Who was the first to come up with a strong and aromatic flat white? New Zealand and Australia are still in dispute over copyright issues. This article will help you understand this issue once and for all.
Flat white was an attempt to get coffee in coffee shops, which New Zealanders did at home. And here you need to understand what kind of coffee was prepared in the homes of New Zealand before cafes became a popular place for leisure.
Black / White
At home, a New Zealander has dairy-free coffee is black and coffee with milk is white / white. Therefore, the New Zealander meets any guest with the question: "Do you want black or white coffee?"
In New Zealand, homemade coffee is prepared using a French press. This is a great way to brew if you want a large mug of black coffee or a large mug of black coffee and some milk in there.
Also in New Zealand, espresso is called short black / shortblack. Accordingly, all other names for coffee drinks are derived from "short black". For example, espresso diluted with hot water is called long black / longblack.
Born at the crossroads of cultures
Flat white came about when the traditional French press for a New Zealander was superimposed on the culture of Italian coffee shops in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland, brought with them by immigrants from Europe.
The coffee shop owners followed Italian traditions and called the coffee drinks in Italian. Espresso and cappuccino. And so the owners and employees of the cafe were embarrassed by the local “black coffee” or “white coffee”. And if ordering black coffee could also say something about hot water in espresso, then ordering white coffee in return received cappuccino.
Perhaps the Italian names were hard to remember and pronounce. For example, cortado, doppio or macchiato. Great drinks, but difficult to Englishize their names. Instead, cappuccino and latte were contrasted with that very "white" coffee.
Why not order a cappuccino?
Cappuccino in New Zealand consisted of almost one dense foam, very little liquid milk. And it was also considered a drink for children, because it was usually served with chocolate chips. Strongly frothed milk produces a dense foam with large bubbles. Therefore, the texture of New Zealand cappuccino is almost a marshmallow marshmallow.
Why not order a latte?
Lattes in New Zealand were made with cold or hot milk with little to no froth. Latte was considered weak coffee for intellectuals, liberal politicians, and new mothers. When ordering a latte in New Zealand, you could get a glass of cold milk with a portion of espresso, a macchiato, and a huge bowl of coffee. Not very convenient.
The birth of flat white
In general, all these cappuccino and lattes in coffee houses could be drunk, but you cannot order simple coffee with milk at home. So the invention of flat white probably went like this:
Guest: One white coffee, please.
The barista hands over the cappuccino.
Guest: Too much foam. Is it possible without foam?
The barista hands over the latte.
Guest: And there is too much milk. Can I have more foam than a latte, but less than a cappuccino?
The barista holds out an espresso in a mug of milk and froth.
Guest: Great. I'll call this "flat" white.
Why "flat"?
In New Zealand, flat is used to describe stale carbonated drinks. So "flat" seems like a good word for coffee to describe coffee with less foam than cappuccino. Incidentally, cappuccino was the most popular New Zealand espresso drink in the 1980s.
Conquering the world
Why, until now, we cannot exactly name the name of the inventor of flat white? Perhaps because before the owners of Italian cafes began to understand what kind of coffee they want from them, more than a dozen or even hundreds of New Zealanders had to explain their order on their fingers.
Despite its hipster reincarnations in London, New York and Berlin, flat white emerged as an attempt to reinvent the large French press coffee mug with a drop of milk.
The beverage, which is described by the word "flat white", has evolved into something smaller and with more foam than just "white" coffee at home. Flat white has come a long way from New Zealand cuisine to one of the greatest cultural symbols of Australia and New Zealand. Such a cultural symbol for export.
