Sweet and savoury combinations are nothing new when it comes to food (think salted caramel or ham and pineapple pizza), but TikTok has just raised (or lowered, depending on your taste) the bar – yet again.

Love cheese? Love coffee? According to creators on TikTok, the best thing to do is combine the two. Introducing the parmesan espresso martini where self-professed ‘cocktail guy’ Jordan Hughes was encouraged by a friend who is a bartender to make the unusual tipple. 

@highproofpreacher I mean, you just have to try it 🧀 #cocktail #espressomartini #bartender #mixology ♬ Quirky Bossa – Kenny Moggio

After chilling a glass with ice, Hughes adds fresh espresso, coffee liqueur, vodka and a pinch of sea salt. After shaking with plenty of ice, Hughes tips it into a martini glass, and, eschews the traditional garnish of coffee beans. Instead, he tops his drink with grated parmesan cheese. “This feels crazy,” he says. “My goodness. Alright, let’s try this monstrosity.”  Looking straight at the camera he says, “I regret to inform you, that was kind of awesome.” 

But is it really? Apparently so. 

It’s inspired legions of bartenders (and bartender wannabes) to get out their microplane graters and add the umami rich scattering to their martinis. “I was really on the fence about this one,” says @notjustabartender. “This is seriously delicious.”

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Another (apparently) delicious TikTok trend is cheese and chocolate. In this video @foodmymuse says chocolate-covered parmesan cheese crisps are just like chocolate-covered potato chips (who knew that was a thing?) “but better”.

At least with this trend, there does seem to be some science behind it. It’s been reported that the deeply salty parmesan cheese pairs well with slightly bitter dark chocolate. In fact, the HuffPost noted that “the chocolate actually brings out fruity, tart notes in the cheese.” 

@jackgeorgeralph Experiments with chocolate – Blue Cheese Chocolates #foodtiktok #chocolate #FYP ♬ original sound – The Chocolate Man

So, if you’re brave enough to search chocolate and cheese on TikTok, you’ll see people drinking cheese hot chocolate, eating choc chip cookie grilled cheese sandwiches and trying blue cheese chocolates (which the creator says, ‘If you like blue cheese, well, they’re alright.”)

But you’ll probably want to stay away from the white chocolate. According to this article, parmesan and white chocolate only gets a 31% pairing rating (much lower than the rating with dark chocolate of 64%). 

But it’s probably only a matter of time until TikTokers rediscover Heston Blumenthal’s year 2000 pairing of caviar and white chocolate. Something tells us it’s not going to brie alright. 

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