I have measured out my life in coffeespoons

[venta]

Oh dear, I think I just misinformed an Australian couple in a café :(

They wanted "flat whites". In England (particularly in branches of Pieminister, which do marvellous pies, but really only serve coffee as a sideline) we do not understand this term.

There was some confusion. Having (I thought) had the term explained to me by quantumboo last year, I suggested they wanted filter-coffee-with-milk. Sadly, I fear Quantumboo may have told me what a flat black was, and I extrapolated.

A flat white was, said the Australian lady, like a cappucino without the froth. Aha, said the English-not-first-language serving-person, a latte. No, said the Australian lady, nothing like a latte.

I think they got filter coffees in the end. But now Wikipedia suggests I'm wrong, and they're going to have got something not nearly milky enough. Wikipedia is also rather vague about the difference between a flat white and a latte.

Does anyone understand this posh foreign coffee stuff ? What would you understand by the term flat white ?

Comments

[thefon.livejournal.com]

Am I the only aussie reading your blog? :)

To me, a "flat white" is the default, coffee with some milk.
You can get this in UK by asking for an "americano with cold milk".

So ideally made with espresso machine rather than filter, but both are OK.
No frothy milk. Served in a normal cup or mug (so _not_ an espresso size cup, or tall/long cup).

When I was growing up (in Australia), before the age of multiple choices, we just called it "a cup of coffee".

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, redcountess commented further up, and she basically agrees with you. Obviously neither of you contributes to Wikipedia, though. Or at least, not on the topic of coffee :)