Flat White vs Latte
A flat white coffee isn’t just a small latte. They’re very different drinks. If you get caught in a cafe that doesn’t serve a flat white, then a small latte might be a passable substitute, but they’re still not the same drink. The flat white vs latte debate is common in the UK and USA where the Flat White is still new.
I drink flat whites and my partner drinks lattes so we’ve seen the differences between the two drinks across cafes in the UK, USA, New Zealand, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Denmark. I’ve had a lot of discussions with baristas and I thought it was time to shine some light on the common debate about exactly “what is a flat white?”
How can a a flat white, small latte and a small cappuccino all use the same espresso of coffee and be served in the same cup but still be different drinks?
Espresso shot: How much coffee is there in your coffee?
We can hold the preparation of the espresso as a constant across drinks. You can have a double shot or a single shot in a flat white or in a latte. Some people would say that a single shot flat white isn’t really a flat white, but that’s a bit too purist and there are plenty of cafes in New Zealand and Australia that do serve singles. Likewise, some high-end baristas will make the espresso shot differently for the different drinks (such as a ristretto shot for a Flat White). But on average, the coffee is not really what makes a Flat White different to a latte or cappuccino.
Cup: It’s not the size of the cup, it’s what you do with it
In most cafes, a flat white is smaller than a latte. But that still doesn’t mean that a flat white is just a small latte. It’s a bit like saying that a garden shed is just a smaller house. Sure, most sheds are smaller than most houses, but size isn’t the decisive factor. If a barista has been un-trained (or over-trained) then they may think that size is the only difference between a flat white and a latte. I like asking those baristas what the difference is between a cappuccino vs a latte because they have to fall back on the real differences (beyond just size).
Milk: The forgotten ingredient
If we hold the espresso as a constant, then what makes a flat white different to a latte is the way the milk is prepared and poured. Milk is the hidden ingredient in a modern coffee. Most people forget how important good milk is to a good coffee. When milk is frothed with a steam wand there are three layers that form:
- Heated liquid milk at the bottom of the pitcher
- Velvet microfoam in the middle of the pitcher (these are very small bubbles)
- Stiff froth (these are larger bubbles)
The important process of “stretching” the milk by frothing, folding and swirling it is done to maximise the amount of velvet microfoam by blending the large bubbles and the liquid milk. Without swirling and tapping there would still have some microfoam, but you’d never know it in the cup because it would be lost in the liquid and/or the froth.
According to the Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee, the secret to frothing milk is keeping the steam wand just at the surface of the milk (that pleasing noise you hear in busy cafes). Good baristas learn to froth milk by noticing what works and what doesn’t.
The main differences between drinks (and between baristas) arise when the steaming is finished and it’s time to pour the drink. A good barista will swirl the steamed milk around to fold the froth back into the liquid and create a seamless pitcher of velvet microfoam. Some might tap the pitcher on the counter to pop the worst of the big bubbles on top (as part of folding the milk). But this is unnecessary if you’re swirling the milk smoothly enough.
Creme: A good test of a flat white
Creme is the orange cremelised coffee that floats to the top of an espresso shot. It tastes sweeter than the dark coffee part and adds mouth-feel, but it’s very vulnerable and can be destroyed by sitting too long or being drowned in milk. A cappuccino sacrifices the crema under the weight of the stiff froth and a latte usually drowns the crema with liquid milk. One of the main ways of telling if you have been served a good flat white is how much of the milk has merged seamlessly with the crema to form an even dusky orange swirl. This coloration of the milk is also the starting point of good latte art.
Summary: How to make sure your flat white is not just a latte
An excellent barista can “free pour” straight from the pitcher using the speed of the pour and the tilt of the jug to choose how much froth, foam or liquid milk to pour into any given drink. A mid-level barista is more likely to do it like this:
- Flat white: Free pour for a velvet microfoam mix of froth and liquid.
- Cappuccino: spoon the stiff froth into the cup and then top up with a pour from the jug.
- Latte: Pour the liquid milk from the jug with a spoon to hold back the froth and then top off with a dollop of froth.
