THE SPECIALTY DRINK HAS TAKEN OVER AUSSIE CAFE COUNTERS. HERE’S OUR TAKE.
Look at many a local cafe’s Instagram right now and you’ll see it: a drink built in layers, topped with a garnish, sitting on the counter like it’s got some place to be. Specialty drinks aren’t a side hustle anymore, they’re pulling their weight on cafe menus nationwide.
The appeal is fairly obvious (aside from their utter deliciousness). A signature drink gives a cafe something a flat white doesn’t – a reason to standout, a reason for customers to talk about you, and a reason to charge a little extra for the additional effort that goes into building it. Add a layer of cold foam and a cute garnish and now you’ve also got some fresh content that does your marketing for free.
Cafes are treating these drinks the way a kitchen treats a specials board: something fresh, something seasonal, something worth coming back for before it’s gone.
Whether you’re looking to add specialty drinks to your cafe menu, or want to recreate it at home, this post is for you.
where it all started - the mont blanc.
A good place to start is the Mont Blanc, which many have attributed to Good Measure in Melbourne, with the owners saying the idea came from a cream-topped filter drink they had at a cafe in Korea. They first started selling them back in 2022 and were reportedly selling up to 800 a day on weekends at it’s peak!
Named after the French dessert, they took the cream-float format and rebuilt it around cold brew, finished with orange zest and a dust of nutmeg: rich, creamy and citrusy – almost more dessert than drink.
Since then, it’s been remixed by cafes around the country and overseas with everyone adding their unique spin on the cold foam, the syrup, the garnish while keeping the bones the same.
We’ve heard reports that the Good Measure version uses a high-quality black sugar syrup to sweeten the foam, but you don’t need to track that down to make a good one. Here’s the basics:
MONT BLANC – THE MELBOURNE CLASSIC
Ingredients (1 serve):
- Ice
- 200ml cold brew coffee (check out our cold brew guide if you don’t know where to start)
- 60ml heavy cream
- 35g brown sugar & vanilla syrup (we made our own – see below)
- Orange zest & nutmeg, to serve
Brown sugar syrup: a standard simple sugar syrup recipe using a 1:1 water to sugar ratio. In a saucepan, bring brown sugar & water (1 cup of each) to a simmer until dissolved. We added a little bit of vanilla bean paste too. Note: make sure you let this cool before making your cold foam.
Cold foam: Whisk the cream and syrup together until it thickens but is still pourable (should be smooth & silky).
How to make it: Fill a rocks glass with ice, and add cold brew until about two-thirds full. Gently layer the cold foam over the cold brew. Garnish with orange zest and a sprinkle of nutmeg.
left no crumbs - our take.
We originally built Left No Crumbs for the Q-Lit queer book fair, designed around the tasting notes of Pride Blend: rich, creamy and tastes just like a deconstructed banoffee pie. Pride Blend has since sold out, but the drink really holds up with any solid cold brew or chilled filter coffee – especially one with caramel / toffee notes.
LEFT NO CRUMBS – BANOFFEE + BISCOFF
Ingredients (1 serve):
- Ice
- 120g cold brew / chilled filter
- 10g Monin Yellow Banana syrup
- 10g Monin Caramel syrup
- 60g Flora thickened plant cream (we used this to keep it dairy-free for the event, but you can subsitute any thickened cream)
- 20g Biscoff spread (optional)
- Pinch of salt
- Crushed Biscoff biscuit, to serve
- Ground cinnamon, to serve
Cold foam: Whisk together the cream, caramel syrup, salt and Biscoff spread (optional addition) until thick and silky but still pourable.
Fill a rocks glass with ice, (we used the Rocks Glass from Loveramics) then add the cold brew and banana syrup and mix. Gently layer the cold foam over the cold brew. Garnish with crushed Biscoff and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
golden hour - the spritz.
Built for the warmer months: espresso over calamansi and soda, citrusy and bright rather than rich – this one’s proof that a specialty drink doesn’t always have to mean decadent.
Definitely suggest trying this one out using different flavour combos too – we’ve done a few variations of this drink with both the Monin Peach and Passionfruit purees in the past – can highly recommend!
GOLDEN HOUR – CALAMANSI SPRITZ
Ingredients (1 serve):
- Ice
- 45g espresso
- 30g Monin Calamansi Fruit Puree
- 180g soda water
- Fresh lime wedge, to serve
How to make it: Fill a tall glass with ice – we recommend the Loveramics narrow tumbler (pictured) or gin fizz glass.
Add the fruit puree and around a third of the soda water and muddle until incorporated. Add the remaining soda water, then gently layer the espresso on top to help keep it separated. Garnish with a fresh lime wedge.
blackforest tiramisu - the level up.
This last one is for the shaken-not-built camp: cherry and tiramisu syrups shaken hard with espresso, poured into a chilled glass and finished properly with chocolate and freeze-dried cherry.
It’s honestly more cocktail bar than coffee counter, and worth having in your kit for exactly that reason.
You could even experiment by adding your fave vodka or spirit to make a ‘spiked’ version.
BLACKFOREST TIRAMISU – DESSERT IN A GLASS
Ingredients (1 serve):
How to create: Add ice, espresso and syrups into a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until combined. Pour into a chilled cocktail glass – we recommend the Loveramics nick & nora glass (pictured).
Garnish with shaved chocolate and freeze-dried cherry dust and serve immediately.
IN COLLAB WITH MONIN & LOVERAMICS FOR CHEF’S HAT’S BLOCK PARTY.
These four drinks are the ones we brought to Chef’s Hat’s Block Party, where we teamed up with Monin (syrups) and Loveramics (glassware) for a masterclass & had the chance to put them in front of people in person. If you picked up a recipe card there and scanned your way back here, this is everything you need to recreate the magic again.
If you’ve found your way here without having been at the event, we hope you’ve enjoyed this little foray into specialty drinks. These four cover a wide range of options: the classic built around Aussie cold brew, a flavour combo we designed around a specific coffee, a spritz for when rich isn’t what you’re after, and one built for cafes who want to take their signature drink offering to the next level. Pick whichever fits your style, or use them as a starting point for building your own. We’d love to know how you go.
And last but not least, as the base of all these drinks, the quality of the coffee is super important, so head on over to the shop and stock up on your faves to do your drinks justice.
