In U.S., More Cafes Adding Savory Flavors to Their Menus

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Vanilla? Boring. Caramel? Pass. Bone broth? Now we’re talking.

Coffee shops have always experimented with seasonal ingredients and interesting flavors. But some are upping the ante by introducing umami to the conversation. As Fiona Chandra reports for Food & Wine, cafes around the United States are creating coffee drinks with miso, cheese, and even bone broth to liven up their menus and attract new customers.

At Tomat in Los Angeles, a koji miso latte has become a top seller. For Maman in New York City, it’s a salted tahini honeycomb latte. Discourse Coffee in Milwaukee has taken things to another level, incorporating ramen, pork fat, and the aforementioned bone broth into their drinks.

For the ramen latte, “a big part of it was finding that balance point between savory and sweet,” Discourse founder Ryan Castelaz told Chandra. “We wanted [it] to drink like a latte, but we also wanted it to be like a bowl of ramen.”

Savory coffee drinks are nothing new. Cheese and coffee are paired in many cultures, Chandra writes, such as Scandinavia’s kaffeost, which incorporates cheese curds. In China, brands like Luckin Coffee have been experimenting with unique savory flavors for years to get ahead in an increasingly competitive market. Luckin launched a cheese latte in 2023, to enormous success. Starbucks, meanwhile, introduced a limited edition pork-flavored latte in 2024 to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

Some coffee professionals see savory ingredients as the next evolution in signature coffee drinks. “No disrespect, but I think all those sweet syrups are done to death, and it’s sometimes so flat,” said Tomat’s beverage director Miley Aryucharoen. “Like, a simple vanilla latte is great, but I feel like it doesn’t excite people anymore. It’s also just flat and one-note, and so the umami depth, I think, is still missing in the coffee world.”