Frothing over: the coffee foams and ‘indulgent’ drinks keeping Australian cafes afloat
Cold brews and matcha lattes with airy, dessert-like layers are everywhere.What’s driving the trend for blockbuster toppings?Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailCoffee brimming with lemon myrtle cream.Matcha banked with strawberry-lychee foam.Cold brew with choc-orange froth thick enough to stuff a pillow.Every caffeinated drink I’ve ordered in Sydney recently has the appearance of a generously frosted cake.
It’s a trend you’ll see – or sip – across Australia, from Toasted Carine’s iced latte with maple cold foam in Perth to Le Bajo’s chilled oolong tea with raspberry cream in Melbourne.They’re not the usual wisps of steam-wand aerated milk that crown cappuccinos and flat whites.These blockbuster toppings look as if they’ll capsize your drink.“They’re typically made from heavy cream, or a blend of cream and milk, often flavoured with syrups and poured on iced drinks.The result is a thicker, richer, more dessert-like layer that sits on top of the drink rather than integrating into it,” says Ben Bicknell, co-host of the It’s Just Coffee! podcast.
Turbocharging this trend in Australia is the Mont Blanc, the signature drink at Melbourne’s Good Measure,It features filter coffee lavished with so much orange-zested, nutmeg-sprinkled cream, it makes up one-third of the drink,The beverage has been a top-selling order since the cafe opened in late 2021,“The Mont Blanc is arguably the biggest thing to happen to Australian cafes since smashed avocado,” says It’s Just Coffee! co-host Rohan Cooke,“Variations and knock-offs have appeared all over the country, and for good reason.
”Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morningReddit threads suggest where to find Mont Blanc replicas in Sydney, Canberra and the Gold Coast, while Adelaide’s Mascavado makes a variant dolloped with matcha cheesecake cream,But demand for the original Mont Blanc hasn’t peaked yet,On weekends, Good Measure still sells more than 1,000 a day,Good Measure co-owner, Brandon Jo, says the drink is inspired by something he ordered at Seoul’s Millo Coffee Roasters about 12 years ago,“I was like: oh my God, did they put cream on filter coffee?”That beverage was also called a Mont Blanc, but Good Measure’s version is quite different.
Batch-brewed filter coffee is sweetened with a dark sugar syrup, pure cream is aerated in a Thermomix, and orange zest is freshly grated over the top, so the beverage hits the table with a fragrant citrus haze.Creamy coffee-toppings have crossed over from the world of barista competitions, says Bora Jin, venue manager at Sydney’s Ona cafe, while Jo thinks the popularity of layered, topping-rich drinks is spurred by bubble-tea culture which uses cheese foams and salt foams.Bicknell also credits the influence of Japanese and Korean cafes, where “coffee is treated as one ingredient in a drink, rather than the drink itself”.Not that the idea is new.“Cream-topped coffee has a long history, from the Einspänner served in 19th-century Vienna to Vietnam’s cà phê trứng, which features a sweet, creamy egg foam,” Bicknell says.
Brisbane cafe owner, Marie David, was won over by Good Measure’s creation during a Melbourne trip, where she ordered the drink 12 times in one week.A tribute version appears at her Lola’s Coffee Bar outlets in Tarragindi and Kelvin Grove.Since opening in mid-2023, a whole inventory of foams have lined her cold beverages: pistachio and peanut creams; a spiced-fruit foam that tops a four-layer banana bread matcha.At first, customers had to be convinced to try them.Now David sees foam everywhere.
“Cafe owners now understand that people look for more unique drinks,” she says.“What makes some of our foam different is that it may not necessarily be on top of the drink,” David says.Regardless of placement, these foams add extra colour to the candy-striped lines of matcha, coffee and additional flavours in each beverage – inspiring customers to reach for their cameras.“Social media is such a big part of this blowing up,” says Jin.“It’s hard to attract gen Z customers and younger generations if we don’t have one of those drinks on the menu.
”And these foam clouds have a silver lining,In a time of matcha shortages, padding lattes with a cumulonimbus of cream or coconut is a resourceful way to stretch green-tea powder stocks,While Jo says rising coffee prices means “margins are the lowest they have ever been”,Bicknell agrees: “It’s far more profitable for a venue to crack open a beer than it is to meticulously craft a flat white for $5,” Although social media abounds with recipes for making the Mont Blanc at home, it’s hard to channel Good Measure’s elegant atmosphere in your kitchen.
