Third Culture Bakery & Matcha Café to Open in Five Points

Partners-in-business-and-life Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu first brought their recipes, reflections of their childhoods in Taiwan and Indonesia, from Berkeley, CA to Colorado in February when they opened their Third Culture Bakery Aurora location. Now, the two queer trailblazers are opening their second, Denver-area location, and their first matcha café, in historic Five Points, located at 25th and Lawrence Streets.

The name Third Culture came from their upbringing as “Third Culture Kids”—kids who grew up in a culture different than the culture of their parents. The two started up shop in Berkeley four years ago, initially as a two-person wholesale business, which soon grew into a bakery café focusing on principles of inclusion and acceptance, particularly for LGBTQ and immigrant communities.

“I really like to have our business just be unapologetically gay but also bring a new, Asian flair to expose Denver to more of the Asian Pacific LGBTQ scene. I just feel like it’s such a different scene, and we have something so special,” Shyu said in an interview with OFM last year.

Mochi is their signature product, but they are always looking to test out new markets and concepts.

The new shop, Third Culture Bakery & Matcha Café, will offer an immersive “Dreamstate” shopping experience, described as a “stunning, dream-like space, with chrome wrapped interior and holographic windows designed to act like prisms, reflecting the light in ever-changing forms and colors throughout the day,” according to a press release from Feed Media. The interior was chosen deliberately to make customers feel like they are in a different “Third Culture” reality, a “visual celebration of survival and resilience, as we emerge from a challenging year, renewed and re-energized.”

This design is making its debut in the new location before other, future store openings later this year in California.

The grand opening of Third Culture Bakery & Matcha Café is set for April 24 and 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The shop will offer limited, VIP tasting packages and a special surprise for the first 50 guests each day, with giveaways throughout the weekend.

Follow Third Culture Bakery on Instagram or their website for more information. Photo courtesy of Third Culture Bakery.