If coffee’s not sweetened and topped with cream, we don’t want it – or at least Gen Z don’t. Gone are the days of the humble flat white and long black. Melbourne cafes and coffee shops are now overflowing with cold foam lattes of all kinds. Banana bread, tiramisu, Milo and Biscoff are just some of the flavours you might find in your cup of coffee in 2026.
Carlton cafe Good Measure was one of the first to pioneer the two-toned Mont Blanc drink – a cold brew coffee capped with cream and finished with freshly grated orange zest and a sprinkle of nutmeg. It sells close to 6500 Mont Blancs in an average week. Other venues caught on and you’ll now find Mont Blancs all over town, as cafes attempt to put their own stamp on the drink.
Hole-in-the-wall coffee stand Pinned Coffee opened on Rankins Lane in the CBD in June to queues of customers eager to try their Lion Tamer brew – a double ristretto by Reverence Coffee Roasters, poured over sweetened milk and topped with fresh cream and orange zest. Pinned also serves a more classic Mont Blanc cold brew, plus a straightforward Einspanner, the Viennese drink of espresso topped with whipped cream, now popularised by Korean coffee culture.
“I think coffee has become much more creative over the past few years,” Pinned owner Lik Kuang Wong says. “Since drinks like matcha became so popular, people have become much more open to trying different styles of coffee instead of sticking to a regular latte or flat white.”
The following list is merely a teaser – you’ll be hard-pressed to find a menu without cold foam in the 100 Essential Melbourne Cafes and Bakeries of 2026, available now on the Good Food app and website.
ACoffee
It’s giving minimalist, all-white Apple store, but the focus of this chic converted garage is coffee all the way. Join those in the know, who cross town for the house blend, pour-overs, cold brews and einspanners – a decadent Viennese number that tops espresso with whipped cream – before buying beans to take home. Snacks also keep it simple: flaky Cobb Lane pastries both sweet and savoury. Acoffee is a calming space to recalibrate and recaffeinate. Also in the CBD.
Good to know: Beans are roasted lighter than the norm to help preserve flavour complexity.
30 Sackville Street, Collingwood acoffee.com.au
Airflow Coffee Co
Tucked in a covered laneway near Queen Victoria Market, Airflow centres on coffees grown or roasted across Asia, including China and Hong Kong. Rotating filter blends are brewed with care to a soundtrack of lo-fi hip-hop and jazz. Specialty drinks include the bright and floral Lucid Dream: Ethiopian cold brew with lemon, osmanthus and a cap of fresh cream.
Must order: Rotating filter coffee and shokupan topped with either red bean and butter, maple syrup and cream, or egg salad.
2/243 Franklin Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/airflowcoffeeco
Catalogue Coffee
A muted grey facade gives away nothing from the street, but this is a home away from home for bean nerds and residents of nearby apartments. Consistently excellent Market Lane espresso is the gateway to single origin drinks made with beans from Sample, Headlands and other roasters. Some will make you rethink what you thought you knew about coffee. For a bit of fun, a bright filter topped with miso caramel cream is the right kind of incongruous.
Best for: Solo escapes or takeaway – this is not a place for big groups.
Unit 1/36 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, cataloguemelb.com
Good Measure
This timber-lined cafe and vinyl bar helped pioneer Melbourne’s two-tone iced coffee trend, creating the Mont Blanc – coffee layered with a thick head of spiced cream – which warrants the crowds it draws. But playful drinks don’t end there; try the affogato-inspired matcha float with coconut sorbet, well-matched with a slice of matcha Basque cheesecake. Or go savoury with chilli-cheese croissants and pastrami toasties packed with house-made kraut and chilli-crisp mayo. The cafe also stays open after dark, serving cocktails, beers and wines (and coffee) from 1pm until late.
Must order: The Mont Blanc with batch brew, aerated cream, orange zest and nutmeg.
193 Lygon Street, Carlton, goodmeasure.au
Groove
Just off the Vietnamese hub that is Victoria Street, this industrial-chic coffee shop has 40-plus specialty drinks. The signature? Ca phe trung, a famous Hanoi-style coffee that’s topped with a velvety foam of whisked egg yolk and condensed milk. And the most popular? An iced coffee defined by its head of sweet, salted Vietnamese-imported whipping cream. Also find various matchas and iced teas, plus burnt Basque cheesecake.
Must order: Ca phe trung coffee.
