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Melbourne's coffee and tea with a twist

The mercury may be rising, but coffee and tea cravings don't take a summer break. Here are five chilled versions and some of the best places to get them.

Lauren Wambach

When a hot day's brewing, your warm morning latte just doesn't have the same appeal. With these cool versions of coffee and tea, you can beat the heat and still catch a buzz. These chilled-out varieties aren't pale cousins of their hot counterparts, but are quite delicious in their own right.

Here are some of our top picks from around town. If you have a favourite place, share your recommendation via the comments below.

Thai iced milk tea

A particularly trustworthy canine is the secret to this icy treat. Thai restaurant Jinda relies on Police Dog Brand Tea Dust to make the rich red brew that forms the base of their Thai iced milk tea. The tea is brewed fresh daily, the tea leaves steeped in boiling water with a good helping of sugar. The chilled tea is layered in a glass with condensed milk and plenty of ice, and, when mixed, becomes a striking orange, as blazing as a Bangkok sunset. The condensed milk matches the strong, tannic tea punch for punch, while the ice slowly melts to create a long, cold drink. Team a glass of iced milk tea with a fiery Thai salad, and you've got a game plan for a hot summer's day.

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Jinda Thai, 3-7 Ferguson Street, Abbotsford, 9419 5899.
Also try … Me Dee Thai, Shop 1/1-3 St Johns Avenue, Springvale 3171, 9546 0599.

Vietnamese iced coffee

It may come as a surprise, but Vietnam is one of the world's largest coffee producers. An iced coffee in a Vietnamese restaurant spells a tall, frosty glass full of ice, topped with a dark, creamy combo of filtered coffee and condensed milk. For the full experience, though, seek out a spot like Weasels Garden, where the coffee is filtered to order. You'll receive a glass with a layer of condensed milk, topped with a silver filter, filled with dark-roasted coffee and hot water. Watch the brew drip tantalisingly onto the ice and milk, and when it's done, stir it up and enjoy. Sit in the shady courtyard at Weasels and your daily coffee becomes not just a beverage, but a cooling ritual, too.

Weasels Garden, 8 Murray Street, Abbotsford, 9410 0214; weaselsgardencafe.com.
Also try … Scarlet Corner, 157/81 Hopkins Street, Footscray (shopfront on Leeds Street), 9078 3950.

Iced tea

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Iced tea comes in as many guises as there are summers all around the globe. At American barbecue haven Meatmother, barkeep Tiffany Waldron mixes up a classic southern sweet tea. This simple drink of sweetened black tea over ice is the de rigeur summer thirst quencher south of the Mason-Dixon line. At Nama Nama, the iced sencha is a stimulating yet centering beverage of premium green tea over ice. As summer rolls on, chill out over other iced varieties such as ume vert, a plum and green tea blend with the fragrance of cherry blossoms. And at Rosie-Lee's Tearooms in Frankston, Karen Hemsley can ice just about any from her menu of over 50 teas. Favourites are pomegranate, and strawberries and cream.

Meatmother, 167 Swan Street, Richmond, 9041 5393; meatmother.com.au.
Nama Nama, 31 Spring Street, Melbourne, 9639 9500; namanama.com.au.
Rosie-Lee's Tearooms, 6 Thompson Street, Frankston, 9783 1613.

Bubble tea

If the Japanese tea ceremony is at one end of the tea-drinking spectrum – simple, austere and serene – bubble tea has to be at the other. These tall, icy drinks are loaded with combinations of iced tea, milk, jelly, tapioca and more, and are a beach party in a glass. Start slow with Chatime's refreshing, fruit-flavoured iced tea, where freshly brewed black or green tea teams up with lemon, peach or lychee flavours. Or go wild with Gong Cha's Earl Grey milk tea with "3J". Here, sweet bergamot tea is blended with milk, poured over ice and topped with chewy tapioca pearls, yellow "pudding" jelly and dark green "herbal jelly". With so many menu options, there's a bubble tea for every day of summer.

Chatime locations include Melbourne, Hawthorn and Wantirna South; chatime.com.au.
Gong Cha locations include Melbourne and Springvale; gongchatea.com.au.

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Iced coffee

We're all familiar with the classic iced coffee, topped with a tower of whipped cream, but an alternative for coffee lovers is a cup of cold drip. This powerful black brew is made in a tall glass contraption that looks more chemistry lab than cafe. Cold water filters through ground coffee from one chamber to another at the rate of around a drip per second, meaning that your cuppa is ready in anywhere from three to 12 hours. At Corinthians in Hoppers Crossing, a Costa Rican single origin is transformed into a beverage with an almost winey aroma and a pure, intense, liqueur-like quality.

Corinthians, 37 Old Geelong Road, Hoppers Crossing, 8742 4009.
Also try … Brunswick East Project, 438 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, 9381 1881; padrecoffee.com.au.

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