Flat White: Recipe, Differences, and Origin

The Flat White is the milk drink for anyone who actually wants coffee. A double espresso, a little milk, barely any foam – and an origin that three countries are still arguing over. Here’s what is documented and what is merely claimed.

First things first: if you’d rather drink a Cappuccino, you’re not missing out. The Flat White isn’t a step up – it’s simply a different balance of the same ingredients.

What is a Flat White?

A Flat White is a double espresso with foamed milk, topped with just a wafer-thin layer of microfoam. A widely used standard trade recipe specifies 50 millilitres of espresso, around 130 millilitres of milk and a layer of foam of about five millimetres – around 180 millilitres in total. The often-quoted 175 millilitres doesn’t come from this recipe; it’s a cup size given by Tourism New Zealand.

The name says exactly that: flat for the flat surface with no mound of foam, white for the milk. Not a marketing term, just a description.

Unlike the Cappuccino, the Flat White has no institutional definition. The figures above come from a widely used standard trade recipe, not from an official standard. If you’ve ever ordered one in Auckland, Sydney and London, you’ll have got three different drinks.

That gives a ratio of 1:4 – exactly the same as the Italian Cappuccino with 25 to 100 millilitres. So for us, the difference between the two drinks isn’t the amount of coffee at all, but purely the foam and the shape of the cup.

That’s more milk-forward than the standard trade recipe of 50 to 130 millilitres, which comes to around 1:2.6. Both are right – we deliberately build our Flat White closer to the Cappuccino, because the dense, glossy texture matters more to us than maximum coffee intensity. If you like it stronger, pull the same shot and use 90 instead of 120 millilitres of milk.

What is the difference between a Flat White and a Cappuccino?

Two things: the thickness of the foam and the amount of coffee. The Cappuccino carries a distinct foam cap and traditionally uses a single espresso; the Flat White has almost no foam and usually a double shot.

Animation 1 · Where the difference lies

espressomilk poured inair, amount documentedair present, but not quantified anywhere

Height is volume; all three cups are drawn to the same scale. With the Cappuccino, around 25 ml of air is added: steam turns 100 ml of cold milk into around 125 ml. With the Flat White, the amount of air is small but not quantified anywhere – which is why it’s shown there only as a dashed strip without a number. 30 grams of espresso is around 30 millilitres, as espresso is almost entirely water.

The strip at the bottom only shows the ratio of coffee to milk – same width, different split. Left and right it’s the same 1:4; the middle cup, at 1:2.6, has more coffee.

Sources: Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano · Anette Moldvaer, The Coffee Book, 2nd edition 2021 · the CCC values are our house recipe, not a standard.

That noticeably shifts the taste. In a Cappuccino, air is an ingredient in its own right – it makes the cup lighter and milder. The Flat White doesn’t have that air. The cup feels denser, shorter and more intense, even when the amount of coffee is the same.

That’s exactly what the third cup in the graphic shows: our house version has the same coffee-to-milk ratio as the Italian Cappuccino. And yet it tastes completely different – because without a foam cap, there’s nothing between you and the milk.

What is the difference between a Flat White and a Caffè Latte?

The Flat White contains less milk and less microfoam than a Caffè Latte. The Latte has a creamy, velvety layer; the Flat White a thinner layer of textured milk, ideally with a glossy surface.

Only the Cappuccino values are based on an institutional specification. The other figures describe common practice in the specialty coffee scene and vary considerably from café to café.

Where does the Flat White come from?

That hasn’t been conclusively settled – and that’s the most honest answer there is. Three countries have documented claims, and none of them is proof.

Animation 2 · Three countries, three kinds of evidence

printed record: film, newspaper, menurecollection onlyconjecture, no record foundmoves along the timeline

Time runs to the right; a decade is the same width throughout. A filled dot is a printed record, an open ring only a recollection, and the dashed box on the far left is mere conjecture without evidence.

England: the film “Danger by My Side”, 1963; entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1971. Australia: café review in the Sydney Morning Herald, 1983; newspaper article, 1984; menu of the Moors Espresso Bar and a sign in Parliament in Canberra, 1985. New Zealand: Craig Miller’s recollection (mid-80s) and the story of the botched Cappuccino at Bar Bodega, Wellington, 1989. Source: English-language Wikipedia, “Flat white”, with the individual references cited there.

England has the oldest evidence for the term. In a British film from 1963, a character orders a Flat White in an espresso bar, and in 1971 the expression appears in a published English source. The coffee historian Ian Bersten suspects an origin in England in the 1950s – a conjecture, not a find.

