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If you’ve ever had an iced latte on a hot day, you’ve probably been disappointed by how rapidly ice melts, diluting your drink. Some enterprising coffee shops have come up with a solution to keep drinks cold without ice watering things down: cryogenically freeze the glass.
A cafe in Yokohama, Japan, has gone viral for its ultracold, ice-free lattes that involve freezing glasses to -85°C (-121°F). When milk and espresso are poured into the glass, they cool right down. The frozen glass also semi-freezes the liquid, giving the drink a milkshake-like consistency. The cafe also serves a cryogenic Coca-Cola Americano, which honestly sounds delicious.
The Yokohama cafe isn’t the first to serve ultracold coffee. Coffee shops in Singapore and China were serving a similar drink in 2025, and in Thailand earlier this year.
In Australia, the drinks are called a Dirty -85°C, and have taken Melbourne by storm in recent months. A coffee shop called Regulars has had lines down the block, serving 600 glasses every day. Regulars co-owner Eddy Pan told Lauren Tran-Muchowski of Broadsheet that the ultracold latte acts as an entry point for newcomers while also intriguing more seasoned coffee drinkers. “It’s visual, fun, and delicious for someone just starting their coffee journey, but the technical precision behind it satisfies the experts,” he said.
Read more about cryogenic coffee from Comunicaffe here.
Photo by bady abbas on Unsplash
