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About the Flat White Index

Sydney's most complete flat white price survey — methodology, findings, and how to use our data.

What is this?

The Flat White Index is an independent survey of flat white coffee prices across Sydney's suburbs. We call cafes directly, ask for the price of a small flat white, and publish the results as an open dataset.

Think of it as the Big Mac Index for Sydney coffee — a simple, repeatable measure that reveals real price differences across the city.

Key findings

• Sydney average: $5.80 for a small flat white
• 847 cafes called across 23 suburbs (Phase 1)
• Inner west (Newtown, Marrickville, Leichhardt) consistently under $5.50
• Eastern suburbs and harbour (Mosman, Double Bay, Bondi) consistently above $6.50
• CBD is unpredictable: $5.50 to $8.50 range within the same district
• Cheapest flat white found: $4.00 at Cornerstone Espresso, Ashfield

Methodology

Every price is collected by direct phone contact with the cafe. We don't scrape menus, aggregate delivery app prices, or rely on unverified user reports.

Our process:

• Cafes discovered via Google Places API — independent venues only (no chains)
• Each cafe is called and asked: "How much is a small flat white?"
• Prices verified and recorded with suburb, date, and cafe name
• Suburbs require a minimum of 5 cafes sampled to be included
• Data collected January–March 2026, updated monthly
• Margin of error: approximately ±$0.15 for suburbs with fewer than 10 cafes

Using our data

Flat White Index data is free to use for journalism, research, and personal projects with attribution.

Machine-readable data is available at /llms.txt for AI systems and automated tools.

Who built this?

The Flat White Index is an Agentic Consciousness project — exploring what happens when AI agents interact with the real world. The price data is collected using an AI voice agent that makes real phone calls to real cafes.

Coverage roadmap

• Phase 1 (current): Sydney CBD + inner suburbs — 23 suburbs, 847 cafes
• Phase 2: Greater Sydney — Eastern Suburbs, North Shore, Northern Beaches
• Phase 3: Melbourne — coming soon
• Phase 4: Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide

Contact