17 Lithgow Street, Abbotsford, instagram.com/groove.mel
Heebi
Named for the Japanese word hibi, meaning “daily life”, this cosy sibling to Japanese kissaten-inspired cafe Omo in the CBD acts as a third space for work-from-homers; a casual hang for uni students; and a destination for specialty coffee, matcha and baked goods. Warm, buttery shio pan, the Japanese salt bread, is baked fresh daily and best dunked in salty-sweet shio cold cream coffee. The fitout feels akin to a warm living room, with dark timber furnishings, stained glass, vintage light shades and mid-century modern pieces sourced across Melbourne.
Must-order: Heebi Deep coffee with shio pan.
127 Pelham Street, Carlton, instagram.com/heebicafe
More Coffee
Anyone can froth cream and pour it over cold brew, but not everyone can make a coffee look as pretty as the ones at More. Owner Junnie Phyu has won multiple latte art competitions and brings that precision to every cup. Specialty coffee, especially pour-overs, are the focus but the matcha is also excellent. Both pair well with sweet and savoury pastries from Publique.
Must order: Dirty peach: coffee, peach cream and orange peel.
351 Burwood Road, Hawthorn, morecoffeemelbourne.com.au
Omo
New-wave drinks, exposed concrete and QR code ordering are nothing new, but few cafes combine all that with stately dark timber and vintage chandeliers. Omo borrows freely from Tokyo’s pre-war kissaten coffee shops, sneaking yuzu into eggs Benedict and matcha into cookies. At lunch, katsu sets dominate, but udon carbonara and other wafu dishes are pure comfort. Among the grey canyons of city skyscrapers, this is a warm, welcoming hideout.
Must-order: Shio cream cold brew (made with Ona coffee) is refreshing, cream-capped and pleasantly salty.
18 Merriman Lane, Melbourne, instagram.com/omojapcafe
Pinned Coffee
Walk along Bourke Street and you might start to notice passersby clutching trendy iced coffee cups like they’re a uniform. Follow the mont blanc trail and you’ll find yourself down plant-lined Rankins Lane, where Melburnians queue for creamy espresso drinks at Pinned. The bestselling Lion Tamer gets its moniker from the coffee beans used, roasted by Reverence in Campbellfield. Get there before midday or risk missing out on pastries from new Richmond bakery May Bakes such as shio pan salt bread, Basque cheesecake and chewy choc-chip cookies.
Must order: The Lion Tamer - double ristretto, “secret” milk blend, cream and fresh orange.
Rankins Lane, Melbourne, instagram.com/pinned.coffee
Sett Coffee
Blink and you could miss this tiny hideaway. Beyond the understated street presence is a comprehensive drinks menu that offers more than your standard cappuccino. Code Black coffee gets paired with the unexpected – an iced latte that layers espresso with peanut cream and a house-made coconut milk blend is delightfully nutty. Classic coffee drinkers are covered too, with smooth brews and warm, considered service.
Must-order drink: Hallabong Bubbles – a bubbly citrus tea spritz bound to brighten your morning.
871 Sydney Road, Brunswick, settcoffee.com.au
Simply Mike’s
Scroll shops are unfurling all over Brunswick (hello Roll Bae) with more on the way (welcome Scroll Lab). Are Mike’s simply the best? You be the judge of the tightly rolled buns, which come in classic cinnamon, plus on-trend and seasonal guises. The skinny shopfront’s scroll-inspired creme latte topped with cream-cheese foam packs a double-espresso punch. Croissants are filled with pandan custard or sticky frangipane, and crowned with flaked and slivered almonds for crunch.
Good to know: Pastries can be pre-ordered for pick-up, including cake-sized “XXL” scrolls.
871 Sydney Road, Brunswick, simplymikes.com.au
Tone Coffee
The signature drink at this coffee-dedicated shrine is the “tiger bomb”: a sweetened iced coffee topped with salty foam and orange zest. Founder Caleb Cha (a former World Latte Art champion) uses beans from his roastery Tone Coffee Roasters, including six filter roasts. Try an espresso alongside a milk coffee made with the same beans to contrast flavour notes – just like doing a wine-tasting.
Best for: A religious coffee experience you’ll rave about for months.
Shop 7/121 High Street, Prahran, tonecoffeeroasters.au
Can’t see your favourite cafe? Chances are it’s in another category. Explore the full list of the 100 Essential Cafes and Bakeries of 2026 in the Good Food app. It’s available as a standalone subscription and is included in premium digital Sydney Morning Herald subscriptions. Download it from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.
Good Food reviews are visited anonymously and paid independently. A venue can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the 100 Essential Cafes and Bakeries guide.
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