Why is a caffe latte served in a glass?

One-a-day

I think the latte in a glass started as a trendy yuppie thing and people would get off on seeing the different layers(colours) in the glass. I sell takeaway coffee from a mobile setup and sell lattes in cardboard and foam cups and nobody has commented yet.yep we people are a funny lot. Greg.

I don't think it was a yuppie thing but more of an abstract art creation where you view the layering from the side. Or maybe the creater ran out of mugs and only had glasses left.

burnt_hands

Taking Lukeys point that some people like the taste of coffee in a glass... are these people the majority? The yuppies aside, I didn't want to reduce this thread to a flame war, I do wonder if this is a matter of style over substance. I don't hear much defense of the glass from a practical stand point.

mattyj

wow, did I just read a reference to a LAYERED LATTE!?!?!?! How 80's!!! Come on fellas, that was 20 years ago. don't worry lukey, I'm not going to ask about taste differences between glass and porcelain. As for me: my pet hate is getting an espresso served in a super-heated duralex glass. You can't hold the thing, you can't sip from the thing. You've got to sit and wait for the cup to cool down, and as that happens, you can also watch the crema dissipate. Preheated cups are good, superhaeted glasses are bad. Handles make sense. Except when you get those big 80's latte glasses with handles ... Irish coffee cups I think they're called. They fit in gj's (no offense lukey) with all the flavoured syrups.

Lukey

Taking Lukeys point that some people like the taste of coffee in a glass... are these people the majority? The yuppies aside, I didn't want to reduce this thread to a flame war, I do wonder if this is a matter of style over substance. I don't hear much defense of the glass from a practical stand point.

i wouldnt say they're the majority. just personal preferences. i ask a lot of people who order latte's or a flatwhite why they didnt order the other. most cases its either prefer drinking from the either one lattes are more milkier(depending on volumes) flat white is their interpretation for a basic coffee where as lattes sound more technical or whatever. and yes there is small % of people that feel that having a latte is more cool. however there is a small % of people that do just the opposite. they'll order a flat white instead of a latte so it doesnt look like they're a yuppy or a nancy boy. hey this is just what people have told me. from a practical point. i cant see any, maybe when i go back to work tomorrow i'll make both coffees and see if one stays hotter than the other.

Greg41

Hey matty,the 80's to an old pug like me still seems like yesterday..........arrrrr the 80's. who cares what it comes in or what it looks like as long as it tastes good. keep smiling.

burnt_hands

I thought that in an earlier post someone said the flat white is made with instant? Lukey it would be interesting to see which is hotter the flat white or the latte... but consider this next time you drink either one, or any coffee for that matter. How long after the coffee is put in front of you can you comfortably drink from it without using the handle? 8)

Reschsmooth

As I said before, I don't see what the problem is - I would think that a glass that is too hot to hold will be too hot to drink, and indicates over-heated milk. Granted, some people may use boiler water to heat up the cups, but I don't see this too often. So, what's the problem? I would have thought that a glass would cool faster than a ceramic cup? And, to be honest, I would really be surprised if many people could judge the difference in taste, mouthfeel, etc of a coffee served in a cup assuming both drinks were at the same temp. My overall view is that the container is much less important than the beverage - I would rather get a fantastic coffee in a takeaway cup (whilst I generally don't) than a crap coffee in an illy cup. P

burnt_hands

I don't think anyone would disagree with you Reschsmooth, it is totally about the coffee, I would drink my coffee out of a shoe if it was practical (and didn't make my coffee taste like cheesy feet 😛 ) I do disagree that you can't drink a coffee until the mug/class/cup is cool enough to touch. Maybe I've got super sensitive hands (or no feeling in my mouth ;-) ) but you've hit on my exact point... When my latte arrives at my table, I want to, and can, drink my latte, except the glass is too hot to hold. The glass must go.

