What do I need to buy to make a flat white coffee?

I don’t have a fancy coffee machine and nor do I have the counter space in the kitchen for one.

So, what’s the minimum “equipment” and methodology for a reasonably decent flat white?

For reference, I have a kettle and a cafetière and some ground coffee, so what else should I buy?

I’m not keen on the idea of coffee pods (unless there’s some re-usable ones I’m not aware of….)

TIA

Kettle, cafetiere, mug, teaspoon is all the equipment needed to make a good white coffee

You need espresso and milk. Even if you’ve got an espresso machine you need quite a decent one to get the right texture for the milk if you want one approaching the quality you get from a decent coffee shop.

You’ll be able to make a nice brew with a mocha pot and a milk frother but it won’t be the same as a flat white from a cafe

You could make a sort of 2D facsimile using an Aeropress and one of those Aerolatte electric whisks I guess, but you’ll never be able to do the whole microfoamed milk thing without a proper machine with a steam nozzle.

Edit: yeah, or a stove-top for the coffee.

If you’re anything like the sweet lady at the Dorking station cafe, you simply interpreted ANY ‘fancy coffee idea’ as Americano with milk.

Flat white… Americano and milk for you.

Latte…. Americano and milk for you…

DrP

Espresso and a steam wand for the milk. Not really sure how to get that with alternative kit. Maybe look at the smallest possible espresso machine with steam wand. Eg sage Bambino is very compact. (Not used one though).

James Hoffmann –
<h1 class=”style-scope ytd-watch-metadata”>Making Cappuccino/Latte/Flat White at Home (without an Espresso Machine)</h1>

Mrs_oab likes a flat white or latte.

She’s got one of these :  https://amzn.eu/d/5PrMI8P

And either a pour over from a Hario v60 or I’ve a stovetop espresso maker (which took a touch of learning so that it didn’t taste all burnt )

Coffee Dripper – Drip Coffee Maker – 2 Cup

Italian Style Stovetop Espresso Coffee Maker

Its all a bit faffy.

Black coffee at home

Flatty oot and aboot

I haven’t watched that James Hoffman video. I probably ought to but he does grate a bit.

At home we make a very decent “2d facsimile of a” flat white with Lavazza grinds, an aeropress and a whisk based milk frother. It’s a better tool for an approximation of a cappuccino or caffè latte as its less crucial to get the foam right – but a home made flat white like this is still better than a good 75% of the mugs of garbage you’ll get served whole out and about unless you’re very savvy about where you drink.

If we are at home we make do with Stove top Mocca pot and microwave milk. Stored in a vacuum flask and drunk over the morning

No it’s not a that white. But it’s fine

Minimum equipment?  In your case, probably a new kitchen with space for a decent coffee machine.

But if you can find space – A Sage bean to cup machine for about £400 via eBay refurb is about the same size as two kettles and removes most of the faff and makes a flat white which is better than pretty much all the chain stores. Only a couple of the good independents around here (Bath and Bristol) are better and even then, it still depends.  I like a HOT coffee and that’s not always what you get.

My home flat white uses n espresso machine,but the milk is done with an nespresso frother pot- if you use cappuccino setting but pour it as soon as it’s finished it makes for good textured milk.

Aeropress, Joepresso (optional but does produce more flavour from fewer beans) and Bodum Latteo frother for me. Technically it’s not a ‘proper’ drink (i.e. not actually espresso) but I reckon it’s still better than 95%+ of non-specialist coffee shop fare.

Just add a milk frother to your cafetiere and see how you get on. I have a Lavazza branded one and it’s fine for at home flat white approximation.

I would use a whisk thing rather than the cafetiere to ease cleaning. You can also get a little electric pot that heats the milk and foams it – Lidl had them recently. It saves scrubbing milk residue out of a pan but I can’t vouch for the results as I haven’t tried one.

For the coffee part, as above Aeropress is cheap, easy and well regarded – but follow Hoffman’s instructions rather than the ones it comes with. But there’s also Handpresso type devices. Stovetop/Moka pot also good but there is a technique involved again. Probably takes longer than an Aeropress.

If you’re anything like the sweet lady at the Dorking station cafe, you simply interpreted ANY ‘fancy coffee idea’ as Americano with milk.

Flat white… Americano and milk for you.

Latte…. Americano and milk for you…

I mean, she’s right though.

It was when people who like milk in their coffee (and I have no problem with that) started being given all these different options for what is still essentially just a white coffee, that it started taking bloody ages to buy a drink…

dont forget the fancy spoon you need for tasting

Manhattan Rainbow Demitasse Spoon

Black coffee at home

Flatty oot and aboot

I’m increasingly the other way round. I’ve had so many really poor ‘flat whites’ locally –  often the milk is just hot milk – that I’d rather just have an americano when out unless I know they do a decent one.

