In a recent trip to Australia, our milkshake reviewing team found that the main identifying factor of a shake down under is an extra thin, almost milk-like profile. While the team was only able to cover the sunshine coast and Brisbane-metro area, Australian citizens confirmed that this sample was representative of the country as whole.

In some establishments it was possible to order a separate menu item, the “thick shake” which had a more classic thickness to it. Most discussions about Australian milkshakes are negative because of this distinction. I found myself disappointed with the three shakes I had, two regular and one thick. Getting less of the star ingredient was somewhat unsatisfying, which is not even remedied by the existence of the the thick shake. This is because in most establishments the thick alternative costs 3-4 AUD more, so it feels a bit like paying for a streaming service just to get ads after all. Searching for “Australia thin milkshakes” provides more context, with this reddit post as the first result at the time of writing.
As for why this is different in Australia, our research points to a culture of milk bars that was strong in the 20th century. With milk as the centerpiece, these establishments dominated the confectionary market and created the unique taste profile.