7 Unique Iced Coffee Drinks to Try When You're Bored of Lattes

The iced latte is a perfect drink, and it's also a rut. Espresso, milk, ice — repeat until you've forgotten that a café menu has any other geometry. If your order has been on autopilot for a year, consider this your permission slip to branch out. These seven unique iced coffee drinks (plus a couple of matcha ringers) actually taste different from what you're drinking now, and most of them are one sentence to order.

1. The Iced Einspänner

This is the one we'd pick if we could only recommend one drink, and not just because it's our signature. An Einspänner is a Viennese classic: a shot of espresso (or in our case, matcha) served cold over ice with a thick layer of lightly sweetened cream floating on top. You drink it through the cream — never stirred — so every sip starts cold and silky, then finishes with the punch of the espresso underneath. The Matcha Einspänner is the drink that built our line around the block: grassy, vivid-green matcha under a cloud of Korean-style cream. If you've never had a cream-topped drink, start here and thank us later.

2. Iced Shaken Espresso

Espresso, ice, and a little sweetener, shaken hard until it's frothy and almost foamy, then poured over fresh ice with a splash of milk. The shaking does something real — it aerates the espresso, softens the bitterness, and gives the drink a texture you can't get from just pouring shots over ice. It's stronger-tasting than a latte but smoother than straight iced espresso, which makes it the ideal order for latte drinkers who want to taste more coffee. Ask for oat milk if you want it creamier.

3. Cold Brew with Sweet Cream

Not the same as iced coffee — cold brew is steeped in cold water for 12 to 24 hours, which pulls out chocolatey, low-acid flavor without the sharpness of hot-brewed coffee poured over ice. Topped with a pour of sweet cream instead of mixed milk, it stays layered: dark and smooth on the bottom, rich and sweet on top. Let it swirl together as you drink. If regular iced coffee ever tastes harsh or watery to you, this is the upgrade.

4. Iced Cortado

The cortado is the espresso drinker's espresso drink — equal parts espresso and lightly steamed milk, served small. Over ice, it becomes something even better: all the intensity of the espresso, just barely softened by cold milk, in a drink you finish in ten satisfying sips. It's the opposite of a milky latte, and for people who've been drinking lattes out of habit rather than love, the cortado is often the drink that reminds them why they liked coffee in the first place.

5. Iced Black Sesame Latte

Nutty, toasty, faintly sweet — black sesame is the sleeper hit of the alternative-latte world. The sesame paste gives the drink a deep, almost chocolatey richness that pairs beautifully with espresso or matcha, and it looks dramatic: a swirl of dark gray against the milk. It's not a subtle flavor, but if you like tahini, halva, or anything in the nutty-dessert family, this will make immediate sense. Order it iced with oat milk for the full effect.

6. Iced Honey Lavender Latte

Floral without being soapy, sweet without being heavy. Lavender syrup plus honey in an iced latte tastes like the drink version of a spring afternoon — the lavender adds a perfume-y top note, the honey grounds it with real sweetness that simple syrup can't match. It sounds like it might be too much, but in the right ratio (and most good shops have dialed this in), it's delicate and refreshing. This is the one to order when you want something that feels like a treat but still reads as coffee.

7. Iced Matcha Tonic

The wild card, and the one people are most skeptical about until the first sip. Sparkling tonic water over ice, with a shot of whisked matcha floated on top. It sounds wrong — bitter tonic plus grassy matcha — but the carbonation lifts the matcha's aromatics and the quinine bitterness actually harmonizes with the tea's natural edge. It's crisp, bitter, refreshing, and completely unlike any latte you've ever had. Not a sweet drink; not trying to be. Order it on a hot day when you want something that wakes you up and cools you down at the same time.

How to Choose Among These Unique Iced Coffee Drinks

Here's a cheat sheet: if you want to taste more coffee, go shaken espresso or cortado. If you want something creamy but different, go Einspänner or cold brew with sweet cream. If you want to leave coffee's flavor world entirely, black sesame, honey lavender, and matcha tonic are your exits.

And the real move? Tell your barista you're bored of lattes and ask what they'd drink. We get asked this more than you'd think, and we have opinions. Come put us to the test at Community Goods — our Melrose Ave shop in West Hollywood or our Edinburgh Ave location in Hollywood — and order something you've never ordered before. That's the whole point.

Quick answers:

What's the strongest-tasting option here? The iced cortado — smallest drink, highest espresso-to-milk ratio.

Which one is sweetest? The Einspänner with its sweetened cream top, followed by the honey lavender latte.

Are these all caffeinated? The matcha drinks (Einspänner, tonic) have matcha's gentler caffeine; everything else is espresso-based. Ask for decaf if your shop offers it.