Wellington flat white on Starbucks menu

Wellington's coffee invention adopted in the US

We gave the world Lorde, pavlova, and now - according to the Wellington man who says he invented it - the flat white coffee.

Global coffee empire Starbucks listed the flat white coffee on its United States and Canadian menus this month. It was already available in England and Australia.

According to the Starbucks website, the flat white is thought to have been created in the 1980s in Sydney, Australia, though there are claims of it being in Melbourne earlier.

A statement from Starbucks said the flat white "became a coffeehouse staple in the UK and is now a budding favorite among coffee aficionados in the United States and Canada".

The statement, though, made no mention of New Zealand.

The real history of the flat white is murky, with the name seemingly preceding the drink as we know it and the drink itself changing from city to city.

But Wellington hospitality stalwart Fraser McInnes claimed he invented the exact flat white being used by Starbucks.

Rather than considering legal action he was "chuffed" to see his invention being drunk around the world.

It was New Zealand's "greatest contribution to the world's cuisine since the pavlova", he said. His flat white - a double shot of espresso topped with a silky layer of foam on top - came about when he was trying to make a cappuccino at Cafe Bodega in Willis St in the summer of late 1989.

It was the end of summer and there was not enough fat to properly froth the milk. "I went over to the customer and said Sorry, it's a flat white."

His business partner then listed the flat white on the menu blackboard.  

It might have been a failed capuccinno, but it immediately became immensely popular, spreading around Wellington's cafes.

Craig Miller, whose book Coffee Houses of Wellington is about to be launched, has several different stories.

Starbucks, on the other hand, declined to comment.