First Look: At Towa, a Former Yugen Tea Bar Pastry Chef Brews, Candies and Bakes With Tea

At Towa, tea is central to every item. Powdered tea is baked into delicate oolong financiers and matcha dacquoise. Leaves are brewed and the resulting tea is used to make elaborate foam- and granita-topped drinks. Those same leaves are saved and turned into tea oil for poaching prawns, or candied and used as a garnish for a tomato and whipped ricotta tartine. 

The cafe pops up inside Kantaro Okada’s Queen Street dessert shop Sebastian Kakigori from Thursday to Sunday. It’s run by chef Mo Zhou of Gaea and Chiaki, and pastry chef Jasper Chui. The latter worked at Yugen Tea Bar for two years under John Demetrios, left to learn the art of sourdough and other bakery staples at shops including Falco, Little Cardigan and All Are Welcome, then returned to a rebranded YTB, working as sous-chef to Kay-Lene Tan for a year before leaving in December 2025 to focus on Towa.

The duo tested Towa last year with two-day pop-ups at Vietnamese cafe Cham and Zhou’s Gertrude Street restaurant Gaea. But the pop-up at Sebastian, which runs until October, is an “opportunity for us to explore whether the concept is going to work [as a permanent cafe],” says Chui. 

Since opening at Sebastian in March, the most popular of Towa’s four pastry items is the oolong financier. It’s made from a batter that includes powdered Taiwanese tieguanyin tea (a variety of oolong), canola oil and brown butter (added to keep the cake soft and to maintain its crisp exterior, respectively). Inside is a macadamia and hazelnut praline. On top is a tofu and mascarpone cream piped to look like flower petals, with a few cacao nibs added for texture and to give “a chocolate flavour without the chocolate sweetness,” says Chui.

Savoury tartines are inspired by Zhou’s time cheffing in Copenhagen, but made with Chui’s shokupan rather than the typical rugbrod (Danish rye). Drinks are made from teas sourced by Zhou and Chui during respective trips to China and Taiwan earlier this year. 

The chefs aim to push people past matcha with two tea lattes: one using roasted China longjing which has a chestnut-like aroma, and another more floral number made with the same oolong as the financiers. The two signature iced drinks are more elaborate. The Green Haze sees maojian green tea from China paired with a house-made shiso syrup and has a cucumber-and-lime granita floating on top. And the Burnt Haze has a brown butter milk foam and shaved roasted macadamia on top of Chinese lapsang souchong, a tea that “has a little bit of this tanginess – it’s acidic – but it also has a smokiness to it,” according to Chui. 

The pair will continue to develop the menu and aim to add more fermentation techniques and preserves. “We both get bored very quickly, so there’s no way that we’re going to stick with the same menu for six months,” says Chui. 

Towa
203 Queen Street, Melbourne
No phone

Hours:
Thu to Sun 10am–3pm

@towa_melb