For a flat white you apparently need ‘microfoam’ which a milk frother ain’t going to give you, you need steam I believe!

I tried making it with my delonghi bean to cup a few years ago and didn’t do too badly but the steam wand on my machine simply isn’t really good enough.  I’d like to see what a decent Sage B2C machine would produce ‘cost I do like a flat white!

At almost £4 for a flat white that is made in a cup not warmed up, left on the counter to be brought over and is tepid to drink

I ping my flat white at home for 10/15 seconds in the microwave if I’ve been distracted but the artisan barista may make you another and it’s much the same

I sometimes just buy a bag of their beans and wait until I get home

I’ve had so many really poor ‘flat whites’ locally

Yes and there’s no excuse either. When I was in New Zealand 15+ years ago you could get a decent Flat White almost anywhere. They did invent them though

In general the UK is still really bad at coffee, i.e. you have to seek out something that tastes reasonable. Also I’d much rather have a filter coffee than a watery Americano. Few places seem to do filter coffee now days… the irony being it’s what most people want, just a black or white coffee!

The electric milk heater frothers make nice frothy milk, slightly different from a steam wand but still good, cost about £20 to £40 and don’t take up massive cupboard space. For low kit buying a small whisk and heat the milk in a pyrex jug in the microwave works well too.

Make strong coffee however. I buy ready ground coffee from the supermarket for this so will never be a connoisseur who can tell you the best way.

often the milk is just hot milk

Genuine question, is that not the point of the ‘flat’ bit, i.e. not foamy?
I honestly never have milk in my coffee and my wife likes to heat milk to add to hers, but prefers non-foamy and she always orders a flat-white when out.

Those little electric heating & frothing pots are good. The missus bought me a Dualit one last birthday for making cocoa. (I either chop 100% cacao buttons, or f feeling lazy use cocoa powder. So much nicer than sweetened hot choc out and about.)

She likes a latte and it does a pretty nice hands off froth job.  Sometimes I’ll make a short aeropress brew as a base (see Hoffman’s useful how to higher up this thread).
When Lady Mud does it herself, she’s happy with decent instant, meaning it’s a pour, spoon press operation, push the button – wait and it’s done.

My local high end coffee place @ikigaicoffe.brighton (lovely pour over) make an amazing “premium” latte with a “distilled” milk they make in house. It’s creamier/ thicker.
That gave me the idea of using a small scoop of 75% fat coconut milk powder as an addition. It goes down very well with her indoors.
I’m a black coffee lover myself. Filter, if out. Aeropress at home. Wilfa Svart grinder (thanks Dave Gould).

Generally Kontext Coffee beans from skilled roaster Mrs Geometron (really, Katja is the wife of Geometron co owner Marcel) . She also  has a rarely found excellent decaf for afternoon drinking.
https://www.kontextcoffee.com/

enjoy the quest.

I agree on the pods; they’re hateful things even if the coffee’s good enough.

A cafetière likely doesn’t make coffee that’s concentrated enough for what you want. An Aeropress is a very good compromise if you don’t have space for an espresso machine with steam wand. It’s also much quicker and easier to clean than a cafetière.

We also used one of those electric milk frothers (a Lavazza A Moda Mio) for a while. It is a minor pain to clean but does produce heated milk with some froth.

We eventually continued down the slippery slope and found space for a Gaggia Classic a couple of years ago. That’s where we’ve stayed.

I’ve recently got into coffee a bit more and like the OP I didn’t fancy an espresso machine, but do like that style of coffee (more latte than flat white in my case though). Here are a few things that I’ve learnt.

First, the key to good coffee is fresh beans and a good grinder. Everything else is secondary to that. Buy coffee from a roaster so you know when it was roasted. Grind the beans when you need them and get the best grinder you can justify. Personally I only make one or two coffees a day and went with a hand grinder so that all the money went on the grinding mechanism rather than the motor, but YMMV.

You can make a decent facsimile of an espresso using an aeropess with minimum fuss (and simple cleanup). Just grind espresso fine and use a fairly small amount of water (I use 100ml to 18g of coffee) and a short brew time (e.g. 30s). I actually prefer to grind a bit coarser and brew a bit longer (1 min), but I’m also using lighter roasts and looking for a bit more fruit flavour. Shorter and finer seems to work better for darker “espresso” roasts.

You can make remarkably tasty foam just using a cafetiere. I use a single person one. Stick the required amount of whole milk in. Microwave for one minute them pump vigorously for 10s or so.

So, to get started all the OP really needs is an Aeropress and a decent hand grinder.

Genuine question, is that not the point of the ‘flat’ bit, i.e. not foamy?

No – it’s meant to have finer foam than say, a cappucino, and this makes it creamy. Done well it does make a difference to ‘mouth feel’ as they say in the food industry. The flat white should also have less milk in general for a stronger taste. I’ve no idea why it’s called flat. To get the fine creamy foam you need whole milk because the fat counteracts the ability of the protein to form bubbles and means larger bubbles aren’t stable.

