Peter Andre’s flat white

“No one knows exactly where the flat white came from,” ponders Guardian columnist Zoe Williams. “Some people say New Zealand, while others believe it’s an Australian invention.” “Has anybody ever seriously had that conversation? Isn’t it like arguing about whether vandalism was — invented in Glasgow or Dundee?” Williams was at the launch of the flat white at London cafe Costa’s where English singer Peter Andre was on hand to introduce the Antipodean beverage to the press. “Costa’s aim was to ‘deliver the next big thing for coffee-lovers, and offer a premium product that’s not available at other coffee-shop chains’, though unfortunately it is thwarted in this by the fact that Starbucks started doing them in December. New Zealanders explained the appeal [of the flat white]: lattes are slightly too milky, see, and cappuccinos are too frothy and too chocolatey. The flat white has all the innovation of an Italian coffee (the fact that it actually tastes of coffee), with all the doughty practicality of the Anglo-Saxon beverage (you just add some milk; not a pint).”