Melbourne cafes are introducing long menus of iced drinks for their customers, headlined by coconut, matcha, orange zest, mango, foams and − yes − the occasional shot of coffee. But caffeine is not the point.

“I have some customers who come in and order the same coffee every day,” says Joey Chen of Hawthorn specialty cafe Four Kilo Fish. “But when they get their second coffee, in the afternoon, they’ll ask if we have something special or something new.”

That second coffee might cost $10 or more, but baristas say that the skills and ingredients required for these next-wave drinks are closer to those seen in cocktail bars and warrant the price tag.

A signature drink is now a must-have for cafe owners like Chen, who are adding fresh spices like nutmeg, infused creams and even juice to coffee to compete for the dollars of a discerning young market.

“Gen Z is drinking less and less hot coffee,” says Lachlan Ward, chief executive of St Ali, a roaster with eight cafes in Australia and overseas.

After a hot morning coffee, he says, this demographic will switch to iced drinks for their second or third cup of the day. In response, St Ali has expanded its menu to eight iced drinks.

“It’s a big focus for us,” he says. “The Asian demographic, who are now a big part of our customer base, are all about it. And it’s the younger coffee drinkers in general.”

St Ali’s team watched this trend gain pace throughout 2023 and has taken research trips to Korea to seek inspiration for new drinks.

These include the Banana Paradiso, which is served in a tall glass usually reserved for margaritas and combines espresso and ice-cream with a big swirl of banana curd on top.

Axil Coffee has nine iced drinks, including a coffee-free taro drink that uses a syrup made from the naturally sweet root vegetable. It “tastes like popcorn cake”, according to Darcy Jones, the roaster’s coffee training manager.

While Jones says people of all ages and backgrounds buy iced coffees at Axil, he was somewhat influenced by Gen Z when creating the new drinks.

“I definitely had Instagram in my mind. Pretty much all of the cold drinks in our new menu are different colours: the taro is purple, the matcha is green, the iced coffees are beautiful coffee colours.”

At Levi in Murrumbeena, in Melbourne’s south, owner Harry Butler says the clear plastic cups used to serve iced lattes – an iced coffee without ice-cream – have become a fashionable accessory among twenty-somethings.

“It’s almost a look,” he says. “They just want what their friend is having rather than chasing what they typically have as a coffee.”

Chen and Ward compare the complexity of their next-generation iced drinks to cocktails. It’s part of the reason some cost upwards of $10. Many of them also have memorable names, just like a bar’s signature drinks.

“These are drinks that are put together and considered in the same way a cocktail barman would put together a drink. For that reason, they’re priced accordingly,” says Ward.

This is also the approach of Brandon Jo and Max Alison, two bartenders who teamed up with friend Mitchell Miller to open Good Measure, a cafe by day and a bar – Counter Measure – by night.

“Max and I had done cocktails for a long time and we said: why should the bar have all the fun?” says Jo.

They created a much-imitated drink called the Mont Blanc, which pairs filter coffee with a creamy head. Two years on, Good Measure now sells 2000 Mont Blancs every week, and to people of all ages.

“Everyone seems to want to try something new in regards to coffee,” Jo says.

He welcomes the opportunity to broaden Melbourne’s appreciation for coffee beyond purist drinks like black coffee with no sugar.

“Within Melbourne, everyone has a great knowledge of coffee and knows what they like and where they like to go. Now they can see another way of how coffee can be,” Jo says.

Chen agrees. “We can have more diversity, rather than just seeing coffee as an energy drink for everyday needs.”

Five new-wave iced coffees to try around Melbourne

Mont Blanc at Good Measure ($8)

One of the front-runners of Melbourne’s next-gen iced coffee phenomenon, this drink was inspired by an Irish Coffee (whisky, coffee, cream) sans booze. Chilled Code Black batch brew is sealed by a thick cap of aerated Riverina Fresh cream, with orange zest and grated nutmeg the aromatic final flourish.
193 Lygon Street, Carlton, goodmeasure.au

Freddo Cappuccino at Axil Coffee ($6)

This tall glass of refreshment was inspired by a team trip to Greece – home of the freddo – for a coffee competition. While more people know the Greek frappe, which is made with instant coffee, this is the drink for specialty coffee buffs. An iced long black is topped with milk that’s been whisked with ice cubes in a milkshake maker to create a foamy texture: the perfect contrast to the black gold beneath.
Various locations, axilcoffee.com.au

L.O.M. at Four Kilo Fish ($8.50)

Named for the initials of a Thai, coconut-flavoured lolly, this drink is mostly coconut water. The coffee comes into play only in the cream crown on top. Ethiopian single-origin coffee (known for its floral notes) is infused into cream along with Earl Grey tea. When the cream and the liquid combine, they melt in your mouth, says owner Joey Chen.
834 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, fourkilofish.com.au

Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew, Path Coffee ($10)

This highly regarded roaster sources coffees from all over the world and brings you along on the journey with a cute colour-coded menu that explains each flavour profile. But Path isn’t afraid to have fun. Why not take a Starbucks signature and adult it up? The chain’s pumpkin spice latte is reimagined here in foam form: still full of toasty cinnamon and clove notes, but made with oat milk and far less sugar. The mellow flavours of cold brew underneath the foam keep the richness in check.
362 Victoria Street, North Melbourne, pathmelbourne.com

Orthodox Freddo at St Ali ($13)

Espresso with pineapple? Yes, you read right. That’s not all that’s going on in this bestseller, though. A syrup of orange, passionfruit and pineapple is mixed with coffee, then topped with full-cream milk and a cold milk foam dusted with cocoa powder. The bright tropical flavours are echoed by a wheel of dried orange on top. “It’s like a big warm hug, but in a cold cup,” says chief executive Lachlan Ward.
12-18 Yarra Place, South Melbourne, stali.com.au