Like any human endeavour, there is a bell curve to the skills of baristas. The most ignorant of baristas will make a flat white, latte or a cappuccino all the same. After all, they’re just a “milky coffee”. Ironically, some very high end baristas have the same attitude because they take so much care with frothing, folding and pouring their milk that every coffee is made like a perfect flat white with an even mix of liquid, microfoam and froth.
The net effect of this variety of approaches to the milk is that the drinks will feel different in the mouth and may taste different because of the dilution of the coffee with liquid. In terms of mood and mouthfeel:
- Flat White has an even mix of liquid milk and smooth velvet foam so it feels like drinking an espresso, only yummier.
- Cappuccino has stiff foam and feels like drinking bubbles with a bed of coffee hidden at the bottom.
- Latte is milky, has a little foam on the top and feels like drinking a milky coffee.
The best way to really test out the difference between a flat white and a latte is to be to go to a few small independent cafes and order both a flat white and a latte.
The goal when ordering a coffee isn’t really to express a fixed reality, it’s to try and express your tastes and preferences to the barista. Forget worrying about the technical name of your drink and just order based on a general idea what you think you’d enjoy the most: a frothy treat (cappuccino), a milky warm sensation (latte) or a short, sharp, shot that goes down easy (flat white).
Coffee drinking tied to lower risk of suicide
Drinking several cups of coffee daily appears to reduce the risk of suicide in men and women by about 50 percent, according to a new study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). The study was published online July 2 in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry.
“Unlike previous investigations, we were able to assess association of consumption of caffeinated and non-caffeinated beverages, and we identify caffeine as the most likely candidate of any putative protective effect of coffee,” said lead researcher Michel Lucas, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at HSPH.
The authors reviewed data from three large U.S. studies and found that the risk of suicide for adults who drank two to four cups of caffeinated coffee per day was about half that of those who drank decaffeinated coffee or very little or no coffee.
Caffeine not only stimulates the central nervous system but may act as a mild antidepressant by boosting production of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, including serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline. This could explain the lower risk of depression among coffee drinkers that had been found in past epidemiological studies, the researchers reported.
In the new study, researchers examined data on 43,599 men enrolled in theHealth Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) (1988–2008), 73,820 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS) (1992–2008), and 91,005 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII) (1993–2007). Caffeine, coffee, and decaffeinated coffee intake was assessed every four years by questionnaires. Caffeine consumption was calculated from coffee and other sources, including tea, caffeinated soft drinks, and chocolate. However, coffee was the major caffeine source — 80 percent for NHS, 71 percent for NHS II, and 79 percent for HPFS. Among the participants in the three studies, there were 277 deaths from suicide.
In spite of the findings, the authors do not recommend that depressed adults increase caffeine consumption, because most individuals adjust their caffeine intake to an optimal level for them and an increase could result in unpleasant side effects. “Overall, our results suggest that there is little further benefit for consumption above two to three cups/day or 400 mg of caffeine/day,” the authors wrote.
The researchers did not observe any major difference in risk between those who drank two to three cups of coffee per day and those who had four or more cups a day, most likely due to the small number of suicide cases in these categories. However, in a previous HSPH coffee-depression study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the investigators observed a maximal effect among those who drank four or more cups per day. One large Finnish study showed a higher risk of suicide among people drinking eight or nine cups per day. Few participants in the two HSPH studies drank such large amounts of coffee, so the studies did not address the impact of six or more cups of coffee per day.
Other HSPH researchers participating in the study included senior authorAlberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition; Walter Willett, chair, Department of Nutrition and Fredrick John Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition; and research associates Eilis O’Reilly and An Pan. Pan now works at the National University of Singapore.
Why is Chocolate Flavored Coffee Called Mocha?
When you order a mocha at a coffee house, you are asking for an espresso combined with steamed milk and chocolate. This is sometimes called a chocolate mocha, or a Café mocha. White chocolate mocha's are also possible.
What is Mocha Flavor?
