Third Culture Bakery Berkeley

First time visiting Third Culture, unfortunately by the time I had arrived they were sold out of most things. They did have bread pudding and that was one of the reasons for coming so it wasn’t a total ‘L’.
The bread pudding was light and not sweet. They warmed it up as well and that was a real treat 😃. All i needed was some whip cream next time will ask for sure, must come back to try some of the doughnuts.

A friend recommended this place, mentioning how popular their mochi donuts and muffins are. As soon as coming up, I noticed quite the line coming from here. Since I was in the area, I committed to the line. It didn't take too long, it's just they allow one or two parties in the store at a time. Since my first visit, I've come once or twice again when I'm in east bay. I personally prefer the donuts more than the muffins. I try to order almost one of each of the flavors. They're always fun and unique and I love how strong the flavors are in the donuts. The texture is also great. Their matcha drinks are also really good. You can definitely taste the high quality ingredients they use. Absolutely love this place and can't wait to try their new SF locations.

The Mochi muffins have been a long time favorite, the best texture, flavor and perfect barely their sweetness. Recently a friend gifted me a jar of Chef Sam’s Guava jam and it is pure delight; a jam triumph! It quickly became my most coveted item in the kitchen. Eaten by the spoonful or topping a toasted buttered piece of sourdough. The flavor is undeniable joy, tropical fabulousness and pure goodness. A vacation in a bite. Love Third Culture!

Hands down my favorite mochi spot. It's become a weekly ritual for me to go after my aerial class. Coffee, donuts, muffins and bread pudding are all amazingly delicious!

As a gluten intolerant person I was super excited to try out the mochi donuts and muffins. We got a variety of flavors, and I love the muffins are dense, chewy, and not overly sweet. The donuts are very flavorful between the icing, toppings, and donut itself. Worth driving an hour to check out!

The original mochi muffin never disappoints, and their recent explorations into new flavors like the red velvet muffin have been divine.

Also a great spot to pick up teas and jams. Super recommend for supplies for gift baskets as well

Perfectly made gluten free desserts and pastries. They also play around with flavors that go way beyond the basics. The Black Sesame waffle with Mochi is so good, it’s like a study in all the different things you can do with sesame.

The outdoors has a bit of seating. Overall it’s a perfect family friendly outing or a really cute date brunch.

As a foodie, when I discovered that Third Culture had gluten free I was over the moon. Their food is naturally gluten free and beyond delicious. The staff is super friendly and the store is super easy to access. Mochi donuts are hands down my new favorite thing, even 3 days later they are still soft and delectable. Be sure to try the Ube coconut donut you will not regret it.

The first time I had mochi donuts were from Dahlia Bakery in Seattle so I was curious about Third Culture Bakery. They were definitely comparable in quality. Dahlia Bakery’s were a lot sweeter though.

I loved the Yuzu Lemon and Guava Cheesecake from here. The flavors were on point. The frosting was not too sweet so you don’t feel sick eating a whole donut…or several…lol! It’s almost like butter mochi. Chewy and soft in the middle with a bit of a soft crunch on the outside.

The Mochi Muffin flavors were also on point. It was similar to the donut, but you get a lot more of that chewy center. My favorite part is when you can taste the parts on the edge of the muffin that touches the pan. It adds to the flavor.

Service was friendly and fast. The treats were the perfect size. Definitely will be back when I’m in the Bay Area!

I absolutely love this bakery!! It was my first time visiting and I already know that this is now one of my personal favorite bakeries. The staff are very kind and the mochi donuts are incredible! The texture feels just right for me!

I also love that they sell some handcrafted products from local artists, it's really nice seeing a business support local artists. I'll absolutely come back here again when I get the chances! :)

Long wait line on the weekends. We waited for 30 min but it was worth it I’d say. The matcha drinks were good. The mochi muffins are really sweet but we loved their unique texture and flavor. Our fav one was matcha and sesame.

The Third Culture Bakery is cozy little spot combines the best of East and West, offering a unique fusion of flavors that will delight your taste buds. From their signature mochi muffins to their mouthwatering matcha treats, every bite is a burst of happiness. I highly recommend trying one of their seasonal drinks or waffles, that are always a tasty treat!

