About Us
Third Culture Bakery's founders were educated in a sociocultural context unique from their families. This background influenced the development of signature goods such as the Original Mochi Muffin, butter mochi doughnuts, and other beverages and delights. In 2016, Chef Sam Butabutar and Wenter Shyu developed the bakery brand as a symbol of inclusiveness, diversity, and acceptance.
Third Culture Bakery's Story:
Chef Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu fell in love and launched their bakery in 2016. Initially, they were the sole employees and marketed their unique product to only six wholesale coffee shops.
The Mochi Muffin immediately became a cult favourite, and the bakery was able to hire its first employee one year after starting. By 2018, the company had grown to over 60 wholesale shops, employing over 20 full-time bakers, delivery drivers, retail employees, and managers.
The Inspiration behind Third Culture Bakery:
The bakery's one-of-a-kind items were inspired by the proprietors' childhood affection for sweets in Indonesia and Taiwan. The bakery's signature dish was inspired by an Indonesian delicacy his mother used to prepare.
The menu items are as follows:
Third Culture offers a variety of beverages and treats inspired by several cultures:
Muffins with Mochi:
The Mochi Muffin is the product that gave Third Culture its name. Chef Sam Butarbutar created the muffin in 2014 based on his mother's recipe for the traditional Indonesian dessert. He aimed to create a new product with the same cultural meaning and nostalgia as the original.
The Mochi Muffin is flavoured with brown butter, caramel, and coconut and has a crispy surface and a chewy inside. Third Culture Bakery makes the Mochi Muffin with Koda Farms mochiko rice flour, in-house blended coconut milk and pandan, and French-style butter. Including black and white Japanese sesame seeds gives the muffin its distinct look.
Doughnuts with Butter Mochi:
Third Star Bakery's butter mochi doughnuts are baked rather than fried to obtain the lightness of fried dough and the rich chewiness of butter mochi. The butter mochi doughnut is produced with local dairy milk and the same mochiko rice flour and French-style butter used in the Mochi Muffin.
Third Culture's glazes use fresh fruits or other carefully sourced ingredients. For example, the bakery's well-known black sesame doughnut glaze is made with stone-ground Japanese black sesame seeds.
Matcha:
Matcha is a stone-ground green tea powder. Third Culture matcha is created from the first and second harvests of Uji sencha green tea leaves from Kyoto, Japan.
Third Culture's matcha has over 130 times the antioxidants of regular green teas or goji berries. It gives you a sense of serenity, tranquillity, and a little quantity of caffeine. Third Culture's matcha is available as a latte or sparkling matcha fruit infusion; both are hand-whisked for maximum taste and enjoyment.
Brownies with Mochi:
Third Culture Bakery makes mochi brownies with Bay Area chocolatier TCHO cocoa powder, mochiko rice flour, and French-style butter. These brownies are chewier and contain chocolate chips for a chocolatey punch.
Contributing to the Community:
Third Culture, a homosexual Asian-owned restaurant, is about more than simply food. Winter and Sam, the company's founders, have worked hard to manufacture exceptional pastries while instilling a loving culture. They want this love to go beyond their restaurants' doors to all underrepresented communities, proving that inclusiveness can be tasty and useful to all.
Everything they do, from business choices to producing new cuisine, is guided by love. The bakery reflects the family they have chosen and built, and they want every customer to be a part of it.
Culture Bakery donates a portion of its assets to various organizations each year, including the Berkeley Humane Society, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the SF LGBT Center, The Trevor Project, and 1951 Coffee Company, a non-profit that employs and trains refugees and asylum seekers while educating the community and building bridges. During the epidemic's peak months, the bakery donated thousands of dollars to a Bay Area emergency relief fund for LGBTQ and BIPOC people.
Third Culture Bakery also prepared and distributed safety kits to avoid a surge of hatred and violence directed against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Pepper spray and audible key fobs are included in these packs. Winter and Sam received over 5,200 requests for these kits and have now given well over 22,000.