Buttercrème Latté by Zus Coffee, Malaysia

Zus Coffee, a modern tech-based cafe from Malaysia with a wide range of flavours, just opened in Singapore. It got me excited to try, as I had a good experience with similar China chains but had not yet come across a good Southeast Asian one. I tried the hot "Buttercrème Latté" first. Although no such word as "buttercrème" exists, I assume it means "buttercream", in which case it would be a combination of butter and sugar whipped into a creamy texture. And I assume that they then add this to a caffe latte. 

Buttercrème Latté by Zus Coffee, Malaysia

As I had ordered takeaway (there were very few seats), most of the creme had melted, but you could still see a thin layer floating on top that was slightly lighter in colour than the latte under it. And under certain lighting and reflection (second image below, click to enlarge), you can actually see the oil droplets from the melted cream floating on the drink's surface. Normally, such visible grease might be off-putting, but since it is a type of butter latte, it seems more natural as compared to a drink where only artificial powder flavouring is used. 

Buttercrème Latté by Zus Coffee - melted cream texture

On first sip, my first thought was "wow, this is exactly like a milk version of Werther's Original candy," which is a caramel and butter toffee confectionery. It also tastes very similar to salted caramel milk, which you get by melting salted caramel into warm milk. The butter toffee flavour came out very strongly and was very delicious and comforting.

The coffee was so faint that it blended into the drink and ended up posing as a caramel flavour. I didn't even notice it much, only the plain Werther's taste, or just caramel melted into milk without adding coffee.

It was borderline too sweet for me at 9% sugar (according to the health label) and no option for less sugar besides just diluting it with more hot water. 

Nonetheless, there was a good balance of salt as well so that helped to moderate the perception of sweetness.

I understand that sometimes people substitute margarine for butter, and I hope they didn't in this case, but from what I could tell, it didn't seem artificial. Furthermore, margarine tends to have a waxy texture, whereas the melted cream looked exactly like melted butter, so I believe they probably used actual butter.

A friend who likes such buttery flavours and ice cream loved it just as it was without any changes. However, if you are a coffee lover, you might want to add an extra shot of coffee for the extra burst of flavour, and it might also help to reduce the perceived level of sweetness.

Interestingly, it was quite close to Luckin's Little Butter Latte, but I felt that Luckin's version had a bit more of a coffee flavour to it, whereas this Buttercrème Latté by Zus felt milkier and more buttery overall. It is also similar to typical salted caramel lattes. I suppose they are all quite similar, involving some type of dairy product, a bitter burnt or caramelised taste and sugar.

If you prefer a stronger coffee flavour, I would recommend Luckin's Little Butter Latte instead. It's very slightly cheaper too. But if you love Salted Caramel Milk, this is an awesome drink to try.

Other interesting coffees

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