flat white

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

flat white (plural flat whites)

1. A type of white coffee made with espresso coffee and hot milk, similar to a small latte.
   • 2007, Michael Symons, One Continuous Picnic: A Gastronomic History of Australia, 2nd edition, page 323:

     Coffee at Adelaide airport at 2 p.m., 9 July 2006. In all innocence, I prepared to judge carefully two flat whites. The Melbourne-based franchise chain Hudsons Coffee proclaimed a ‘formidable reputation for consistently making great cups of coffee’, but its airport outlet provided no evidence of this.

   • 2009, Michelle Douglas, The Aristocrat and the Single Mom‎^[1], page 17:

     ‘Two flat whites, please,’ she said to the waiting Kelly. ‘In mugs.’

   • 2009, Colin McLaren, On the Run‎^[2], page 57:

     It was during this break that Cole realised that New Zealanders had no idea how to make coffee, serving up flat whites in cups the size of cereal bowls, and suggesting they were caffe lattes.

   • 2010, Elizabeth Martin, The Coffeeholic and the Cafe‎^[3], page 111:

     My boss orders two flat whites. I′ve got to hand it to her, there′s no pretention about a flat white.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flat,‎ white; especially, white paint that is not glossy.

Synonyms

• flattie (informal)

Coordinate terms

• cafe au lait
• latte

 

Derived terms

• trim flat white (NZ) or skinny flat white (Australia) - a flat white made with low-fat milk.

Translations

white coffee made with espresso and hot milk

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 馥芮白 (fùruìbái), 澳白 (àobái), 平白 (zh) (píngbái)

• Finnish: maitokahvi (fi)
• Maori: kawhe mōwai