A2 Milk Moment - Ube Iced Latte

Ube powder whisked into a caster sugar syrup until it turns deep violet, layered with espresso and cold full-cream A2 milk over ice. The colour does the talking; the flavour is sweet, earthy and faintly vanilla. A Filipino twist on the iced latte, made for a hot afternoon.

Ube (Dioscorea alata, the purple yam) is the Filipino sweet potato cousin that has powered a thousand desserts from halaya jam to ice cream to the famous purple cake of Manila bakeries. The flavour sits somewhere between vanilla, coconut and chestnut, with a slight floral edge; the colour is the actual selling point.

Ube powder (the dried, ground form sold in Filipino and Asian grocers) is the convenient version that mixes into drinks without the prep work of fresh or frozen ube. The powder needs to be mixed with a small amount of liquid first (sugar syrup or hot water) into a smooth paste; added directly to cold milk, it clumps and leaves grainy specks.

The gradient effect is the visual. Pour the ube syrup into the glass first, add the ice, layer the cold milk on top, pour the espresso through the milk in a slow stream. The dense ube syrup sits at the bottom, the milk in the middle, the espresso forms the top layer. Stir hard before drinking. A dusting of extra ube powder on top, a long straw. Modern Filipino-Australian cafe culture in a glass.