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| My Flat White has a round glob of thin foam. |
I'm not a coffee freak. So, why am I posting instructions for brewing a flat white using a mid-range espresso machine? Answer: I bought my wife a Breville Barista Touch for Christmas. She wanted it but I use it. I am now the family barista.
As a new-to-the-coffee-scene novice, 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, one part espresso and two parts heated and foamed milk.
This is where I run off the rails. Automatic flat white and latte making! Humbug. My Breville Barista Touch is automatically inconsistent. For one part espresso and two parts milk, the goal is 18g of espresso. Does the Breville achieve the goal? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I have discovered my Breville Barista Touch is consistently inconsistent when it comes to the amount of espresso it brews.
My Breville grinds out a dose that is between 18g and 20g. Not bad but not perfect either. The classic ratio of espresso shot to dose weight is 1:2 or 18g ground coffee to about 36g of espresso. This is my goal but I achieve it only in my dreams. In grams, my espresso weighs from the low 40s to the mid 50s. I understand this is quite normal.
Coffee freaks would panic. Modify the size of the grind, change the brew time, just do something and do it fast. I say relax. We have yet to add the milk. All will be fine. Pulling a longer shot (50+ grams) is very common when making lattes and flat whites.
A classic ratio may be 1:2 but 1:3 is still quite acceptable. Heck, some people push it all the way to 1:4 but then they are entering latte country. It is important to keep in mind that adding milk to your espresso masks bitterness, allowing the sweeter, easily overpowered flavours to shine. A shot that may not be perfect on its own can taste just fine when mixed with steamed, foamed milk.
In the final analysis, if your flat white or latte is a crowd pleaser, it's perfect . Period. Now, let's make a flat white.
Before starting
- Fill the water tank. Stay below the maximum fill line.
- Fill the coffee hopper. Do not overfill. Do not use green beans.
- Gather everything you will need:
- portafilter
- dosing funnel
- double shot filter basket (While learning, I used the dual wall filter basket. I quickly advanced to using the single wall basket.)
- Razor tool for levelling ground coffee in portafilter with basket inserted (I find I rarely use the Razor.)
- an 8.5 ounce, insulated coffee cup
- Breville stainless steel container for heating and frothing milk
- ample cold, whole milk (not low fat milk)
- sugar
- measuring spoons for the sugar
- two small, dry dish towels or dish clothes plus one damp paper towel
Step 1 – Press the on/off button and select Flat White
on the screen
Step
2 – Grind and dose
Snap the filter basket, either the single wall or the dual wall, into the portafilter. Do not forget. If you do, coffee grounds will fly from the machine. To stop the grinding, push the grind icon on the screen.
With the chosen filter basket snapped into the portafilter, attach the dosing funnel to the top of the portafilter and weigh both in grams. Now, slide all into the grinder cradle.*
Touch “Grind” or
push in the portafilter to start grinding. For this first flat white, accept the default settings.
After grinding, remove all from cradle and weigh the portafilter and filter basket again. You are looking for a weight of from 18g to 20g. Use tamping tool to compact the ground coffee, after the initial tamping, remove dosing funnel and finish tamping. Breville says you should carefully level ground coffee using the Razor tool if necessary. If the weight is 20g or less, I find the Razor is not needed.
Step 3 – Attach portafilter
and extract espresso
Lock the portafilter, minus the dosing filter, onto the group head by rotating the handle to the right until it stops.*
Place a dual wall, insulated cup under
the spouts. I like to preheat my cup.*
On the flat white
screen ensure "Double" is
selected and touch “Brew” to start extraction. (In my book, "Double" makes enough espresso for one flat white for one person.)
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. My machine is set for 30 seconds. (At this point, I like to add the sugar, if any, to the hot espresso.)
Step 4 – Heat and froth milk
Fill the stainless
steel milk jug with whole milk to just above the fill line on the steam wand. The stainless steel jug has minimum and maximum levels marked on the side but I have a difficult time seeing the marks. I prefer using the fill line on the steam wand when making flat whites. This results in enough milk and froth for two flat whites. (I use the maximum fill line when making two lattes.)
