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| My Flat White has a round glob of thin foam. |
I'll tell you why; I bought my wife a Breville Barista Touch Espresso machine for Christmas. Need I say more? I cannot let a coffee brewing machine of that calibre gather dust.
As a new-to-the-scene novice coffee brewer, I settled on the Flat White as my coffee of choice. The Barista Touch has a number of automatic brew settings. Among them is Flat White. This is a is a double espresso with about an equal amount of heated milk, maybe little more, and minimal froth.
Before starting
- Fill the water tank almost to the maximum fill line.
- Fill the coffee hopper. Do not use green beans.
- Gather everything you will need:
- portafilter
- double shot, 2-cup filter basket (While learning, I do not use the Dual Wall filter basket.)
- dosing funnel
- Razor coffee grounds levelling tool
- a six-ounce, insulated coffee cup
- stainless steel milk frothing container
- ample cold milk (not skim)
- sugar
- teaspoon
- two small towels or dish clothes–one dry and one damp.
Step 1 – Press the on/off button and select Flat White on the screen
From the main drinks menu, touch Flat White on the touchscreen.
The screen will show three steps: Grind, Brew, Milk, with preset shot volume and milk texture/temperature appropriate for a Flat White (less frothy than a cappuccino).
Step 2 – Grind and dose
Snap the double shot, 2‑cup, filter basket into the portafilter. If you forget, coffee grounds will fly from the machine. To stop the grinding, immediately push the on/off button or the grind button.
Attach the dosing filter to the portafilter. Slide both into the grinder cradle.
Touch “Grind” or push in the portafilter to start grinding. For this first Flat White, accept the default settings for time and grind size.
After grinding, remove both from cradle, use tamping tool to compact the ground coffee, remove the dosing filter and finish tamping down the coffee. Level using the Razor tool if necessary. After using the Razor, tamp firmly one last time.
Step 3 – Attach portafilter and extract espresso
Lock the portafilter, minus the dosing filter, into the group head by rotating the handle to the right until it stops.
Place a cup under the spouts.
On the Flat White screen ensure “Double” is selected and touch “Brew” to start extraction.
Watch the flow: two thin streams should start at the seven second mark or a second or two later. The brewing will finish at the preset time. (At this point, I like to add the sugar to the hot espresso.)
Step 4 – Heat and froth milk
Fill the stainless steel milk jug to just above the steam wand fill line. The stainless steel jug has minimum and maximum levels marked on the jug but I have a difficult time seeing the marks from the inside.
Place the tip of the steam wand into the milk so it’s just below the surface. Ensure jug is sitting on the temperature sensor. Try not to keep the sensor dry.
- On the Flat White screen, check the Milk settings:
- Temperature: medium to medium‑high (around 150 °F is typical).
- Froth level: low (4). This results in less foam than called for by latte or cappuccino).
Touch “Milk” to start auto heating and foaming.
Make sure the stainless steel jug is sitting on the sensor at all times. This is important.
Step 5 – Flush and wipe the steam wand when finished
As soon as you finish heating and texturing, remove the jug, wipe the steam wand and tip thoroughly with a clean, damp cloth.
Place a small, dry towel or small, dry dish cloth overt he sensor. It should nit get wet. Then lower the wand to the down position. It will automatic purge itself into the drip tray with a short burst of steam and shot of hot water. This clears milk from inside the wand.
If auto‑purge did not run, briefly start and stop steam (“Milk” button) with the wand pointed into the drip tray to purge, then wipe again.
Step 6 – Pour milk and add foam
Begin pouring from a couple of centimetres above the cup so the milk integrates with the espresso and carries crema to the top.
When the cup is about halfway full, bring the jug closer to the surface and pour into the center to create a white circle.
A Flat White should end up as about a five ounce drink with a strong espresso flavour modified by about an equal amount of heated milk. The foam layer is visible but thin.
After enjoying your Flat White
Every time you finish enjoying a milk‑based drink, do these quick tasks to keep the machine performing well and to avoid sour milk residue.
1. Knock out puck and rinse portafilter
Remove the portafilter and knock out the used coffee puck.
Remove the filter basket and rinse both the basket and portafilter under hot water to remove coffee oils and grounds.
Dry with a dish cloth or leave to air dry.
2. Quick group head flush
With portafilter with filter basket clicked in place, installed the portafilter just as you would to brew coffee. Briefly start “Brew” to run hot water through the group head for a few seconds, rinsing out coffee residue. Some users do this step without the portafilter and filter basket in place. I like the attached approach better.
Stop the water, remove portafilter with filter basket and wipe the shower screen area with a clean, damp cloth.
3. Drip tray and work area
Check the drip tray. It will have collected some water. Clean and rinse all the drip tray parts.
Wipe any spilled coffee or milk from the tray and surrounding surfaces. Take care not to let the milk temp sensor get wet.
