Fruit Latte!!?? I Tried Durian and Avocado: My Review with Photos

Durian and avocado fruit latte drinks

by Nigel Ong

Modern Western coffee preparation and styles entered many parts of Asia through coffee shops such as Starbucks, McCafe, and Dunkin. These coffee styles were adopted and later adapted and innovated into something new. 

One of the results of this blending is the Fruit Latte. Sweet and milky, yet comes with the bittersweet flavors of a coffee, the craze spreads like wildfire in Asia, just like Bubble Tea. Fruit Latte has even reached the US, in places such as San Francisco.

In this post, I explore fruit lattes and what makes them so special. I will also sample two popular fruit latte and describe how it tastes. 

What Is A Fruit Latte?

Fruit latte, in essence, is a combination of three things – coffee, milk, and fruit. These three major ingredients can be changed and adjusted depending on the recipe and style. 

Coffee: In many cases, espresso is the regular coffee used to make fruit latte. Espresso coffee is strong and bittersweet and helps save up the volume space for milk or fruits. Some recipe uses coffee syrup instead for a lighter taste.

Milk: The component that makes Latte, Latte. Milk blends with coffee and fruits, adding the fat and creamy tastes that make fruit lattes amazing. Most recipes call for regular cow’s milk, although plant-based milk is also popular. These include soy, coconut, and oat.

Fruit: All sorts of fruits are used in a fruit latte. Generally, fruit choices are local and sweet, rich fruits are used. Fruits may be cut into larger chunks, smaller cubes, or blended into smoothies. Some popular fruits include mango, pineapple, Avocado, and Pitaya.

Why Is Fruit Latte Popular In Asia?

Asia is known for producing unique, popular drinks that took the world by storm. There’s Taiwanese bubble tea, Korean So-maek (Soju and Beer), and Thai Iced Tea. Fruit Latte is set to be the next drink. 

Many reasons could contribute to the fruit latte being created and then becoming popular in Asia:

Plenty Of Fruits To Choose From

Asia is a place where there are plenty of fruits to choose from. The range of fruits available in Asia can be dizzying compared to what we commonly consume in the West. Many of these popular Asian fruits found their way into fruit lattes, including:

  • Mango
  • Pineapple
  • Durian
  • Mangosteen
  • Lychee
  • Pitaya
  • Coconut

Some of these fruits, such as mango or Pitaya, are known for being colorful, which helps to give a colorful appearance to the drink. They are also sweet in their own way, adding flavor and depth to the Latte.

Some fruits, such as lychee, have a good texture, adding some chewing into the drinking process. Some fruits, such as Durian, may not have good color and texture but have a very creamy and rich flavor that makes the Latte taste good.

Mixers eventually manage to find ways to incorporate these fruits into coffee and make excellent fruit lattes.

Iced Fruit Latte drink

Hot, Humid Weather Makes Cold Fruity Latte A Treat

Many parts of Asia can be unbearably hot and humid. In places like this, regular hot Americano may not make sense, as the idea is to get icy cold drinks and quench the thirst. Coffee’s overt bitterness may not work too well due to the heat. 

Mixers may use plenty of ways to sweeten their drinks. Sweet creamer and palm sugar are common, although fruits provide a different dimension to sweetening drinks.

As a result, mixers somehow brought milk, coffee, and fruits together to make fruit lattes. These icy cold, sweet, and creamy drinks help quench thirst and keep many going on hot and humid days.

Fruit Latte Works Well With Asian Food

Asian Food is generally known to be heavily flavored. Thai and Malaysian foods are known to be hot with generous use of chili, while Indian food can be loaded with spices. Some variations of Chinese and Korean food also use chili peppers liberally as well. 

As a result, many may seek drinks that can help manage these heavy flavors. A sweet, cold, and creamy drink, such as a fruit latte, may do perfectly here.

Natural Evolution Of Coffee Culture

Asia historically drank predominantly tea before coffee started arriving with the Arab and Western traders. However, Asia soon developed its coffee culture by adapting coffee to local conditions. 

This produced Asian-style coffee recipes that are still widely enjoyed today, such as Indian Filter Kaapi, Malaysian White Coffee, and Ying Yeung in Hong Kong. 

With the arrival of modern Western coffee styles from companies such as Starbucks, Dunkin, and McCafe, many Asian countries also included drinks such as espresso, Latte, or cappuccino in their cafes and shops.

Eventually, these drinks were adapted and adjusted for local tastes. Mixers were able to add fruits, tapioca bubbles, Nata De Coco, and even tofu into these coffee drinks, and produce new recipes.

How Does Fruit Latte Taste?

