does shape what the flat white is going to taste like, particularly given how much less milk will be added in contrast to a cappuccino or a latte.

At Hips, working with our friends over at Studio Coffee Roasters, for our house espresso we use a special blend of Ethiopian and Brazilian coffee beans as the basis of our espresso. This is then roasted to a medium profile for use in-store and is typically aged anywhere between 14 and 21 days before use. We run with a medium roast as it allows the unique characteristics of both the South American and African coffee beans to really shine through. The darker the roast, the less unique flavors you’re likely to experience when it comes to your coffee, and the more bitter the overall taste.

Each double shot of espresso we pull uses 18 g of freshly ground coffee, correctly tamped and leveled, to produce around 36 g of espresso on the other end. Timing is everything for a proper espresso shot; in our case, our machine aims for a 3-second pre-infusion and a total 27-33 second pour. This gives us a perfectly balanced shot that’s neither too acidic nor too bitter, with plenty of body and sweetness to go along with it. If the shot runs too long, it’ll be too bitter; if it runs too quickly, it’ll be too acidic. To counter this, our expert baristas will continually dial in our coffee grinders throughout the day to maintain these numbers, as everything from temperature to humidity and even bean batch can affect the run-time of the espresso.

Alternatively, if you’re not quite as keen on that caffeine buzz but still want the coffee taste, you can opt for a decaf alternative instead. At Hips, we use Studio’s own Colombian Decaf beans, which produce a well-rounded and rich espresso.

The Milk

Regular flat white's typically feature whole milk as standard; they certainly do at Hips. Whole milk has just the right mixture of fats and protein to produce fantastically smooth and creamy steamed milk. With just a small modicum of air added to the milk during the steaming process, you’ll end up with latte-esque milk perfect for your flat white. What we're looking for in flat white milk is micro-foam to create a super smooth texture and taste. 

Once steamed, the milk is then added to the espresso before the barista finally pours the remaining micro-foam onto the flat white itself, creating the art or pattern. Whole milk actually consists of a number of chemical elements, some of which actively bind to the components in espresso that create that bitter taste in your mouth, effectively reducing that aspect of the espresso and giving you that much smoother beverage as a result.

At Hips, all of our drinks can be custom-tailored to your preference when it comes to milk. Whether you’re a fan of oat, coconut, skimmed, or whole, every good barista is more than capable of satisfying that milky, flat white itch in whatever way you prefer.

Custom Flat Whites

Like all of our drinks here at Hips, you can, of course, choose to alter the characteristics of your flat white; we can provide everything from syrup to different milk types and temperatures too. If you’re not quite feeling the double shot of espresso, you can ask for a single shot to take the edge off, or alternatively, go decaf.

Syrup, although less commonly chosen with flat whites, is also available, and the vanilla flat white can be a sweet treat every now and then, particularly in the colder months. Speaking of, iced flat whites are also a huge hit and a big favorite among the team. These flat whites, however, are made in reverse, with ice and milk being added into a small glass and then the espresso being added directly on top of the milk mixture, to try and keep the ice intact for as long as possible. It’s a unique beverage, but a fantastically refreshing drink in the summer months.

The Origin of the Flat White

The true source of the first flat white is actually quite the contentious subject. There are a number of theories and claims out there as to just how it came about. Both Australia and New Zealand claim ownership as the original creators of the flat white we know today, with the Ozzies suggesting that they were fed up with fancy Italian foamy coffees and just wanted a flat, white coffee. New Zealand, however, similarly has reports of it being a failed cappuccino first in Wellington or an invention of an adventurous barista up in Auckland in the 1970s and 80s instead. 

There’s even some sources that suggest that the flat white first came about in England in the 1950s, considerably before the antics of our Southern Hemisphere friends became well known. 

Whatever the case, the drink became increasingly popular in the early to mid-2000s, cementing itself in the UK as a staple in 2010, before finally breaking into the US as late as 2015, thanks to the work of Starbucks, among many others.