Latte vs. Flat White
When you see both drinks on the menu, which do you order? After all, you might think, both types of drinks are essentially espresso with milk. The similarity ends right there, after which ordering a latte or flat white depends on the individual and how strong he or she likes his or her coffee to be. Milk changes the strength of your cup of coffee.
Milk coffee scale
In standard coffee beverages, the difference lies in the proportion of espresso, milk and foam. Cappuccino has the most foam. Latte lies in the middle. Here at JAB, we use the same takeaway 8oz cup for both our lattes and flat whites, so Flat white contains more liquid milk than a latte.
Same milk, different techniques
The differences do not stop at the different amount of liquid milk in each type of drink. The way that milk is prepared and poured marks the key difference between a latte and a flat white.
Milk is first frothed with a steam wand, resulting in three layers:
1. Heated liquid milk at the bottom of the pitcher
2. Silky, velvety textured microfoamed (very very small bubbles) milk in the middle of the pitcher
3. Frothy milk with large bubbles
Steamed milk is swirled, and sometimes the pitcher of milk is tapped on the counter to pop the largest frothed bubbles. A combination of these techniques form a seamless pitcher of sleek, velvety microfoamed milk.
Pouring the milk is a practice that every barista strives to perfect. To make a flat white, the milk is free poured over the espresso to seamlessly intertwine the two liquids, to achieve an even mix of liquid milk and smooth velvety foam.
A latte is milky and has a thin layer of foam at the top.
The Mouthful
Because the flat white seamlessly intertwines espresso with milk, it is not creamy, heavy or rich– it really is silky and velvety, almost like a richer espresso although it has more milk than a latte.
A latte will taste milkier on the taste buds, and lighter in the mouth; this is what makes a latte more popular with people who are not ready to taste the espresso shot on its own.
There are amazing movies about coffee that take you inside the world of the professionals, showing the hard work and dedication behind the scene. There are many ways to learn and get inspired in what you do -
As barista's might say working at a well equipped café, I can’t imagine myself brewing or pulling an espresso shot without a scale. It tells us exactly how much water and coffee we are using, and it enables us to be consistent with each brew as well as to each other.
During this pandemic, we are all trying to stay home, but we must have our daily caffeine! Not everyone has all the tools at home. So, here are some tips on how you could brew an excellent pour over of coffee without a scale.
For this example, I use 24.5g of coffee to 380g of water — a 1:15.5 ratio. (You could also do 1:14 or 1:18 ratio depending on what recipe you’d like to use. In order to weigh out 24.5g of coffee beans or ground coffee, I used a ¼ measuring cup and filled it up all the way as shown in the picture below.
Afterwards, using a bigger measuring cup or a mason jar that has measurement, you can measure out approximately 380ml (13oz) of water and boil that to 205°F. If you don’t have a measuring cup, grab a 12oz mug and fill it up all the way to the top and use that to brew coffee, your final brew should be an inch (2.5cm) below the rim of your mug. Then, proceed to brew normally! Put a filter on your pour over device and make sure to give it a thorough rinse with hot water. Your first pour needs to be about twice the volume as the coffee you are using, and let it bloom for 45seconds. After the bloom, you can pour in a slow circular motion and fill it up all the way and let it drip for about 10seconds. Repeat this process a few times until you run out of water.