Australia has the oldest evidence for the drink on a menu. In May 1983, a Sydney café is mentioned in connection with “flat white coffee”; in April 1984, a Sydney newspaper equates “cafe latte” with “flat white”. In 1985, Alan Preston puts the Flat White permanently on the menu of his Moors Espresso Bar and says he brought the idea with him from his home in northern Queensland. In January 1985, a sign reading “flat white only” hangs in the parliament building in Canberra – for those weeks, the milk couldn’t be foamed.

New Zealand pushes back. Derek Townsend and Darrell Ahlers of Auckland’s Cafe DKD claim the invention as an alternative to the Italian Latte – they say they heard the name from a staff member from Sydney. In Auckland, Craig Miller made the Flat White in the mid-1980s following an Australian recipe, and Bar Bodega on Willis Street is credited with a botched Cappuccino in 1989 from which the Flat White is said to have emerged.

What we like about it is that the story can’t be resolved. A drink that was plausibly invented in three places at the same time evidently filled a gap.

Why is there often a ristretto in a Flat White?

Because the coffee has to hold its own against the milk. A double ristretto is more concentrated and less bitter than a normal double shot – exactly what’s needed so that even a small amount of milk doesn’t cover everything up.

It isn’t essential. A normal double espresso works just as well, especially with beans that already bring plenty of body. You’ll find how to get both right in the espresso dial-in – where we also explain why we set the grind size once and then adjust via the dose.

What is microfoam – and why is it glossy?

Microfoam is milk foam with very fine, even bubbles. It doesn’t sit on top like a lid; it’s part of the milk: fluid, dense and with a surface that reflects light evenly. That’s exactly where the gloss comes from.

Animation 3 · Why the surface is glossy

an air bubblemilk in betweenthe moving bubbles show: fluid

Microfoam simply means very fine foam. The bubbles are so small that you can no longer see them individually – the milk looks like wet paint. Fine foam binds with the coffee; coarse foam sits on top and separates. The finer the bubbles, the more evenly the surface reflects light – that’s the gloss.

Schematic – not a measurement and not a microscope image. The bubbles are drawn heavily enlarged here; in real microfoam they can’t be made out individually with the naked eye. We haven’t found a documented size in millimetres – which is why there isn’t one here. The movement only shows that microfoam stays fluid rather than rigid.

Coarse foam does the opposite. The large bubbles burst quickly, the foam separates from the milk, and the surface turns matt and stiff. That may still work for a Cappuccino – with a Flat White it shows immediately, because the thin layer hides no mistakes.

If you want to play through how aeration, temperature and steam power interact without using up any milk: the milk foam simulator shows it in a model.

How do you make a Flat White?

The critical point is step three. Almost every failed Flat White has too much air – and too much air can’t be taken out again later. A barista scale helps with the shot; with the foam, only practice helps.

What we fix is the drink volume: around 30 grams of espresso to 120 millilitres of milk. The dose derived from it, about 15 grams, follows from our ratio of 1:1.5 to 1:2 – it’s calculated, not measured. How we set the grind size for it is explained in the espresso dial-in.

How much caffeine is in a Flat White?

Around 126 milligrams if a double espresso is the base – twice the reference table value of 63 milligrams per single shot. That puts it at about double a classic Italian Cappuccino made with a single shot. The milk doesn’t change that – it contains no caffeine and only makes the drink bigger.

The 126 milligrams is calculated, not measured: twice the USDA reference value of 62.8 milligrams per 30 grams of espresso. This used to say “around 130 milligrams” – that was double a single-shot figure of 65 milligrams, which we have since discarded as unsupported. Espressos measured in cafés range from 51 to 322 milligrams per serving (Crozier et al. 2012); bean, roast level and shot length shift the value considerably.

With our house version at a dose of around 15 grams, the value is in the same range. If you want less caffeine, go for a single shot and keep the amount of milk the same – that gives you a mild but still dense Flat White.

This is where many people get it wrong: a Flat White tastes milder than an espresso, but contains more caffeine than a single cup of espresso.

Which milk works for a Flat White?

Any milk that produces fine foam – and with the Flat White, that matters more than with any other milk drink, because the thin layer hides nothing. Cow’s milk makes it easiest; barista versions of plant-based drinks come close.

The figures on this – protein content, foam stability and why plant-based drinks curdle in coffee – are covered in detail in the Cappuccino article. In short: protein holds the foam, coffee lowers the pH, and barista formulations compensate for both.

With a Flat White, the milk alternative’s own flavour stands out more than in a Cappuccino, because there’s less air and less volume in between. Which combination works with which roast is best discovered for yourself – we have coffee beans to match.

Frequently asked questions about the Flat White

What is a Flat White?

A Flat White is a double espresso with foamed milk and only a wafer-thin layer of microfoam on top. A widely used recipe specifies 50 millilitres of espresso, around 130 millilitres of milk and a layer of foam of about five millimetres. There is no binding standard.

