Flat White
The flat white came out of Australia and New Zealand in the 1980s, and both countries still argue about which one invented it. Unlike the cappuccino, it has no official definition — the Specialty Coffee Association does not publish one — but the working consensus is consistent: a small, strong milk drink with no distinct foam layer.
What you need
- A double shot of espresso — 18 g of coffee in, 36 g in the cup — or a double ristretto for a sweeter, denser version
- 100–130 ml of cold full-fat milk
- A 150–180 ml cup
How to make it
- Warm the cup and pull the double shot.
- Steam the milk with the minimum air you can manage — a brief hiss, no more — then spin it until it looks like wet paint.
- Pour close to the surface from the start, so the microfoam goes in with the milk rather than sitting on top of it.
The ratio
Roughly 1:2 to 1:3 espresso to milk. That puts it between a cortado at 1:1 and a latte at 1:4 or 1:5. Same coffee as a latte, less milk, so the coffee comes forward.
The distinguishing feature is texture, not size. A flat white has no separate foam layer at all — the milk is uniformly velvety from top to bottom, which is where the flat in the name comes from.
Many cafés use a ristretto double, pulled short at about 1:1.5 rather than 1:2. It is sweeter and less bitter, which suits the smaller milk volume.
Dose and yield, so the numbers below are unambiguous
Throughout these recipes, a double shot means 18 g of ground coffee going IN and about 36 g of liquid espresso coming OUT, in 25–30 seconds. That 1:2 ratio by weight is the modern specialty standard, and 18 g is the usual dose for a 58 mm double basket; anywhere from 17 to 20 g in is normal depending on your basket.
The two numbers are different things and it matters: the grams of coffee you grind are not the grams of espresso in the cup. Weigh both if you can.
The traditional Italian figures are smaller. The Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano certifies a SINGLE at 7 g ± 0.5 of coffee producing 25 ml ± 2.5 in the cup, in 25 seconds ± 5, at 9 bar and 88°C — so a traditional doppio is around 14 g in rather than 18. Both are correct; they are different traditions, and the modern one is what most specialty cafés and home machines are built around.
Steaming milk, briefly
Whatever the drink, the milk is half the work. Start with cold full-fat milk, keep the steam wand just under the surface until the jug is blood-warm to stretch in air, then submerge it to spin the milk smooth. Stop at 60–65°C. Past about 70°C the lactose stops tasting sweet and starts tasting scalded, and no amount of latte art will get that back.
Flat white or cortado?
A cortado is equal parts, usually served in a small glass, and is a Spanish drink. A flat white carries a little more milk and is served in a ceramic cup. In practice the two overlap, and plenty of cafés serve one under the other's name.
No espresso machine?
A moka pot or an AeroPress will stand in. Use 60–70 ml of strong moka pot coffee, or an AeroPress brewed short at about 1:5, wherever the recipe says a double shot. It will not be espresso, but it is concentrated enough to hold its own against milk.
Which coffee to use
Anything on our shelf works, but milk drinks reward a coffee with body and sweetness over one built for delicate florals — the milk will bury the top notes either way. Check the tasting notes and the process on each product page; a natural or a honey-processed lot usually cuts through milk better than a light washed one.