Pandan has become one of the more interesting additions to café menus in Europe. It gives a green drink that looks at home next to matcha but tastes completely different: sweet, vanilla-like and fragrant, with subtle coconut notes. For customers who find matcha too bitter, or simply want something new, it is an easy order.
This guide is for cafés, coffee shops and bubble tea bars. It covers the core pandan drinks, doses, milk choices, menu ideas and how to prepare pandan so every drink comes out the same during a busy service.
The Core Pandan Drinks
Hot pandan latte
The standard: 3–5 g of pandan powder dispersed in a little warm milk or water, topped with steamed milk to around 300 ml. A small amount of sweetener, such as simple syrup or palm sugar syrup, brings the vanilla-like aroma forward.
Iced pandan latte
Shake the pandan base with cold milk and ice, or pour cold milk over ice and finish with the pandan base on top for a layered look. Cold drinks taste milder, so use the upper end of the dose.
Pandan coconut latte
Coconut milk is pandan's traditional partner. Use it as the only milk, or blend it with oat or dairy milk, for a drink with a tropical, dessert-like character.
Dirty pandan latte
An iced pandan latte finished with a shot of espresso. Coffee is the stronger flavour, so keep the pandan dose generous to keep the drink recognisably pandan.
Bubble Tea and Milk Tea
For pandan bubble tea, blend 3–5 g of pandan powder into the milk base before adding ice, then pour over tapioca pearls. Brown sugar syrup and coconut jelly suit pandan well. Pandan can also go into a milk tea base, but the tea adds a flavour of its own, so test the balance before the drink goes on the menu.
Smoothies, Milkshakes and Frappés
- Pandan banana smoothie: pandan, banana, oat milk and ice.
- Pandan mango smoothie: pandan with mango and coconut milk.
- Pandan milkshake: pandan blended with vanilla ice cream and milk.
- Pandan frappé: pandan, milk, ice and syrup blended until smooth.
- Pandan cold foam: pandan whipped into sweetened cold foam to top iced coffee or cold brew.
Choosing the Milk
Milk changes pandan more than it changes coffee. Coconut milk gives the most traditional result, oat milk adds a rounded sweetness, whole milk makes a rich, creamy drink, and lighter plant milks let the grassy side of the leaf show through more. Test the drink with every milk you offer and write one recipe card per milk.
Preparing a Pandan Base for Fast Service
Mixing powder to order is fine in a quiet café but slows a busy bar. Two set-ups keep the queue moving.
Pre-portioned powder
Weigh single doses into small sealed pots before service. A barista tips one into the jug with a splash of warm milk, froths and finishes the drink. The dose never varies, and the powder stays dry until the moment it is used.
Pandan concentrate
Blend pandan powder with warm water, and sugar if your recipe is sweetened, into a smooth concentrate. Cool it quickly and keep it chilled in a sealed bottle. Leaf powder settles, so shake the bottle before every pour, and dispense with a pump or jigger so each drink gets the same amount. Colour and aroma fade as the concentrate stands, so make enough for the next few hours rather than the whole day, and handle leftovers in line with your food safety procedures.
Equipment
- a digital scale or measured scoops
- a milk frother or immersion blender
- a shaker for iced drinks
- squeeze bottles or a syrup pump for concentrate
- airtight, opaque containers for opened powder
Rinse steam jugs well after pandan drinks, because the aroma lingers and will carry into the next flat white.
Keeping Every Drink Consistent
- Fix one dose, one milk volume and one sweetener level per drink.
- Taste a reference latte at the start of each shift.
- Store the powder sealed, below 25 °C, away from the heat of the coffee machine and out of direct sunlight.
- When a new batch arrives, make a test drink and compare it with your reference before service.
Putting Pandan on the Menu
Many customers will not know pandan yet, so a short description sells the drink: a sweet, fragrant Southeast Asian leaf with vanilla and coconut notes. Placing pandan next to matcha in a green drinks section invites comparison and helps customers choose. Our guide to pandan vs matcha powder explains the differences for staff training.
Seasonal specials keep pandan interesting without adding work behind the bar. An iced pandan coconut latte suits summer, a hot pandan latte with palm sugar syrup suits winter, and a pandan affogato, a pandan shot poured over vanilla ice cream, works as a dessert drink all year. Each one starts from the same base, so speed and consistency stay the same.
Pandan also gives the food counter a theme. Pandan sponge slices, green waffles, doughnuts filled with pandan custard and pandan ice cream all match the drinks. Our guides to baking with pandan powder and pandan ice cream and gelato cover them in more detail.
Pandan Supply for Cafés
Cafés serving pandan every day can order bulk pandan powder in 25 kg drums, stocked and shipped from Sweden, and we reply to quote requests within 24 hours on working days. One drum suits a café or a product developer starting pandan on the menu, and café groups can move up to 50 kg, 100 kg or pallet volumes as sales grow. Home baristas will find simple methods in our guide on how to use pandan powder.
