The Anatomy of a Flat White

A lot goes into a coffee. 

And, a great cup of coffee is more than just delicious coffee beans (although they certainly help). 

There’s a science and art behind getting the perfect brew. 

Let’s dissect this further; from oiliness, to temperature, to weight - this is the anatomy of a perfect, 6oz Flat White. 

Know your coffee bean

Knowing where your coffee comes from is important. Acidity, strength, and flavour are often dependent on the growing region the coffee derives from. 

You’ll also need to choose between a single origin or a blend. In a nutshell, a single origin is usually better for a pour over coffee (think cold brew/V60), and a blend tastes delicious via an espresso based machine. 

We use a Brazilian blend from Chimney Fire Coffee. We fell in love with its taste - notes of praline, hazelnut and chocolate - who doesn’t want a coffee that tastes like a Snickers bar?! 

Don’t get burned

Even if you’ve got great beans, and your espresso shot is top notch, getting the temperature wrong on your milk could turn your coffee sour. Don’t burn your milk - that’s coffee making 101. 

You also don’t want to burn your beans with boiling water, we extract our espresso at 91C which gives the perfect balance of flavour from the ground beans.

Milk this way

The perfect Flat White will have perfectly textured milk. Too much air in the texturing process will leave the milk with a foamy texture, losing all that creamy smoothness which you expect. Incorrectly textured milk will also mask the flavour of the coffee, whilst arguably the greatest sin of all is making the milk too hot, anything over 65C will ruin not only the texture but the taste too.

And of course, all the love and expertise which has gone into making the perfect espresso and milk can be rounded off with a little bit of beautiful latte art on top.  

Weight a minute  

It’s also important to find the optimum grind size, weight of coffee going into the espresso shot, and weight of water going into the espresso shot. You need to find the perfect balance!

Plus, the time it takes for shot to extract is important. If it’s too long the coffee can taste bitter, and if it’s too short can be really acidic. As Goldilocks says, you need to get it “just right”. 

This is called the brew ratio, and for our Brazilian beans, we use 19.0g (+/- 0.3g, the decimal is important!), and extract those for 30 seconds (+/- 3s) to produce 40g of espresso. Most ratios will be similar to this, but each coffee will have slightly different optimal measurements to get the absolute best from the beans. The scales are the most important bit of kit we have when it comes to coffee consistency.

Watch out for oil 

Coffee beans are oily, and different beans are more oily than others. This can impact your coffee machine. If a build up of oil occurs it can affect the functionality of the machine and the taste of the coffee itself. Keep your machine clean and have it serviced regularly. We recommend getting some Pulycaff granules to keep your machine nice and clean.

And of course…find the perfect baristas 

Baristas are like unicorns, they’re hard to find, but when you find great ones they’re truly magical! We can’t thank Jaimee and Kata enough for their commitment to making delicious coffee day in and day out. 

Jaimee also inputted into this blog - so we can vouch that she really knows her stuff! 

See you at the Cafe soon, 7.45am-2pm weekdays and 8am-3pm weekends.