I go for the high quality matcha drinks. Great staff, nice vibe. No seating inside but ample seating to enjoy your tea and mochi treats out front.

Mochi muffin, mochi donuts, waffles and drinks here are comfort foods! I also like the cholocate bars they carry, a great snack!
I especially love their staff here, always very helpful and friendly. Picking up some pastries and drink at Third Culture always brightens my day~!
Though TCB doesn't have a store front in Oakland, where I live, some cafes and shops (Farley's East, Asha, Highwire coffee, etc) carry their donuts and muffins. It's great to get them when having my morning coffee.

this was my first time trying mochi muffins! they were really soft and bouncy and reminded me of vietnamese banh bo nuong! we got there close to closing so some of the flavors that we originally wanted were sold out, but the flavors that we picked out were all pretty good. the muffins got a lil too sweet after awhile only bc i tried each flavor in one sitting lol. i wish i tried their matcha drinks maybe next time!

btw you can also get 10% off your entire order if you check in on yelp :D

what we got:
top:
- original muffin
- matcha muffin
- ube muffin

bottom:
- thai tea butter donut
- jasmine milk tea donut
- churro muffin

ig: @whatsviveating

Amazing delicious goodies. You won't find anything like it.
Third Culture Bakery, when are you planning to expand? Come to San Diego! They are missing out down here.

Third Culture has creative muffins and donuts with unexpected flavors like Vietnamese Coffee, Yuzu Lemon, Black Sesame, Matcha, Ube Coconut and Jasmine Milk Tea. They just celebrated their 2nd anniversary and it was festive. About 150 waiting patiently in line while enjoying samples of muffins and donuts. Nice owners, too.

I rarely go out due to Covid now, but decided to make another special trip (over half hour drive) to this bakery just to pick up some goodies to share with my family. At exactly 9am I tried calling Third Culture to place my curbside pickup, but after calling 10 times without anyone picking up, I decided it's early enough that I can go pick it up in person. I was indeed early but not as early as a few others. Wait was short, and everyone was good about staying behind the marked lines to be 6ft apart.

Only 2 customers allowed at a time and each had their own "station" away from each other to order. They had the plastic glasses and all employees were wearing face mask. I thought they were very Covid friendly.

I mainly wanted to write this review because the staff here deserves 5 stars for customer service. The gentleman that helped me yesterday was patient, and attentive. I said off the bat I wanted to make "2 orders" for separate families. Despite my terrible instructions, he understood it and put things in boxes and bags perfectly. At the end my 3 box order, he said he would put two heart stickers on the one box (for the second family I was going to gift it to) so I know which orders were for who. Usually when I did curbside I had to break open the stickers to distribute the order for my family since I couldn't tell which box had which order. Then as he was ringing me up, I was looking at the donuts again and asked if he could put one more yuzu lemon into a bag for me and it was almost like he read my mind (that since I drove all this way and can't enjoy the ones I bought till 3:15pm with my family, I was going to have one on road for my drive back) and he asked "did you want me to warm that up for you"? I literally laughed and said "yes, please! It's like you read my mind that I want to eat it in the car!" haha This purchase and experience in the morning, made my day!

If you're reading this review and not the other I wrote, I highly recommend the following goodies: ORIGINAL mochi muffin (THE BEST), black sesame, ube and matcha are excellent as well. I personally love the yuzu lemon mochi donut, and the mango passionfruit and thai tea (strong thai tea teaste!) were very good as well! You really can't go wrong with anything here.

Mochi muffins are $3.95 each and mochi donuts are $3.25.

So yummy! Get the Orange Five Spice Mochi muffin while you still can this month (May ‘23). It’s a Third Culture Bakery x Alice Wong collab and delicious! 20% of the muffin and book sale (Alice’s book) goes to the Disability Visibility Project and 18 Million Rising for AAPI advocacy and education.

Employees are super nice, helpful, and friendly here!! It was my first time and I didn't know what I wanted. The employee that helped me was patient, and I did not feel rushed. I really like the variety of flavors they have and it wasn't too sweet. My dad typically doesn't like sweets but he enjoyed these treats!