Lukey

I thought that in an earlier post someone said the flat white is made with instant? 8)

no, what i said was flat whites 'Were' made on instant, but 'NOW' is served as a traditional latte. we took a different brew method entirely and recreated the same thing on an espresso machine. reschsmooth, your right about people tasting the difference, your average joe wouldn't. at the end of the day, what's more important, what the coffee is served in or the coffee itself.

burnt_hands

Apologies Lukey, you did too. So then, just to be totally clear, except for the 5mm foam thing There is no difference at all between a latte and a flat white except the vessel they are served in? Latte = glass Flat white = cup/mug

Lukey

yes, no difference.

FreshCoffee2

In Canberra (which is where I work) it is "customary" to place a cappuccino in the cup, a flat white in the cup, and a larteh in a glass. I dont know how that became "customary", but that's what is done in our cafe market.... In the "old days" (in this market that would be anything before about 7 to 10 years ago), many espresso machine operators used to make flat whites and lartehs in different ways (a flat white was a kind of a badly made long black with milk in the top and a larteh was basically what it still is today) and I guess that might be why they are still served in different vessels and that is to differentiate between them. Today, presumably because most have finally woken up to the fact that you cant make a long black by flowing it all through the group to produce the worlds most crap coffee and then adding milk to turn it into a flat white, a) not many drink flat whites anymore (presumably because when made as above they taste like @#$%^& and have been given a "bad name"), and b) flat whites and lartehs are virtually the same thing bar the vessel they are presented in for your drinking pleasure. Being secure in the knowledge that in my neck of the woods a larteh is in a glass and a flat white & a cappuccino are in a cup, I suffered a bout of depression in Melbourne on the weekend when in 3 separate cafes they got it all bottoms up. We were served cappuccinos & flat whites in glass (and more of that in another topic shortly) rather than in the cup! What is the world coming to? regardz, FC.

mattyj

Just to clarify my gripe ... last week we went to port macquarie. There's some great cafe's there, but some preheated their little duralex glasses with boiler water. The cups would have been way hotter than the espresso, and certainly too hot to hold, or even touch.

burnt_hands

So the general consensus seems to be:

A latte and a flat white are the same coffee
A latte comes in a glass
A flat white comes in a cup or mug
Some people prefer the taste of a latte in a glass
Some people like the look of a latte in a glass
Some people don't

I'm off to buy a flat white and return these asbestos gloves

Remus

i always thought a latte had more milk than a flat white.

mattyj

to confuse the issue even more - what we call/define a flat white, in the US is a latte.

nunu

MMM...Makes me reminisce about egg nog lattes. Stop it Matty.

admin

hi guys - have just returned from a brief trip to NZ, where lattes are often served in a bowl - seriously. Makes you wonder where the different customs originate. ...will probably find it was as simple as someone coming across a crate of soup bowls at a 'surplus' auction and deciding to use them in the cafe... a practice which then 'caught on'. They now have rather beautifully decorated latte bowls at many cafes. In terms of standard definitions, just wanted to clarify - I understood ideal flat white to have only around 2 ml of densely textured milk on top, whereas an ideal latte would have around 5 ml. In terms of capacities, if you do a quick test, you'll find that the standard latte glass contains a little more room for milk than a ceramic flat white cup; otherwise there is no difference. -A

over_extracted

Same drink different name they both contain the same amount of coffee so whats the big deal flat white sounds like a cup of flat milk with coffee yuck..and why do people call cafe latte (larrey). :🙂 :🙂

askthecoffeeguy

Apologies Lukey, you did too. So then, just to be totally clear, except for the 5mm foam thing There is no difference at all between a latte and a flat white except the vessel they are served in? Latte = glass Flat white = cup/mug

Actually, technically, I believe that a flat white should have about 20mls of hot water in the bottom of the cup, followed by a single extraction of coffee, then topped with what I term as 'flat white' milk - meaning that the milk has been textured and rolled during heating, but not 'stretched.' Whereas when heating milk for a cafe latte, it is customary (in my joint at least) to increase the volume of the milk by about one third, whilst maintaining a rolling, whirlpool motion, to induce the froth-free micro-foam, which make for the lovely densely layered and textured effect, somewhat like pouring a Guinness! The resulting taste sensation should also be rich, smooth, and creamy - not unlike drinking a Guinness! There, that's my 5 cents worth, and don't get me started on cappuccinos! ACG

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