A new report shows surge in Uber Eats coffee deliveries across Australia - News + Articles

Nov 25, 2025

Forget smashed avo on toast – the real millionaire move is having that $5 coffee delivered for $15.

What did we do before Uber Eats? Aside from the odd pizza chain and local Chinese joint, getting food delivered to your door was once nothing more than a pipe dream. I can recall, around 20 years ago, earning ‘legend’ status among my mates for somehow managing to coax the guys at Clem’s Chicken Shop in Sydney’s Newtown to deliver some fried chicken and gravy to my house when I was hungover one Sunday. It even involved using an actual telephone, I believe. Now, you can order Clem’s – or anything else you want – without even giving it a second thought. Which kind of takes the fun out of it, really. But still, fried chicken.

So much has this delivery-on-demand become a way of life, Uber Eats has officially hit one billion deliveries in Australia. Which would be a mind-boggling amount, if you didn’t take into account how much I love Clem’s. The milestone coincides with the release of the 2025 Uber Eats Cravings Report, which gives us a snapshot of what Aussies are ordering. And I have thoughts.

Where do I find the extra gravy section?

Credit: Supplied

Among the usual suspects – hot chips, nuggets, burgers and pad thai were among the most popular orders – there appears to be a dramatic uptick in the number of people ordering hot and cold drinks. According to the report, orders for matcha have increased by 217 percent over the past two years, with literally hundreds of thousands of matcha orders in NSW alone. Meanwhile, millions of people ordered coffee from Uber Eats. There was one ‘super-user’ who ordered 400 cappuccinos this year. That sounds less like a habit and more like a hostage situation.

Sure, I’m not really in a position to criticise – given that I basically coerced some random bloke into driving over to my place with a bag of fried chicken at noon on a Sunday by using my husky morning-after voice, simply because I didn’t want to get off the lounge. But even I have to say this: ordering a coffee to be delivered to your door when there are about 50 million cafes on every Aussie corner might be a tad, well, lazy.

Uber Eats — Hands up who gets a little dopamine hit when their Uber guy arrives?

Ordering takeaway for dinner is one thing. Sure, it’s bad if you do it a lot (for your health, and your wallet), but it can be a lovely way to treat yourself and/or your family, and can also save time if you’re pressed for it. And yes, a takeaway meal is absolutely golden for when you’re under the weather. But a drink?

I’m guessing you own a fridge. And probably a kettle. And maybe a tap. Surely that should take care of things until you can make it to the end of the street. If you really need a matcha frappuccino so badly that you have to arrange for some underpaid dude on an e-bike to ride across the city to bring you one, don’t you think that maybe you might, I dunno, have a bit of a problem?

Speaking of problems, let’s talk about the swathes of cling wrap that are used to swaddle your precious liquid cargo as it makes its way across town. This non-biodegradable material takes hundreds of years to decompose, and during that time, it releases harmful chemicals into the environment, kills innocent marine life and riddles everything in its wake with microplastics. But totes yay for not having to put on pants.

You’ve got legs, and you know how to use them. So put on your big-person trousers, go get some fresh air and sunshine, reacquaint yourself with your local cafe, and buy a real cup of something nice. You can reward yourself with a fried chicken delivery later. I know a great place.