Coffee in a cone lands in Australia

It might be #zerowaste but it's definitely not #zerocalories. Bean hunters wanting to cut back on their throw-away cup habit will soon be able to drink their coffee, then eat the cup it came in.

Well, technically, a cone rather than a cup. It looks like a regular waffle ice-cream cone, except it's lined with layers of dark chocolate to make it leakproof.

Customers don't have to skol their drink straight away – the coating allows drinkers 10 minutes to enjoy their brew before the chocolate begins to melt.

The caffeine-dessert hybrid, which is rolling out across NSW and Victoria this month, is the creation of South African barista and entrepreneur Dayne Levinrad, who trained in Australia with Chris Karvelas from Harry's in Bondi and Saxon Wright from Pablo and Rusty's.

Any type of coffee or milk drink (think hot chocolate or turmeric latte) can be served in the cones, but Levinrad says the size is best suited to a piccolo latte.

"Picture having a coffee and a cookie – this is the same thing, just better," he says.

"The coffee melts into the chocolate creating a creamy, chocolatey flavour explosion in your mouth. At first it is a subtle chocolate sweetness, which gets stronger as you sip further and you end with a crunchy, biscuity waffle cone with beautiful melted chocolate inside."

First launched in January 2016 in South Africa, the cones travelled to Europe, Canada and Hong Kong before landing here.

Levinrad is patenting the concept, which has been trialled in a few Sydney venues, including Bacino Bar in Balgowlah and Whale Beach Deli. More stock will arrive in selected NSW and Victorian venues in the next fortnight for $6-$6.50 each, before rolling out across the country.

See instagram.com/coffeeinaconeaus/ for stockists.