HSC Hospitality exam: HSC coffee question baffles baristas
An HSC exam question asking students to differentiate between a cappuccino and a flat white has sparked a caffeine-fuelled war of words between baristas. CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE?
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A storm in a coffee cup is brewing among the state’s top baristas over a deceptively simple HSC exam question asking students to differentiate between a cappuccino and a flat white.
Students were asked to examine a diagram of two different caffeinated beverages and correctly identify the styles of coffee in Friday’s Hospitality Food and Beverage exam.
But professional baristas said students would find the question “tricky” and could not reach a consensus on the correct answer when asked by The Daily Telegraph for their professional opinion.
Australian Specialty Coffee Association president Kieran Westlake said the first beverage was obviously a long black and the second diagram was a flat white.
“(Based) on the Australian market and coffee culture, B would correct, and importantly, if you ordered either in a cafe you would most likely get the drink you wanted,” he said.
“This is a tricky question for students, as the answer is dependant on geography and coffee cultural of where it is served.”
But other baristas including Tobias Audrey who educates baristas for Surry Hills’ Single O Coffee which supplies hundreds of cafes around the country, he said the correct answer was C cappuccino.
“Under our current standards that could easily be a cappuccino or a latte,” he said.
“People care now more about the quality of espresso and having silky quality milk, not the volume of foam.”
However according to Newcastle’s Crema Coffee Garage’s head of training Adam Carter, the answer for the first one was a long black and the second beverage in the diagram was clearly B, a flat white —because cappuccinos traditionally have more foam than the beverage depicted in the diagram.
“I would definitely call it a flat white — professionally, I don’t believe in one style of milk, I believe in three different levels of foam,” he said.
“Considering it is an Australian exam, I would call it a flat white.”
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But Alex Murfet from the Australian Barista Guild said he believed it was a cappuccino.
“I’d say C. As I wouldn’t expect a true flat white to have foam, only steamed milk,” he said.
He noted traditional coffee education varied widely to what actually happened in cafes, with most baristas making a single type of milk regardless of whether it was a latte, flat white or cappuccino.
“Traditional coffee education makes a clear distinction between different styles of milk coffee that both the modern coffee drinker and cafe doesn’t make,” he said.
“I would argue that what most cafes serve as a flat white, is not a traditional flat white.
“They may order a flat white, more often out of habit, but receive something that by the book is more similar to a cappuccino. But many customers don’t notice or don’t care.”
Other questions in the HSC Hospitality exam were less complicated, including one which asked what method one could use to make a fruit smoothie. Students had to choose between blending, juicing, mixing or shaking.