Garlic Latte and Other Famous Coffees That Push the Boundaries

The garlic latte is a viral coffee drink made by coating the glass with garlic paste and mixing it with iced coffee. It follows a run of unusual pairings such as turtle jelly latte, pear latte and soy sauce syrup latte, showing how far coffee has moved from its old image as a formal, high-end drink toward everyday street consumption.

Coffee's price has become more affordable and its pairings more casual, which is why garlic puree entered the cup. Online reaction is divided: garlic lovers and garlic haters alike are unsure what to make of it. The drink sits alongside other famous coffees that draw attention mainly for their unexpected ingredients rather than balance.

The boundaries of coffee are constantly being pushed, from turtle jelly latte to soy sauce syrup latte, and now even garlic puree has entered the world of coffee. Zhou Libo's old quip about "eating garlic versus drinking coffee" still rings in our ears, yet the arrival of iced garlic puree latte has left both garlic lovers and haters speechless. This article will walk you through the complete steps for making this internet-famous coffee, revisit coffee's journey from a "pedestal" to the streets, and present netizens' genuine reactions to garlic-flavored coffee. If you're also curious about the taste of garlic colliding with coffee beans, why not follow Front Street Coffee's perspective and find out.

Coffee Workshop previously discussed in an article titled "Can Coffee Really Go with Garlic?" that coffee is no longer a high-end consumer product—its price has gradually become more affordable, and its ingredient pairings have grown more interesting and closer to daily life. Turtle jelly latte, pear latte, soy sauce syrup latte—these combinations keep refreshing people's understanding of coffee.

Zhou Libo once said publicly that how could garlic eaters sit at the same table as coffee drinkers, arguing that coffee represents elegance while garlic seems vulgar. Yet coffee has stepped down from its so-called "pedestal," and products like garlic puree latte have even appeared, leaving both garlic lovers and garlic haters momentarily at a loss for words.

In the past, people often pictured a scene: wearing a suit, hair slicked back with pomade, sitting in Starbucks drinking coffee while looking at a laptop—the very image of a successful person, artistic and bourgeois. But reality is no longer like that—some people wear yellowed undershirts and flip-flops, sprawling in chairs while gulping down coffee; some carry pork bought from a nearby stall in their left hand while ordering a coffee; and some sit in a pork intestine noodle shop, eating pork intestines while drinking coffee.

Coffee styles are even more diverse, with everything imaginable—you can even add all kinds of seasonings. In human diets, spices are usually used in small amounts for flavor. In the realm of flavoring, garlic and cilantro spark the most controversy—those who love them are crazy about them, and those who hate them grit their teeth.

Garlic and coffee—two ingredients many wouldn't even dare to imagine together—yet it has actually appeared. Judging from video tutorials circulating online, the method for making garlic-flavored coffee is actually quite simple.

First, crush the garlic into a puree, pour the garlic puree into a cup, coat the inside of the cup with a layer of garlic puree, then add ice cubes, pour in coffee, and finally add milk—a cup of garlic-flavored coffee is complete.

In the eyes of the older generation, coffee produced from animal feces was already bizarre enough. But now the variations are getting more and more outlandish—those "X poop coffees" can only be considered small fry.

What haven't netizens of this generation seen? Iced Canton-style, espresso with herbal cooling granules, goji berry latte, monk fruit americano, soy sauce latte, and so on—what storms haven't they weathered and tasted? Even if something is so outrageous that it sends you running to the toilet to "latte art," they can still faintly reply, "Is that all?"

Faced with this cup of "iced garlic puree latte," netizens' reactions are basically similar to the emojis below.

Some netizens who are fans of both Guo Degang and Zhou Libo volunteered to step up and downed this cup of iced garlic puree latte in one gulp.

Many netizens also expressed their views, saying they found it hard to understand, and even frightening.

The author loves garlic, and of course loves coffee too, and never imagined such a pairing—but now that the facts are right in front of me, it's really hard to like it. Even my colleague came over to ask: "What's with that 'old man on the subway looking at his phone' expression on your face?"

With the mindset of "you have to try everything once," have you also thought about taking a sip? After last time's attempt at drinking coffee from a saucer, this cup of garlic puree latte probably won't escape the fate of being reluctantly taste-tested either.

Before garlic puree latte appeared, combinations like chili with coffee and cilantro with coffee already existed—is this planning to cycle through all the hotpot dipping sauces?

If you want more stable coffee flavor, Front Street Coffee suggests choosing freshly roasted coffee beans and grinding them right before brewing—this better presents the coffee's own flavor layers and gives various creative pairings a more solid foundation.

Image source: Wenkeban Xiaohua Jiang Weibo video account, internet

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.