New to me with this thread - not only have I never stood within fifty feet of a “barista,” I manage to live in a Starbucks-free zone.
Obviously new to those who do know their green-aproned baristas by first name, given the overall squee level.
Cynical ol’ candy-coffee-hating, anti-marketing me wonders how Starbucks managed to find yet another variation of coffee+dairy that’s just so absolutely totally completely different from the nine other -inos, after all this time. And suspects that the seattleistic marketingspeak about “microfoamed milk” and other vaguely defined terms hides a few details, because that’s how the food industry works.
(F’rex - and not saying this is the case, but an example - that somewhere a loophole in nutrition and food disclosure laws allows them to omit mention of carrageenan gum or some other thickener used in the “Foamed Milk™”.)
That’s just it… this is enthusiast BS for what amounts to a fancy cappucino or latte. I’ve had a flat white… from Starbucks even, and I was underwhelmed. It was ok, and not a cappucino, but not so different that I’d proclaim it to be anything other than a variant of a cappucino or latte.
It’s the coffee equivalent of someone making a drink out of lime juice, orange liqueur, sugar and tequila, stirring it, serving it on the rocks and then claiming that it’s NOT a margarita because margaritas are shaken.
Open a new thread to discuss how much you don’t like Starbucks and find their drinks gimmicky. Let’s stay on topic here about how to recreate this at home and what the components of this drink are. If you want to discuss if you like the drink or not that’s fine, just keep it to your specific experiences.
ITD, I think that’s heavy-handed. Discussing “how to replicate a proprietary Starbucks drink at home” necessarily involves discussing what may or may not make it different from any similar type of beverage… including nothing but marketing and predefining customer expectations. For example, there are many generic flavors in the industry that are only “berry” or “cherry” or “tripleberry” or “foobar” because the package says so - but tasters will insist that it tastes like just that label. Very common in the food industry. The expectation becomes self-setting.
Given the claim of the two simple ingredients, identical to four or five other standard mixed coffee drinks purveyed by millions of sellers, there are only three possibilities:
A “flat white” is distinguishable from lattes and 'inos only because SB claims so.
A “flat white” uses ingredients hidden from the consumer to generate mouthfeel and flavor not available with any combination of coffee+milk, no matter how artfully processed at the counter.
After 20 years, SB has found a way to mix these two ingredients that no one else previously has, including them, and the process is likely not replicable by home baristas.
I think all of these are relevant to the discussion, but if it’s only to be a recipe thread, fine.
1 cup of diner coffee. Two tablespoons of Home Depot Flat Ceiling White. Stir. Enjoy.
Otherwise, I’d like to hear about some blind-tastings to see if aficionados can really tell one coffee+dairy drink from another, or if the difference is in the name and preset expectation.
Mod Hat On
You can discuss the specific drink and drinks Starbucks offers and how they relate to the OP’s question. It is the conversation of the value, quality and merits of Starbucks coffee in general that veers very close to the line of threadshitting.
If you’d like to discuss this further, open a thread in ATMB rather than discuss it here.
