From mushroom lattes and cascara soda to coffee cocktails, here’s what’s shaking up the coffee world
1.Coffee-based cocktails
Forget the humble espresso martini. Coffee culture has recently undergone a serious evolution and caffeine-based cocktails have morphed accordingly. Try the cold brew Negroni, poured at Lunetta in Santa Monica, California, using Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur. And Super Lyan, which has just moved to Amsterdam from London, serves up a Nitro Martini made from a homemade cola-style syrup and nitro coffee.
2.Cascara soda
Cascara – the dried skins of the cherries that give rise to coffee beans – has long been a casualty of the coffee-making process, but it’s now playing a starring role in the coffee world. At the sleek Bonanza Roastery Café in Berlin, cascara is the basis for a refreshing soda. It’s also served with a splash of syrup at cult New York café Everyman Espresso and in a glass with refreshing sliced fruit at Homeground Coffee Roasters in Singapore.
3.Mushroom Lattes
Caffeine addicts and wellness enthusiasts have found common ground in an unlikely ingredient: mushrooms. In the last year, edible fungus – long lauded in India and China for its medicinal qualities, including the ability to boost moods and dissolve stress – has been ground to dust and used to brew lattes everywhere from Shroom Room along Los Angeles’ famous Abbot Kinney Boulevard to Knox Dining in Australia’s Surfer’s Paradise.
4.High-end Caffeine Fixes
Hong Kong caffeine temple The Coffee Academics offers a small number of hand-brewed cups of coffee made from Panama Geisha beans at HK$400 ($69) a cup. And late last year, Melbourne cafés Monk Bodhi Dharma, Admiral Cheng Ho and Bayano the Rebel started pouring a brew made from a limited-edition batch of José Alfredo coffee beans. The drink commands AU$150 a cup and is served, fittingly, in a glass goblet.
5.The Rise of Oat Milk
Oat milk began gaining traction last year, and the trend is set to hit peak popularity this year. The plant-based beverage is championed by baristas around the world for its subtle flavour and creamy, frothy texture that combines well with an exemplary espresso. It’s an environmentally friendly option, taking less water to produce than many of its other non-dairy counterparts. Sample it at PULP in Kuala Lumpur or at Fragments in Paris.