![]() If poured properly the milk will be put in centrally so the coffee sits at the rim. Lately, sales of flat whites here have almost exceeded cafe latte sales." She explains: "The milk should be textured but not too foamy, hot but not too hot. The cafe's Olivia Grant says it's as much about "ratio" as method. Also essential is a 160 milliliter cup, she says. ![]() London's St Clements Cafe has seen flat white sales soar. There's no distinct layer between coffee and foam.īentley continues: "The microfoam needed for a flat white is produced by introducing the steam so it swirls the milk in the pitcher and getting the milk hot but not scalding, which is why people sometimes complain that speciality coffee is never hot enough. This temperature is also important as it's when the sugars begin to be released making the milk sweeter - again a reason why you shouldn't need sugar in your quality coffee as the coffee isn't bitter and the milk is sweeter." It uses free-poured milk so the foam is folded through the whole drink. The secret, says Bentley, is "microfoam," or the small, fine, velvety bubbles extracted from coffee pitchers by only knowledgeable hands. "The old style cappuccino you'd get from a chain cafe would overheat the milk and split it into very airy foam and hot milk at the bottom." "The milk needs to be steamed to increase the volume by about 25% - this must be done in a specific way to not split the milk and so the milk is a similar texture throughout, like that of paint." "The key is the milk steaming stage," Scott Bentley, who runs Caffeine Magazine, told Business Insider UK. And be warned, because it's not simply a cafe latte with slightly less milk, which to many is a statement that amounts to blasphemy.Īrtisan coffee shop and training school's Alessandro Bonuzzi agrees: "I still find that the consumer doesn't quite understand the distinction between a latte and flat white." There are plenty who order it, but don't really know what it is exactly. It started catching on in New York City, served at coffee houses like Culture Espresso on 38th Street and Little Collins in Midtown, according to the New York Post. But the concoction has remained hard to find in North America - until now.įor many, however, the flat white remains a specialist drink - a choice for the hipsters of independent cafes and pop-up bars manned by gurus of the caffeinated game. The flat white begun infiltrating the US market last year. Others followed, and the chain was soon outflanked by rival coffee shop Costa - doing wonders, says the Guardian, for the company's sales given the drink's popularity with coffee "aficionados." In the UK, the drink went mainstream in 2010, when Starbucks added it to the menu. It's a hotly debated subject.Īnyway, in wider Europe, Australia, and, New Zealand, it has been providing a more refined and delicate option for many others who want to enjoy coffee that has got a milky hit, without the excess that comes in a cappuccino or latte. It's roots lie way down in the Southern Hemisphere - some say it began in Australia, others believe New Zealand. For a long time, it has been as ubiquitous as sourdough bread and vintage cocktails on the cosmopolitan streets of London and Melbourne. The flat white is an espresso-based beverage prepared with steamed milk. There's a bit of a problem, though: Some Americans might be a bit puzzled about what a flat white actually is.ĭon't worry. Never mind that there are questions about how authentic it will be. A few artisan coffee shops in New York recently added them to their menus, but they remain a somewhat mysterious proposition to most.īut no longer because Starbucks, the biggest coffee chain in the world, has announced it is unleashing flat whites on US drinkers starting today. Getting a flat white stateside has proved an ordeal for some time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |