Almond Flat White

Australia's café standard poured dairy-free: a double ristretto under silky steamed almond milk and a thin layer of microfoam

Origin: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

From the journey of Almond.

The flat white is Australia's gift to the coffee world, an espresso drink built on a higher proportion of coffee to milk than a latte and finished with a thin, glossy layer of microfoam rather than a deep cap of froth, and Melbourne's café culture, amongst the most demanding on earth, made it a national institution. As that culture turned towards plant milks through the 2010s, almond milk became the most popular dairy-free choice in Australian cafés, and the almond flat white took its place on every café board from Fitzroy to Bondi. It is a fitting drink for the country, for Australia has quietly become the world's second-largest grower of almonds, its orchards spread across the irrigated Sunraysia and Riverina districts of the Murray-Darling, where the climate so suited to the tree mirrors that of California. The almond flat white is not merely a substitution. Almond milk behaves quite differently from dairy under the steam wand, lower in protein and prone to splitting, so baristas reach for barista-grade almond milk, blended with a little more almond and a stabiliser to hold a silky microfoam, and they stretch and steam it with a gentler, more careful hand. Done well, the result is a flat white with a delicate, nutty sweetness that complements the coffee rather than masking it, the almond echoing the toasted, caramel notes of a good espresso. It is the most modern chapter in the almond's long story, the ancient Near Eastern nut, pressed into milk by the medieval Arab kitchen and revived on an industrial scale in the New World, poured at last over coffee in the cafés of the southern continent that now helps to grow it.

Ingredients

Coffee

  • 18 g freshly ground coffee, for a double ristretto or short double shot

Milk

  • 130 ml barista-grade almond milk (chilled; the barista blend steams far better than plain almond milk)

To finish

  • cocoa or cinnamon, to dust (optional)

Method

  1. Pull a double ristretto or a short double espresso shot, about 40 to 50ml, into a 160 to 180ml cup. It should be rich and syrupy with a deep crema.
  2. Pour the chilled almond milk into a cold stainless steel jug, filling it no more than a third.
  3. Steam the almond milk: introduce the steam wand just below the surface to stretch in a little air for a few seconds, then submerge the wand to create a smooth whirlpool, heating only to about 55 to 60°C.
  4. Tap the jug on the bench and swirl to fold the foam back into the milk until it is a uniform, silky, paint-like texture with no large bubbles.
  5. Pour the almond milk steadily into the centre of the espresso from a little height to break through the crema, then bring the jug low and close to finish, easing in a thin layer of foam and, if you like, a simple poured pattern.
  6. Dust very lightly with cocoa or cinnamon if you wish, and serve at once.

Notes

Barista-grade almond milk is the key to a flat white that holds its texture; plain drinking almond milk tends to split and stay watery under steam. Without an espresso machine, a strong moka-pot or AeroPress shot under hand-frothed warm almond milk gives a respectable home version. The same drink pulled long with more milk is an almond latte; in a smaller cup with less milk, an almond cortado or piccolo.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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