How to Prepare Your Summer Drinks Menu — and What's Worth Having This Year

Every October I start getting the same phone call: "Hank, what should I bring in for summer?"

It's a good question. It's usually asked too late.

So here's the whole thing in one place — the preparation timeline, and my read on which drinks are worth your menu space this season. Summer starts in December. You have roughly eight weeks.

1. The timeline: eight weeks from now to launch

The Australian summer drinks season runs from late September right through to late March. That's long enough for a new flavour to genuinely establish itself. This isn't a short burst — it's half a year of trade.

Here's how I'd sequence it.

Early October: decide how many new drinks you're adding. Don't get greedy. Two or three is plenty. More than that and your bar gets messy and your stock gets tied up.

Mid to late October: order samples, test, dial in the recipe. The most important part of this stage isn't tasting — it's costing. What you sell it for, what margin it carries, whether toppings are charged separately. Decide now.

November: train the team and test throughput. The biggest risk with a new drink is slow, inconsistent service in week one. A good product killed by poor execution is very hard to revive.

End of November: place the real order. December is the most congested logistics month of the year, and supplier stock gets cleaned out right about then. Order in December and you're carrying stockout risk, not price risk.

One more basic thing that catches someone out every single year: your ice machine. Summer volume can be double your normal day. If ice production can't keep up, the whole store slows down. Check it now, service it now, and if you need a second unit, decide now rather than in January.

2. What's worth having this summer

Short version: matcha isn't going anywhere, but a plain matcha latte is no longer enough.

Matcha has settled in as part of the everyday drinks repertoire in Australia. What's actually growing now is the ring of drinks around it.

Strawberry matcha is the clearest example. It was the drink of last summer and consumer interest is still strong. If you don't have one yet, that's the first gap to fill.

One layer further out, fruit-forward creamy matcha is where the category is heading — banana and yuzu are expected to join the party over the coming months. This is the direction I'd back hardest this year. Customers aren't asking for stronger matcha. They want matcha that tastes better, has more layers, and photographs well.

Yuzu and citrus botanicals deserve their own mention. Yuzu and hibiscus-style botanical refreshers are pulling summer menus towards something lighter and more acidic — and they look good in a photo, which is a large part of why they're so visible on social. A yuzu sparkling tea or yuzu lemonade is cheap to run, simple to execute and strong on presentation. High return for the effort.

Roasted teas are next. Hojicha and black sesame — warm, roasted profiles that work well with milk — are tipped to gain traction. What I like about hojicha is that it reaches the same customer as matcha with a completely different flavour, so it complements your matcha rather than cannibalising it.

Ube and taro are worth a look too. Asian-inspired flavours like matcha and ube now sit alongside classic specialty coffee on cafe menus, and some overseas commentators are calling this the summer of the purple yam latte. You already have a base for this among Chinese customers here — the room to grow is with local Australian customers.

Iced tea is coming back, but less sweet — lower sugar, with a homemade feel. For those of us in hand-shaken tea, that's good news: Australian customers are finally willing to drink tea that actually tastes like tea.

And one that's a framework rather than a flavour: function. More summer drinks are being designed around hydration rather than caffeine, and functional drinks are moving from niche to a normal menu feature. Have one light, low-caffeine, not-too-sweet option on the board this season.

3. Choose three. Don't do all of them.

By now you probably want to add everything. Don't.

Pick one from each of three slots:

One matcha extension (strawberry, banana or yuzu matcha). This is your traffic driver — it brings people in.

One refresher (yuzu sparkling tea or similar). This is the summer essential that holds your volume up on the hottest days.

One point of difference (hojicha or ube). This is what makes you different from the shop next door.

Three. Your stock stays controllable, your bar can actually learn them, and your marketing message stays clear.

A practical note on sourcing: when you're choosing matcha, look at the colour first. Higher grades are bright and vivid jade green; as grade drops the colour turns yellower and duller. Your matcha volume in summer will be significant — get the grade wrong and you're betting a whole season's reputation on it.

My take

Summer is won in October, not December.

I've watched too many stores wait until the weather turns and customers start asking "got anything new?" before they call a supplier. By then what's available is whatever everyone else left behind, and neither price nor lead time is on your side.

And ultimately, summer isn't won on how many new drinks you launched. It's won on whether your core drinks still taste the same on the hottest, busiest, most short-staffed day of the season. New products are the upside. Consistency is the floor.

Start now and your December will be a great deal easier.

Order from Hank's Tea

We can help you spec your summer range — matcha grades, yuzu and citrus bases, hojicha, taro and more. Contact our team for a wholesale quote or to request samples while there's still time to test before December.