Melbourne coffees trends explained

In the evolving coffee scene that is Melbourne, it can be confusing for visitors and locals alike to keep up with the latest coffee trends and terms. Visitors can approach the cafe with confidence by brushing up on these popular orders. 

A cortado - similar to a latte, but less foamy, and less quantity, usually served in a small glass.  It consists of espresso mixed with a roughly equal amount of warm milk.

Macchiato - sometimes called espresso macchiato, is an espresso coffee drink with a small amount of milk, usually foamed.

Ristretto - traditionally a short shot of espresso coffee made with the normal amount of ground coffee but extracted with about half the amount of water in the same amount of time by using a finer grind. This produces a more concentrated shot of coffee per volume.

Piccolo - Somewhere in-between a cafe latte, macchiato and cortado, the piccolo is a single espresso shot topped up with milk in a 90ml glass. Bascially, more coffee, less milk.

A Magic – a piccolo latte made with double Ristretto. Both the Piccolo and the Magic arguably originated in Melbourne, most baristas worth their weight in coffee beans will happily serve one up.

Bulletproof Coffee (or butter coffee) – one for the paleos. Coffee, with butter, and claimed to have health benefits including increased energy and focus. It will most likely be found in cafés specialising in health food. In Melbourne this includes Fitzroy’s FitIn, Flinders Lane’s Seedling and Patch café in Richmond.

With a café culture like Melbourne’s – cafés can come and go with regularity, but there are some that stand the test of time.

Magic coffee can be found in Magic, St Ali in the south and Auction Rooms in the north. A piccolo can also be found there, as well as Piccolo Me and Piccolo Espresso and Wine Bar.

And pretty much all of the above can be found at any one of the city's other established and respected coffee purveyors including Market Lane, Sensory Lab, Top Paddock, Higher Ground and Hash Specialty, Seven Seeds Traveller, Dukes Coffee Roaster and Axil. In Melbourne, it’s harder to find a bad coffee, than a good coffee.