The Flat White That Arrived in a Bucket

The Drink Nobody Can Define

The barista slides a ceramic cup across the counter. You ordered a flat white. What you're looking at could pass for a small latte, maybe even a cappuccino with ambitions. The espresso, somewhere at the bottom, has been diluted into something closer to warm milk with coffee memories.

This scene plays out daily in specialty cafés from Sofia to Sydney, pointing to a genuine problem: nobody agrees on what a flat white actually is.

The flat white's origin story remains contested. New Zealand claims it. Australia claims it. What's certain is that the drink has become one of the most ordered items in specialty coffee worldwide, despite what Perfect Daily Grind calls "the most undefined drink" in the industry.

In Sofia's growing specialty coffee scene, this ambiguity creates real friction. Walk into a third-wave café on ul. Tsar Shishman and order a flat white; you might receive 160ml of concentrated espresso and silky microfoam. Cross the street to another shop, and the same order arrives at 220ml, closer to what most Europeans would call a latte.

Roasteries like Blue Bag Specialty Coffee, which supplies over a dozen partner cafés across Sofia, face this inconsistency across their entire network.

A Brief History of Moving Targets

Milk-based coffee drinks have always shifted with geography and time. The cappuccino began in Viennese coffee houses during the 1800s as brewed coffee mixed with milk or cream, tinted to match the robes of Capuchin monks. Italy reshaped it in the 1900s. The Italian National Espresso Institute defines it as 25ml of espresso topped with 100ml of steamed milk, with distinct layers and a domed white top.

The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) now describes a cappuccino as a 150-180ml drink with a single espresso shot and at least 1cm of microfoam. The latte typically ranges from 236ml to 340ml with around 0.5cm of microfoam. The flat white sits somewhere between these two, but exactly where depends on who you ask.

The Numbers Behind the Confusion

Tibor Hámori, the 2025 Belgian Cup Tasters Champion and barista at Caffenation in Antwerp, has a precise definition.

For me, the ideal flat white is a 160-180ml drink with a double espresso that yields around 40-45 grams maximum.

Tibor Hámori

In Hungary, flat whites were typically served in glass at 180ml maximum. In Belgium, the same drink runs 20-30ml larger and usually arrives in a cup. The gap widens dramatically across continents: "They can be up to 50ml larger in Asia than in Belgium, which means a 70ml difference compared to Hungary."

Major chains have compounded the problem by offering "small" and "large" flat whites, contradicting the drink's Antipodean origins. The Guardian documented customer frustration with this practice earlier this year.

The Case For and Against Standards

Clearer definitions would help. Baristas could guide customers toward drinks that match their expectations. Remakes would decrease. Waste would drop.

But standardisation faces a fundamental obstacle: regional taste varies too much. Asian and American consumers generally prefer larger, milkier drinks. Australian and European customers lean toward smaller, stronger ones. Any fixed size risks alienating customers accustomed to different norms. Agreement on size would also require consensus on microfoam depth, milk-to-espresso ratio, and vessel type.

Customers will always dictate what they want based on their own tastes, and the industry will mostly follow that. At the end of the day, we are there for the guests and to serve them, not the other way around.

Tibor Hámori

Where Sofia Stands

As Bulgaria's specialty coffee culture matures, with more SCA-trained baristas and a growing network of third-wave cafés, the conversation about standards becomes more relevant. But full standardisation seems unlikely. Definitions will continue to be shaped by history, geography, and shifting taste rather than universal agreement.

The next time you order a flat white in Sofia, ask your barista what size they serve. The answer will tell you something about their training, their philosophy, and the customers they've learned to serve.