Who wants to spend precious free time replicating banana-bread foam or butterfly-pea cream at home?“People are far more willing to spend $9 to $12 on a drink that feels indulgent, unique and occasional, rather than a daily habit,” says Bicknell.“In that sense, these foamy drinks aren’t just a trend, they’re one of the ways cafes are trying to stay afloat.”
Ratcliffe says immigrants cost too much, while Ineos lobbies for state funding
The backlash against Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s comments about immigrants to the UK “costing too much” for the state comes at an awkward time for his loss-making Ineos business.The billionaire industrialist’s sprawling empire, which ranges from chemicals to car making, has sought government financial support worth hundreds of millions of pounds and is lobbying for further state aid from the UK and EU to stay afloat.Britain’s seventh-richest man provoked outrage by accusing immigrants of “colonising” Britain and implying that people on benefits were an unaffordable drain on public funds.But Ratcliffe, who has also described carbon taxes as “the most idiotic tax in the world”, has in recent years laid claim to state support through grants and loan guarantees worth about €800m from UK and EU governments to help his refineries and chemicals plants during an extended downturn for the industry.Ratcliffe told Sky News: “You can’t have an economy with 9 million people on benefits and huge levels of immigrants coming in
Ex-Barclays boss Jes Staley was trustee of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate until 2015, files say
The former Barclays boss Jes Staley was named as a trustee of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate until at least May 2015, according to documents that appear to contradict court testimony given by the banker.This month the Guardian revealed that US prosecutors had reviewed allegations of rape and bodily harm against Staley, who denies any wrongdoing. He has never been charged with a crime related to the allegations.On Thursday, documents emerged that raised questions over whether Staley gave inaccurate evidence in court last year about the nature of his ties to the late convicted sex offender Epstein.Staley’s signature appears on a copy of the Jeffrey E Epstein 2014 Trust, dated November 2014, where he is named as one of three trustees
Schroders agrees £9.9bn takeover by US investor, ending 200 years of family ownership
Schroders has agreed a £9.9bn takeover by a US investor, ending two centuries of family ownership of the historic British asset management group.Chicago-based Nuveen will buy the City firm, it said on Thursday, in a deal that will create one of the world’s biggest fund managers, controlling about $2.5tn (£1.8tn) of assets
UK economy limps along at 0.1% growth – but there are reasons for optimism in 2026
Rachel Reeves has suggested 2026 is the year Labour can start to deliver on its economic promises; but 0.1% GDP growth in the final quarter of last year is hardly the springboard she was hoping for.In the supportive message on X she sent on Monday as Keir Starmer’s future appeared under threat, the chancellor claimed “the conditions for the economy to grow are there”.But the latest data, published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), suggests that despite six interest rate cuts from the Bank of England since mid-2024, consumers and businesses are not yet taking the hint.Output from the key services sector was flat over the final quarter of the year, the ONS said, with construction – crucial to Labour’s ambitious housebuilding targets – declining by 2
UK economy grows by only 0.1% amid falling business investment
The UK economy expanded by only 0.1% in the final three months of last year, according to official data, as falling business investment and weak consumer spending led to little momentum going into 2026.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the economy grew at the same rate of 0.1% as the previous three months. This was less than a 0
Housing market in England and Wales ‘showing tentative signs of recovery’
There are “tentative signs” that the housing market in England and Wales is recovering from a months-long slowdown after uncertainty around the autumn budget and economic pressures, estate agents and surveyors have reported.The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said its members were feeling more optimistic about the year ahead than at any time since December 2024, as inquiries from new buyers, agreed sales and house prices became less negative in January.A monthly survey of chartered surveyors in England and Wales showed a net balance of 35% of Rics members expect an increase in house sales over the next 12 months. The index measures the difference between the share of agents reporting rising and falling optimism.Demand from new buyers was still down, however, with a net balance of -15% of respondents saying they had seen a further decrease in inquiries in January, but Rics said this figure showed “diminished negativity”, after a reading of -21% in December and -29% in November
Is it possible to develop AI without the US?
Apple and Google pledge not to discriminate against third-party apps in UK deal
Beats Powerbeats Fit review: Apple’s compact workout earbuds revamped
Files cast light on Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to cryptocurrency
EU threatens to act over Meta blocking rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp
Logitech MX Master 4 review: the best work mouse you can buy