Making a proper flat white takes time, focus, measurement, and a lot of failure. I produce at least 100 flat whites a week at my cafe and I believe that I had to make at least 1000 flat whites before I made it to 50% proficiency. The pull of the espresso, which comes from the specific balance of weight, grind, and pressure, which is the foundation to pouring excellent latte art.
If the espresso is over extracted it will taste very bitter, lacking noticeable flavors of sweetness or balanced acidity. Under-extracted espresso has an extremely sour consistency and usually flows quickly through the espresso machine portafilter basket into the cup. Both of these scenarios are no good and will make people hesitant to try quality coffee in the future. The flat white will have no unique life and will have a muted taste that you can notice in the reaction of the person you give it to. It takes practice to understand these things to make the perfect flat white.
Many people believe that all espresso is bitter. However, coffee has Sucrose, the white sugar we all know best, which breaks down during the roasting process into simple sugars that expand and mold the coffee into a multitude of flavors. Add excellent milk which has it's own sweetness Companies spend endless time and money attempting to make the best coffee possible. The dedication towards chemistry, biology, and molecular gastronomy has changed the face of coffee making it more and more inspiring to people.
Depending on the coffee beans location, elevation, and nature grown, different flavors will be noticed in different regions. Ethiopian coffee resembles berries almost indistinguishably at times. It's no longer coffee, it is blueberries. Kenyan coffee has a wide range of acidic expression creating anything from tomato soup to bold juicy peach. Targeting these flavors and incorporating them into the natural sweetness of steamed milk with the correct texture consistency makes for an amazing treat that can either jumpstart or relax your day.
A flat white has a loose milk texture making it creamy and velvety to the taste. It is very different from an overly textured cappuccino where air bubbles burst bitter crema into your mouth. Not the best experience once you've tasted the finer side of the bean. When steaming the milk it is best to do soft and regular spurts of air from the steam wand while keeping a circular vortex of milk spinning to incorporate the milk even throughout the foaming. It takes a while to master the steps to make a perfect flat white and I hope over the next few weeks I can help teach some lessons to the wonderful SteemIt community!
