A growing number of Sydney cafes are specialising in neither tea nor coffee. Rather, it’s a special third thing. This category celebrates all the forward-thinking cafes turning tradition on its head by serving express-brewed teas covered in cream-cheese foam; milky lattes whisked with hojicha; and pink-hued French Earl Grey in hot chocolate, with fairy floss.

You’ll find matcha and its many variations here. Yes, matcha is rooted in centuries of Chinese and Japanese tradition, but it stands apart from loose-leaf green tea due to its significant uptake in Sydney over the past two years. Harnessed for both its health and aesthetic properties, matcha has become synonymous with new-wave cafes, which serve it swirled with strawberry jam, whisked into cheesecakes and layered with thick milk foam.

Want to know more? Read on for Sydney’s best places to drink matcha and other specialty drinks. It’s part of Good Food’s Essential Sydney Cafes and Bakeries of 2025. Presented by T2, the guide celebrates the people and places that shape our excellent cafe and bakery scenes and includes more than 100 venues reviewed anonymously across 11 categories, including icons, those best for food, tea and coffee, and where to get the city’s best sweets, sandwiches and baked goods. (These reviews also live on theGood Food app, and are discoverable on the map.)

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Cre Asion

Step through the sheer curtains at Cre Asion to discover a pioneering matcha oasis in North Sydney, where the highest grade of this beautifully bitter Japanese tea has been whisked into specialty drinks and desserts since 2011. Japandi-style wood benches line the wall, facing glass pastry cabinets filled with verdant matcha green: fluffy swiss rolls, crumbly thick cookies and springy chiffon cake — also available in a nutty hojicha (roasted green tea) flavour with savoury azuki (red bean) cream.

Good to know: Peruse the shelves for ceremonial-grade matcha powder and whisks.

Multiple locations, creasion.com.au

Bubble Nini

The cutesy aesthetic of this Sydney-born cafe chain might not be for everyone, but there’s substance behind the library facade at the Zetland flagship. Teas are visually striking, varied (with options like premium green, jasmine and oolong), brewed to order and bright with flavour. The boba are the best part: preservative-free and made daily, infused with fresh ingredients like cherry blossoms, fresh fruit and strawberry jam.

Must order: Ready to lean into the cute? Pair your hazy peach milk tea with a jiggly pudding cat.

Multiple locations, bubblenini.com.au

Chubby Cubby Cafe

If Good Food presented an award for the biggest slice of banoffee, this calming hangout on busy George Street would most likely claim the trophy. Chubby rocks a range of extra-large fruit-covered shokupan toasts too, but we’re most keen for the matcha latte crowned with thick whipped einspanner cream.

Best for: Working on your laptop with matcha and cheesecake as writing fuel.

810 George Street, Haymarket, instagram.com/chubbycubbycafe

Mamuki Bake Bar

Strawberry matcha lattes are all well and good, but how about a mango matcha smoothie at this Enmore Road newcomer? Green tea powder colour-boosts everything here, from the pastry cabinet’s ace banana bread to the many Instagram-optimised drinks whisked to order. This cafe’s robust stocks of matcha are drawn from three suppliers and working directly with Japanese farmers.

Must order: The Matcha Cloud layered with coconut water and velvety foam.

147 Enmore Road, Enmore, instagram.com/mamuki.bake.bar

Molly Tea

Molly is a new kid on the burgeoning specialty tea scene block that is Burwood Road. The Chinese chain, founded in Shenzen in 2020, is recognisable for its pastel pink aesthetic, strong jasmine tea fragrance, and high-tech automated brewing equipment. Touch screens make ordering easy, explaining unexpectedly delicious blends such as the floral and refreshing “pistachio jasmine coco” (green tea with coconut water and pistachio cream-cheese foam).

Good to know: Molly has developed its own signature straw, three tiny tubes fused together, for better sipping.

192 Burwood Road, Burwood, mollytea.com.au

Moon and Back

Matcha meets innovation in this industrial-minimalist cafe beneath a modern apartment building in Rosebery. This is where you’ll find ceremonial-grade matcha from the renowned Uji growing region in Kyoto, served with dainty skewers of house-made dango (chewy rice flour dumplings) or whipped into creamy clouds atop coconut water or milk. Cold brew coffee gets a floral flourish with jasmine, maple syrup and milk foam in the signature “Kumo” drink.

Best for: Appeasing your sweet-tooth on a solo date.

7/2 Crewe Place, Rosebery, moonandbacksyd.square.site

Sneaker Laundry Lab

This underground triple-threat sells specialty concoctions of coffee and matcha alongside grab-and-go Japanese-ish meals, all while sprucing up your dirty sneakers. Drop your shoes off and pick up a freshly whisked matcha with zesty yuzu, or served cold and milky with a “cloud” of nutty kinako (roasted soybean powder) foam. There’s no seating in the ’00s-futurist space, but the fridge is stocked with onigiri from local master Oniballs in flavours including nasi lemak.

Good to know: Spilled your matcha? Sneaker Laundry sells a great stain removing marker.

Basement Level 3, 2 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, thesneakerlaundry.com.au

Tea & Co

Take a seat on the polished concrete bench as you watch the espresso machines rasping with steam as they pressure-brew tea leaves to order. Within a minute or two the automated Big Brother voice booms out your order number, and there it is: a supersized (no, there aren’t smaller sizes) “snowy mountain osmanthus oolong fresh milk tea”. Translated: cold oolong tea with milk and cream cheese foam, or liquefied dessert for grown-ups.

Good to know: Want some coffee with your tea? Tea & Co offers a specialised blend of the two.

1/180-186 Burwood Road, Burwood, instagram.com/teaandcoau

Tea Republic

This is no ordinary bubble tea spot. It’s a light-filled space where baristas brew to order with freshly ground leaves and health-forward ingredients such as oats and coconut jelly. The fun is in choosing your tea and toppings: osmanthus to golden sencha; honey pearls to mini mochi. Tweak your ice level, sweetness and temperature, too, and enjoy your latest creation at the drink-in Mascot location.

Must order: Roasted milk with all-combination toppings.

Multiple locations, tearepublic.au

T Totaler

Husband and wife Amber and Paul Sunderland launched their premium Australian-grown tea brand in 2012 with the aim of changing the public perception of what tea could be. Now, they have 30 blends at their tiny flagship, which acts as a retail shop and peddler of the fabulous tea creations favoured by restaurants including two-hatted Bennelong. Bestsellers include a peppery masala chai and refreshing tea negroni cocktail.

Must order: The signature French Earl Grey hot chocolate topped with Persian fairy floss.

The Galeries, 500 George Street, Sydney, ttotalertea.com

Good Food’s Essential Sydney Cafes and Bakeries of 2025, presented by T2, celebrates the people and places that shape our excellent cafe and bakery scenes and includes more than 100 venues reviewed anonymously across 11 categories, including icons, those best for food, tea, coffee and matcha, and where to get the city’s best sweets, sandwiches and baked goods. Download the Good Food app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store to discover what’s near you.