I asked them about this in Costa* and whilst it appears their flat white foam isn’t particularly creamy the coffee is three shots pulled for half as long. Not sure if other people do that or what the aim is, but a step someone has decided to add for a reason.

* yeah I know – it’s my last choice when I want to drink out, I choose the flat white because it has a better ratio of coffee to milk.

Those little electric heating & frothing pots are good.

… if you just want foamy milk, which is not what a flat white should be.

No – it’s meant to have finer foam than say, a cappucino, and this makes it creamy.

What molgrips sed.

If you are thinking it and trying to get a complicated work-around, then you are 9/10ths of the way to jumping into the rabbit hole of home espresso based drinks. Might as well ditch the microwave/toaster/othershitontheworktop and go all in. Then see every other thread on espresso machines.

Hotel chocolate velevetisers make pretty decent foamed milk, if you use skimmed milk you can get really good results quite easily.

On the left is milk from the velvetiser. On the right some milk from my delonghi eletta. The bubbles from the velvetiser are really small but I reckon they don’t last quite as long as those from the delonghi. That said the velvetiser is about £90 with a hotel chocolate card (free) and the delonghi a lot more expensive. For a flat white you’re only looking for a skim of bubbles whereas a cappuccino needs the head to be stronger.

Filter, if out. Aeropress at home. Wilfa Svart grinder (thanks Dave Gould).

Thanks Neil, glad to hear it’s still serving you well. A great little grinder!

In your case, probably a new kitchen with space for a decent coffee machine.

But if you can find space – A Sage bean to cup machine for about £400 via eBay refurb is about the same size as two kettles and removes most of the faff and makes a flat white which is better than pretty much all the chain stores. Only a couple of the good independents around here (Bath and Bristol) are better and even then, it still depends.  I like a HOT coffee and that’s not always what you get.

Sadly I think  you’ll have to move house OP, ideally to Italy. Then get reincarnated into a rustic coffee house owner in a street cafe in Sicily.  The maybe, MAYBE your great grandchildren may have the skills to make a decent flat white.

We’ve recently upgraded to a sage bambino, after having used a stove top and milkfrother/heater for years. Only did this as the grinder failed and had to buy a new one and Sage were doing a deal but looked into smaller machines a lot prior too. I’d say immediately you get better coffee and milk from the Sage but theres still a whole lot of faffing about and it does take up a lot more space even though its a small machine. I like the process and enjoy the improved set up but was also very happy with the stove top and milk frother before as well. Its a rabbit hole as everyones said but I’d say its more about the beans and getting stuff that you like to drink then whatever set up suits your space or budget. The grinder is also important and the stove top requires some technique to not get a burnt taste as Matt above said. Since changing to the Sage i’ve also had more complaints about the temperature of the coffee from my FiL but he’s a philistine so **** him!

ignore cynic-al you need to move to New Zealand/ Oz for a decent flat white apparently, Italy, they only do your espressos and cappuccinos! And you’d only need to wait a single generation before you got it right!

For a simple set up I’d go for a burr grinder, handheld or electric, either a stove top or aeropress and then a heated milk frother.

Not being a fan of foamy fancy milk, my go-to sweet spot between faff and quality is a Sage Bambino and Sage grinder for the coffee element, and the milk is just warmed in the microwave.

Using the built-in steam wand in the Bambino does make nicer milk, but only a tiny bit nicer, and it’s a lot more faff plus time so reserved for special occasions / lazy weekend mornings rather than a daily morning cuppa

I just use a stovetop pot at home with a knock grinder, makes v good coffee.  Some coffees out are good and worth 4 quid, some worse than home.

Christ, so much pretentious bollocks about a milky coffee! If I ever drink coffee, it’s a mocha when I’m out, but if that’s not available, just black. When the Coop had a big store in Chippenham, they had a little cafe on one side, there weren’t really any others in town, and you got a little cafetière, which gave me a couple of cups, and I’d be buzzing when I left, but now the building, which became Wilco and is now Tesco Express, the cafe bit is going to be a Starbucks, for Chris’sakes! When they opened one in Chippenham, one of the earliest ones, it closed after a year or so because others opened and the competition was better, so I’m giving this one a year.

At home, then I drink tea, just not interested in coffee, and certainly not with all the fannying around that’s apparently necessary just for a hot brew!

just not interested in coffee

And yet, here you are on a coffee thread???

And yet, here you are on a coffee thread

….. Stating which are the only two coffees you’ll entertain!

Yep, clearly no interest whatsoever ?

and certainly not with all the fannying around that’s apparently necessary just for a hot brew!

Best stick to Tesco value instant if “hot” is your only criteria.  It’s a bit like berating people for seeking out nice beer they like the taste of, because you just want the cheapest lager you can find to get shit faced on.  Bizarre.