Get Creative With Coffee Garnish Ideas

The importance of a coffee garnish

When you think about creative garnishing, it’s easy for your mind to go straight to cocktails – you might not even consider coffee serves. But we’re here to change that. First of all, a little history.

Latte art was popularised in the US as early as the 1980s. And it wasn’t long before they spread around the world. Fast forward to the present day and baristas have perfected the art of drawing with milk foam and even using photographic imagery to put someone’s face onto their favourite coffee. But there’s so many more ways to get people interested in your hot drinks.

There’s a strong argument for why now is a great time to embellish your offerings; According to a GlobalData study, sales in coffee and tea shops are poised to grow by 10.5% this year, due to their position as an established habit in consumers' daily routines,

Elevating your serves with coffee garnishes

With global consumer confidence in spending at an all-time low, reassuring consumers that those daily routine purchases are still a worthy way to spend, is going to be key. Looking for ways to elevate coffee serves beyond what a consumer can make at home is really going to help you do that.

One coffee chain that has set itself apart from the crowd – whilst ensuring its coffee serves are worth of their elevated price tag – is EL&N. Famous for its beautiful décor, EL&N pairs Instragrammable décor with eye-catching coffee serves. From pastel green matcha topped with fresh flowers to their Lucky Charm Latte, no serve is left unelevated.

So how you can you try and emulate this?

5 great coffee garnish ideas to elevate your serves

Whipped cream & syrups

Possibly the easiest way to elevate a coffee serve is adding syrups to diversify flavour and topping with whipped cream, for an easy-to-create yet Instagram-friendly serve – probably why we are seeing many of the high street coffee chains utilise this approach.

Whipped cream and syrup are simple ingredients that you already have to hand at your venue, so it makes sense to use them. To find syrups that will boost your hot beverage offerings, see our collection. For something a little daring, why not try out a Popcorn Latte, using our Popcorn Syrup?

Nuts

Nuts have been a popular choice for sprinkles over the past few decades – whether it be cakes, flans, ice creams or drinks. They bring a delicate crunch and savoury flavour, diversifying the flavour and mouthfeel of softer and sweeter serves. With coffee they are often chosen to complement the flavour of the serve.

Spices

Warming spices such as cinnamon, cardamon and nutmeg provide a simple and flavoursome way to top a coffee and particularly a whipped cream topped drink. This flavour trend has been spearheaded by the popularity of the Chai Latte but can be used across a range of different hot drinks. To add a little spice to your drinks, you could try our Cinnamon Syrup.

Confectionary

When we think of treats, confectionary always springs to mind. Caramel pieces, a scattering of biscuit fragments or even a sprinkling of sweet popcorn, there are many great ways to top off a coffee serve. These options not only add a new flavour to your drink but they also bring a more visually dynamic serve – encouraging users to share your serves on their social media.

Flowers

As we have discussed when celebrating the serves of EL&N, flowers are a visually impactful way to bring a pop colour to classic coffee serves. Edible violets or rose buds introduce an element of nature and a new level of sophistication. Dried flowers are also a great option, staying beautiful and usable for longer than their fresh counterparts, as well as bringing much more flexibility in terms of their ability to adhere to the glass – such as a rim or down the side to bring a more theatrical serve.

Before choosing your garnishes, take a look at what you have to hand, more often than not, there are toppings and ingredients already available in your business, that could be utilised to create stunning serves. If you’re looking to add to your repertoire, you can explore our range for inspiration.

The final thing to consider is that if you do elevate your coffee with garnishing, make sure you share it and ask your customers to do the same. Beautiful photography is key to communicating your elevated coffee delights and attracting new customers.

If you do create some new serves, with our products, we’d love to be tagged in your posts about it using https://www.instagram.com/mathieu_teisseire/.