Espresso overtakes latte as Melbourne’s most popular coffee

Alanah Frost
October 29, 2019
Herald Sun

For years the morning latte has been a staple for most Australians, however new research has revealed the popular beverage has been knocked off its mantle by its competitor.

Melburnians have ditched the morning latte and are now in favour of a quick and bitter espresso, new research has found.

The most searched-for coffee across the city this year has been the espresso, or short black, according to online data released by Google Trends.

The insight showed coffee-lovers in and around Melbourne were 30 per cent more interested in a ‘short black’ than Australia as a whole.

Melbourne’s top favourite orders for 2019 were the espresso (short black), closely followed by the latte, mocha, cappuccino and flat white.

The trends also continued into regional cities, with Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, Shepparton and Warrnambool following suit and picking up an espresso on their morning coffee run.

But up near the border, coffee-drinkers in Wodonga still prefer a latte, with the milky brew holding on to top spot.

Tyla Brown, 25, says she first tried black coffee in Italy.

“I find an espresso is a little bit lighter to drink,” she said.

“I will sometimes have a black coffee after lunch – but it has to be very good coffee for me to drink black coffee.”

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Ms Brown, who used to work as a barista, said coffee culture and preferences were changing.

“I was a barista a few years ago and we didn’t get many espresso orders,” she said.

Many cafe-goers also had a eco-conscience, with biodegradable and compostable coffee pods also among the top five searched-for in their respective categories.

At the opposite end of the coffee scale, Melbourne’s least ordered cup was a double espresso, or doppio.

And the city’s diversity was even reflected in its coffee, with Turkish and Vietnamese coffee also trending well above the national average.