Taro in Melbourne

A starchy root used as a paste or powder in lattes and milk teas: sweet and nutty, a little like vanilla, and pale purple in the cup. In all our data to 13 Nov 2026, The Froth has seen it at 42 Melbourne cafes across 33 suburbs, in posts, customer reviews and menus. The 116 in "Where to get one" are the cafes with it on their current menu or in a cafe or creator post.

It is on 106 Melbourne cafe menus right now, including Bal Bakes in Craigieburn, Bakery 127 in Pakenham, Butcher Shop Cafe in West Melbourne and May & Mac Cafe in Northcote. 10 more cafes have posted it, though it is not on their current menu. The "Where to get one" list on this page has every one, with the price where the menu gives one, links to the menu or post, and directions. Menus change, so check with the cafe before you go.

The average is $6.99, from 20 Melbourne cafe menus as of 14 Nov 2026. Most charge between $5.95 and $9.05; the lowest we have seen is $5.20 and the highest $9.80.

It is on a bigger share of Adelaide cafes: 3.8% against Melbourne's 1.7%, over the last 90 days.

Melbourne cafes also sell taro as "Taro Milk Tea", "Taro Latte", "Taro Matcha", "Iced Taro Latte", "Hot Taro Milk Tea", "Taro Bubble Tea", "Taro Smoothie" and "Taro Tea", plus 9 other names. The Froth counts every one of these names as the same trend, from cafes' own posts and menus.

It is early days. The Froth rates taro as Emerging as of 13 Nov 2026: it is on a small share of cafes (1.7% in the last 90 days) and holding steady, and searches in Melbourne are down 19% (Aug to Oct 2026 against Aug to Oct 2025). In the 90 days to 13 Nov 2026, 1.7% of the Melbourne cafes we see well (an Instagram post or a current menu in that time) had it. Among the 1,204 cafes we have followed through both periods, 2 of the same cafes had it, against 4 in the 90 days before. Melbourne searches for it were down 19% in Aug to Oct 2026 compared with Aug to Oct 2025.

There were 260 searches for taro in Melbourne in Oct 2026, with all its names added up. Across the 23 months we have, from Dec 2024 to Oct 2026, it ranged from 140 searches (Feb 2026) to 390 (Jul 2025). These are monthly estimates of search demand in Melbourne.

The earliest Melbourne cafe post or customer review about taro that The Froth has is from 23 Mar 2025. We only see what we collect, so that is when we first saw it, not when it started: it may have been sold earlier, here or elsewhere.

A typical taro latte, drawn from Melbourne cafes' own posts, is built from the top down with wide straw (wide enough for the taro), ice (fills the cup before anything is poured), cold milk (about 220 ml, usually with no coffee at all) and taro paste (steamed taro mashed with sugar, a thick layer at the bottom). Each cafe makes its own version, so this is a typical build, not one cafe's recipe.

A cafe counts for taro from the first public post or customer review we found about it, the cafe's own post or a customer's, and while it is on the cafe's current menu. Shares are of the cafes we see well: those with an Instagram post or a current menu in the same 90 days, a chain counting once. A change compares the same cafes in the last 90 days with the 90 before, only among cafes we have followed through both, so newly added cafes never look like growth. The 90 days end on the latest day with cafe posts or reviews (13 Nov 2026), not today. Searches are monthly search demand in Melbourne with all of a trend's names added up. Captions stay private; we only link to public posts. The full method is on our "How we track cafe trends" page.