The taste of a fruit latte may be influenced by many factors. The ingredients used play a huge factor and may give you a totally different drinking experience. As a result, you can visit as many shops as you want yet come out with different-tasting fruit lattes.

Shops also take the opportunity to release many drink recipes frequently to entice customers to come back and try them. 

I was able to visit two of my local shops and pick up two fruit latte drinks. One is from Avocado, while the other is Durian latte, the king of fruits.

avocado fruit latte

Avocado Latte

I thought I’d start with a more familiar fruit, the creamy and rich Avocado. I marched down to a local cafe and ordered a serving of Avocado Latte.

The promotional photo shows a clear layering of coffee, milk, and Avocado. However, the drinks I got served have all of them blended together, hence a uniform greenish look here. 

The drink combines a single shot of espresso, whole cow’s milk, and avocado puree. The Barista then blends everything together in a blender before adding ice to the drink to chill it down.

The avocado latte does not have the smell of coffee, even after I bring my nose close to the drink. Instead, I smell Avocado and some sweet smell of perhaps milk. 

I inserted my straw, stirred the drink, and went for my sip. The taste of the drink is similar to the smell. There’s not much coffee in the drink. Instead, I get a lot of milk and Avocado richness in the taste. It felt as if I was drinking Avocado milk without coffee. 

The drink is also rather sweet, a bit too sweet for my liking. However, I do know that I don’t enjoy sweet things much, which means even regular sweetness can be too much. I should have asked for less sweetness but I thought I’d try them at the ‘regular’ level.

However, as I sip along, I start to pick up a bit of coffee taste hidden behind the rich, sweet, and milky goodness of the milk and Avocado. It is, however, quite subdued. This drink is primarily milk and Avocado, with coffee as a sidekick.

The whole experience of sipping this Avocado Latte reminds me of Asian adaptations of coffee drinks, such as Malaysian White Coffee and Indian Filter Coffee. Instead of strong coffee flavors, you get a more subdued coffee taste, with a rich creamy and sweet taste.

Perhaps this Avocado Latte further extends the attempt to make coffee more enjoyable to Asian palates.

durian fruit latte drink

Durian Latte

What is a fruit latte review if we do not bring in the king of fruits? Considering this, I went to a local San Francisco Coffee chain and ordered a serving of Durian Latte. 

Taking the lesson from the Avocado Latte, I ordered the Barista to not mix the drinks and let it stay layered. As a result, I was served a nice looking Durian Latte with three clear layers. 

I added in my straw and tried to sip on each individual layer in the drink.

At the bottom is Durian puree with milk. I was told the durian puree is made from premium Malaysian Durian. However, the Barista stopped short of confirming it was the premium Musang King Durian. 

At the second layer is the espresso shot. The final layer is the Latte.

I suspect the drink was made with the Barista first blending the Durian puree with milk. Then, a shot of espresso was added to the drink before a final layer of Latte was poured on the top. 

The foam layer of the Durian Latte also has some Durian powder added on top. Looking at the drink, I am fully prepared for a super rich and creamy drink, with sugar enough to power me on the treadmill for a mile or two.

I then stirred everything, even with my straw, and took a deep sip. 

The flavor is exactly as I expected. The first flavor to hit my palate is Durian, lots and lots of it. Durian is a very strong, rich, and creamy fruit. Mix them into anything, and it will overpower everything, including the espresso. Next came the cow’s milk. Rich and creamy.

Again, I could barely taste any coffee in the drink. The Durian latte is so strong in Durian flavor that it was even able to mask up the strong flavors of espresso. 

This, again, reflects the same trend in how Asia seems to adapt coffee for local tastes – by making it sweet, creamy, and rich. 

Should You Try Fruit Latte?

After sipping two major fruit lattes and many other types of fruit lattes casually, I can conclude that fruit lattes are generally focused on the fruit instead of the coffee. 

This means most fruit latte recipes will try to make the drink fruit-focused and will try to elevate the flavor of the fruits in the drink. Next comes the milk and sweetness to add to the drink’s cream and richness. Only then does coffee come in, and quite subdued. 

This means whenever you order a serving of fruit latte, you should always look at the fruit, not the coffee. Whatever fruit latte you order it will taste like the fruit you ordered. For example, your Mango latte will taste primarily mango, then milk and coffee. 

This means if you are a coffee head and like a strong cup, a fruit latte will likely disappoint you massively. Coffee taste is weak and should not be enough to satisfy your craving for deep bitter flavors.

However, if you are a fan of creamy, rich, and milky coffee such as Latte or Flat white, you may try a fruit latte. Fruit latte adds more dimension to the flavor of your coffee, making it even nicer to enjoy.

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