Generally, the term mocha refers to any coffee with chocolate flavoring, including a simple mix of hot chocolate and coffee. What does the term mocha have to do with chocolate and coffee mixed together?
Origin of the Term Mocha
The fact is that the word mocha did not originally have have anything to do with chocolate or a combination of chocolate and coffee. The term actually originated as early as 1773 and referred to a variety of coffee. In the late 1700's, one variety of coffee beans became extremely popular in Europe, and these are still among the best type of beans that nature has to offer: Mochas. The Mocha coffee beans were named for the port of Mocha (Al Mokha) in Yemeni (or Yemen), where the beans were shipped from. This makes mocha, perhaps, and inaccurate name of the coffees, as it would be less confusing, and more accurate, to called them Yemen coffee beans. These beans were the now commonly referenced Arabica beans.
The original port of Mocha, today, sadly bears no resemblance to the historical site, and it mostly an uninviting ruin, long unused and replaced by the Suez canal.
It was the Ottoman Turks, who began occupying Yemen in 1536, who originally began exporting the beans through the port of Mocha, which involved a complicated trade route to Suez and then by camel to Alexandria, and then onward by French or Venetian merchants. There is, of course, a lot more to the story than this, which you can read about in [ Uncommon Grounds: The History of coffee and How it Transformed Our World]. Although the Turks tried their best to keep those Arabica beans from being planted elsewhere, the eventually began to be cultivated in various other parts. Africa, by the way, is the true birth-place of coffee.
Café mocha with whipped cream1
True Mocha (or Yemen) beans are grown in the central mountains of Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula. They are rare and quite expensive. One thing to remember about coffee is that the characteristics of any official variety of coffee have everything to do with the conditions of the specific locations in which they are grown, especially the composition of the soil. So, while there are coffees that have similar fruity and winey flavor characteristics to mocha coffee, the only true mocha comes from Yemen. It is also spelled Moka, Moca, or Mocca. There was a time when the word mocha was almost synonymous with coffee, and the term appeared often on everything to do with coffee, even if having nothing to do with Yemen coffee at all. This is much like the words coffee and café themselves, which derive from the Ethiopian Kingdom of Kaffa, often seen as the the birthplace of the coffee bean inside Ethiopia.
Some similar coffees come from Ethiopia. One is from the Harrar region of Ethiopia, which is considered to have a Mocha taste, or part of the mocha flavor family. Sometimes, the term Mocha Harrar is used for this coffee. Another Ethiopian coffee that is considered similar to mocha is Djimmah Mocha.
How Did Mocha Start Being Used to Mean Coffee and Chocolate?
It is difficult to know exactly how the term mocha came to be used for coffee and chocolate, but it is often said that the beans had a distinct chocolate taste. Certainly, the marriage of coffee and chocolate is nothing new. As chocolate was introduced to Europe, it did not take long for people to figure out this was a match made in heaven. In 16th century Venice and Turin, where some of the earliest coffee houses were opened, chocolate was mixed with coffee and called bavareisa. Also, in Italy, bicerin was served, which was a little clear glass of espresso and chocolate, served with visible layers. The modern Café mocha grew out of the ubiquitous Café latte, when a shot of chocolate syrup, or powder, was added. Legend has it that the original Mocha beans had distinct chocolatey flavor characteristics, as mentioned above, and so is the origin of this name for the modern beverage.
However, although the café latte (and cappuccino) clearly came from Italian coffee traditions, and really just means coffee and milk, being similar to the French café au lait, the terms mocha latte and café mocha do not have such concrete origins, and it is unclear that they are connected with Italy, although, of course, there were coffee and chocolate drinks served there, and what we know as the mocha was probably inspired by the bicerin or similar traditions. But the term itself may well have been of American origin, and it seems to denote the commercial and institutionalized beverage. Many sources call it an "American invented" drink, but since, at it's most basic, it is simply coffee with milk and chocolate, which Americans certainly hold no patent on, it is silly to claim we invented the practice. It does seem that the name was invented in America, however.
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