The tip of the
steam wand should be sitting in the milk just below the surface. The jug must be sitting on the temperature sensor. Do not let the sensor get wet. The sensor must be kept dry.
- On the Flat White
screen, check the Milk settings:
- Temperature: medium
to medium‑high (around 150 °F is typical).
- Froth level: medium low (4). This results in less foam than called for by latte or cappuccino).
Step 5 – Flush
and wipe the steam wand when finished
As soon as the Breville Barista Touch is finished heating and texturing the milk, remove the jug. With the steam wand extended at 45 degrees, wipe the wand and tip with a damp cloth. Keep the wand extended at the 45 degree position.
Place the corner of a dry towel or small dish cloth over the milk heating/frothing sensor. It must not get wet. Now, lower the wand to the
down position. It will automatically purge itself shooting two short bursts of hot water and a burst of steam into the drip tray. This clears milk from inside the wand.
Step 6 – Pour milk and add foam
Begin pouring from a few centimetres above the milk surface so the milk integrates with the
espresso and pushes crema to the top.
The cup should contain about two ounces espresso and you are adding four ounces of milk. When the milk is poured, bring the jug closer to the drink surface and pour a white circle of silky, small-bubbled froth into the centre of the flat white. I like to stir the drink gently until I get a coffee-brown circular pattern in the milk froth.
A flat white should be about a six ounce drink with a distinct but muted espresso flavour tamed by the steamed and frothed milk. The ratio is 1:2 to 1:3, espresso to heated milk. The foam layer is visible but thin.
After enjoying your flat white
Every
time you finish enjoying a milk‑based drink, do the following to keep the machine
performing well.
1. Knock
out puck
2. Quick
group head flush
Some advise flushing the group head with the portafilter and filter basket attached is the way to go. I find water can be trapped with filter basket snapped into place, attach the empty portafilter to the group head just as you would to brew coffee. Place an empty cup below as if you were brewing an espresso. Push “Brew” to run hot water briefly through the
group head. I believe six or seven seconds is enough. This rinses away any residue of coffee grounds. The rinse water is captured in the empty cup. A very small amount of coffee grounds will be trapped in the filter basket.
I prefer to hold a glass dish, with about an inch of depth, under the portafilter. I push "Brew" to run hot water through the group head for six or seven seconds. I catch the hot water in the glass plate. Six or seven seconds is enough to rinse away any residue of coffee grounds. While doing this, keep a dry cloth over the milk/foam sensor. Remember the warning: "Keep dry".
I like to wipe the bottom of the group head with a damp, paper towel and then flush it one last time using the glass plate again. Sometimes, I find some a few coffee grounds on the damp paper towel.
Finally, separate portafilter from filter basket, wash both and leave to dry.
3. Drip
tray and work area
Make your Flat White for Two
I never, absolutely never, make just one Flat White. I always make two. One for me and one for my wife. The espresso machine was a Christmas gift from me to her. A gift should not be a lot of work to use. It should be fun and with me doing all the brewing and clean-up, it is fun -- for her.
To modify the above instructions so that you pull two double-shots of espresso to make two flat whites, do the following:
- Pull your first espresso shot as above but after grinding and brewing stop. Do not heat and froth the milk. Set aside the cup with the espresso.
- Knock out the puck, wipe and dry the filter basket, grind and brew a second shot of espresso. Set the second espresso shot aside, remove the portafilter and knock out the puck.
- We are now ready to heat and froth the milk for both drinks as instructed earlier.
- Pour the heated/frothed milk into the two warmed insulated glass cups with the espresso. Voila! Two flat whites. Clean the machine and work area as instructed.
Let me get right to the point: I find it counter-intuitive that the dual-wall filter basket is the basket for beginners. I expected to see holes, lots of holes, in the filter basket bottom. It just seemed reasonable.
On the other hand, the single-walled filter basket, with rows and rows of small perforations in the stainless steel bottom, depends on proper grind size, dose weight and consistent tamping to control extraction pressure. Controlling the variables calls for more skill on the part of the barista.