What is the difference between a Flat White and a Cappuccino?

The Cappuccino has a thick foam cap, the Flat White almost none. Common recipes also give the Flat White more espresso. But the deciding factor is the foam: even with the same coffee-to-milk ratio, the Flat White tastes denser because the air is missing.

What is the difference between a Flat White and a Latte?

A Flat White contains less milk and less microfoam than a Caffè Latte. The Latte has a creamy, velvety layer, the Flat White a thinner layer of textured milk with a glossier surface – and therefore more coffee flavour in every sip.

Where does the Flat White come from?

That hasn’t been conclusively settled. England has the oldest evidence for the term – a film from 1963 and a dictionary entry from 1971. Australia and New Zealand have the oldest evidence for the drink on a menu, from 1983 in Sydney and in the mid-1980s in Auckland and Wellington.

How much caffeine is in a Flat White?

Around 126 milligrams if a double espresso is the base – roughly twice as much as a classic Italian Cappuccino with a single shot. The figure is calculated, not measured: twice the USDA reference value of around 63 milligrams. Espressos measured in cafés range from 51 to 322 milligrams. The milk doesn’t change that; it contains no caffeine.

How big is a Flat White?

Usually between 150 and 200 millilitres. Tourism New Zealand gives 175 millilitres as the usual cup size; Anette Moldvaer’s standard trade recipe, with 50 millilitres of espresso and 130 millilitres of milk, comes to around 180 millilitres. We work with around 150 millilitres – 30 grams of espresso to 120 millilitres of milk.

How do you make the Flat White at Coffee Coaching Club?

With around 30 grams of espresso in the cup and 120 millilitres of milk, about 150 millilitres in total. That gives a ratio of 1:4 – the same as the Italian Cappuccino. For us, the difference lies solely in the foam: as little air as possible, and in return a dense, glossy texture.

Is a Flat White made with a ristretto?

Often, but not necessarily. A double ristretto makes the cup denser and sweeter and helps the coffee hold its own against the milk. A normal double espresso works just as well – it’s a question of the bean and of taste.

Why is the surface of a Flat White glossy?

Because the foam consists of very fine bubbles. Microfoam binds with the milk instead of sitting on top, stays fluid and reflects light evenly. Coarse foam, by contrast, looks matt and separates within seconds.

What next?

The Flat White is a good test of your own milk technique. It forgives nothing, but it doesn’t demand artistry either – just less air than you’re used to, and an espresso with a bit of backbone.

You’ll find suitable espresso machines and barista tools in the shop. And if you’d rather work through it once at the machine than read about it, there are our workshops in Bern and Zurich. We are United by Coffee – with a foam cap or without.

Sources and context

• Standard trade recipe with 50 ml espresso, around 130 ml milk and about 5 mm microfoam – around 180 ml in total: Anette Moldvaer, The Coffee Book, 2nd edition 2021, pp. 403–404, as cited in the English-language Wikipedia article on the Flat White. The widely quoted figure of 175 ml doesn’t belong to this recipe; it’s a cup size from Tourism New Zealand – we’ve separated the two figures because they were mixed up in the old version.
• Evidence on the origin (film Danger by My Side 1963, entry in the Oxford English Dictionary since 1971, Sydney Morning Herald 1983 and 1984, Moors Espresso Bar 1985, Canberra Times 1985, Auckland and Wellington in the 1980s, Bar Bodega 1989): English-language Wikipedia, article Flat white, with the individual references cited there. In the figure, we distinguish between printed records, mere recollections and coffee historian Ian Bersten’s pure conjecture about the 1950s.
• Cappuccino reference values for comparison: Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano, Cappuccino Italiano Certificato: 100 ml of cold milk is steamed to around 125 ml and poured onto 25 ml of espresso, cup 150–160 ml.
• Protein and foam data for plant-based drinks: Gupta et al., Barista-Quality Plant-Based Milk for Coffee, Beverages 11(1), 24, 2025 – covered in detail in the Cappuccino article.
• Caffeine: USDA FoodData Central – 62.8 mg per 30 g of espresso; the value for the double shot is calculated from this. Measured range: Crozier, Stalmach, Lean & Crozier (2012), Espresso coffees, caffeine and chlorogenic acid intake, Food & Function 3:30 – 51 to 322 mg per serving. The earlier figure of 130 mg was based on a single-shot amount of 65 mg that appears in none of these sources.
• There is no institutional standard for the Flat White. All quantities other than the Cappuccino values describe common practice and are marked as such in the text.
• The Coffee Coaching Club house version (around 30 g espresso to 120 ml milk) is our in-house specification, not a standard; the dose derived from it is calculated and marked as such in the text.
• That the Flat White is often built on a double ristretto is common practice in Australia and New Zealand; we do not have a normative source for this.