Since opening its first brick-and-mortar location in 2016, Uji Time Dessert has become one of the most popular Bay Area spots for Japanese fusion drinks and desserts, with five locations established throughout the region. We visited the Berkeley location years ago when it first opened, but we recently went again to indulge in some new additions to the menu. Here’s what we had on our recent trip to Uji Time!
Drinks
If you can’t decide between trying the matcha latte or matcha soft serve, why not have both? Uji Time offers a matcha float that combines the best of both worlds: creamy matcha soft serve beautifully swirled atop an iced matcha latte. Both the latte and ice cream boast a refreshing color and richness that satisfied our matcha cravings.
We also tried a yuzu passionfruit tea with boba—a dairy-free drink served as a nice contrast to all of the dairy desserts we ate. The fruity and floral flavors complemented the black tea base well. Uji Time’s drink menu features a diverse selection of flavors, with drinks such as rose lattes, tiger brown sugar tea, and black sesame milkshakes. As a vegan alternative to dairy milk, soy milk, oat milk, and coconut milk can be substituted at an additional cost.
#SpoonTip: When ordering a drink, be sure to adjust the ice and sweetness level to your liking!
Taiyaki Soft Serve
Next up, we had to get some of Uji Time’s most well-known classics—taiyaki cones. Although we had already gotten a taste of the matcha soft serve from our matcha latte float, eating it in a red bean-filled cone topped with Pocky and chocolate wafer sticks added a different texture and taste. First, the red beans (azuki) are prepared into a thick, sweet paste (anko). Then, the paste is evenly spread inside the freshly griddled taiyaki cones. While red bean paste can often be an overwhelmingly sweet ingredient on its own, the soft serve and taiyaki cones are mild enough in sweetness to let the natural flavors of all the ingredients shine through.
If matcha or red bean aren’t your favorites, there are still so many other flavors and toppings to choose from! Uji Time’s soft serve menu is incredibly flexible. You can order your soft serve in a cup, waffle cone, or even as a parfait filled with various Japanese sweets from castella to shiratama dango. In total, we tried three of the classic year-round flavors: matcha, ube, and black sesame. The ube and black sesame flavors were nutty and rich, especially compared to the other tea-based desserts and drinks. We topped off our ube taiyaki cone with two pieces of warabi mochi coated in matcha powder. Warabi mochi is just one of the many types of mochi—this variety is more jelly-like thanks to the bracken (warabi) starch used.
#SpoonTip: Uji Time offers seasonal flavors for its soft serve, including cantaloupe, watermelon, and Ramune—follow the Uji Time Instagram page to stay updated!
Mochi
Speaking of mochi, California Mochi has partnered with Uji Time to serve fresh mochi at select locations throughout the Bay Area. Known for its freshness and quality, California Mochi wraps fruit-filled mochi by hand every morning and delivers the batches to various Uji Time locations. While we love Uji Time’s ice cream mochi, we wanted to try this new selection of freshly made mochi.
Each mochi was seamlessly hand-wrapped with delicious fillings inside, including mango mousse cake, cookies & cream, strawberry & red bean, strawberry chocolate, grape & red bean, and pineapple custard. For the mochi with fruit chunks, the soft, chewy texture of the mochi paired incredibly well with the crunchy pieces of fresh fruit. The mochi with cream or custard-based fillings, on the other hand, had deliciously fluffy cake inside that reminded us of Swedish princess cakes but with a mochi covering instead of marzipan.
#SpoonTip: Pre-order your mochi ahead of time on California Mochi’s website and pick up your order at an Uji Time location.
Hard Ice Cream
After all those desserts, we felt pretty full, but we couldn’t leave without getting a pint of Uji Time’s scoopable hard ice cream. Previously offered for a limited time only, Uji Time now offers ready-made pints of ice cream. As with the soft serve, some of the flavors are seasonal and may vary depending on each store’s location. The regular flavors include matcha, black sesame, hojicha, and Thai tea. Some of the seasonal flavors in the past have included lychee, Hong Kong milk tea, Columbia coffee, and honey lavender.
We ordered a pint of hojicha ice cream; hojicha is a Japanese green tea that takes on a reddish-brown color as a result of the roasting process. This same roasting process gives the tea a slightly smoky, toasted flavor. Having only previously tried Uji Time’s ice cream in soft serve form, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the hard ice cream was just as creamy and satisfying. After trying a few scoops, we conveniently took the rest home to freeze for later. We’re excited to try many more of our beloved Uji Time flavors as delicious ice cream scoops!
With so many locations now, Uji Time Dessert is a go-to choice for many Bay Area residents. While indulging in some of the classics, we also discovered many new favorite items and flavors. Whether you’re looking to grab a quick drink, sit down for a sweet snack, or pick up a large dessert order to-go, Uji Time has it all. There’s no doubt that we’ll be back again soon to try out some new flavors when the time comes!