I blame most of my confusion on how thick-headed I tend to be before my first cup of coffee in the morning. But all this time I'd chalked it up to variations between baristas and coffee shops, never understanding those were the chief, intentional differences between the two drinks. Of course I'd noticed that the flat whites I ordered tended to be hotter and thicker than the cortados and usually featured 'latte art' on top.

'But the flat white is basically a small latte.' It all started to click in my head. However, I'm ashamed to admit that until today, I didn't really know what I was ordering when I asked for a cortado or a flat white-just that it was espresso and steamed milk in a petite cup and it was perfect.Ī cortado, made with steamed but not textured | Photo by Kaleb Fulghamįellow barista Kyle VanDevender chimed in: 'The amount of espresso is the same in both drinks,' he said. I usually settled for coffee with a touch of cream until my Goldilocks-like hunt led me to cortados and flat whites, where the ratio of coffee to milk was just right. I never cared for straight up espresso no milk at all. What I do know that life before the two coffee drinks-found in Houston at places like Blacksmith, Southside Espresso, Inversion, and Revival Market-was a gloomy and dismal affair. The excessive amount of caffeine I consume on a daily basis has surely fried those circuits in my brain by now, although I'm fairly certain one of the two was given to me by a kind barista at Catalina Coffee one morning when I couldn't make up my mind. I don't remember the first time I ordered a cortado. I don't remember the first time I ordered a flat white.

A typical flat white with telltale textured milk.

What is a flat white coffee