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.”
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