NYC: Alimama Tea – Mochi Donuts and Cold Brewed Tea

For quite a while, I thought mochi donuts were just an overrated fad and I wondered what was the purpose of mixing two concepts that were completely fine on their own. Though it didn’t take more than one bite of this delicious fusion of a Japanese mochi (glutinous rice flour cake) and a classic American donut to win me over, because yum, they’re delicious.

Alimama Tea is a cute cafe in Chinatown known for mochi donuts, and stunning, cold brewed teas, so when I was in the neighborhood the other day, I just had to stop by. The donuts are made fresh throughout the day, ensuring that delicious, slightly chewy, slightly bouncy texture, that makes mochi donuts so irresistible. One mochi donut is usually enough to stop my sweet tooth from roaring, but I couldn’t decide between the Strawberry Glaze and the Black Sesame, so I got both. The Strawberry Glaze’s glaze had an intense strawberry flavor and was sprinkled with freeze-dried strawberries and tasted delicious. The Black Sesame mochi donut was so fresh that the glaze hadn’t fully set, making it a rather messy experience to eat without getting glittery glaze everywhere—but oh, how tasty it was.

The Royal Milk Tea came with mini boba tapioca balls, which are somewhat easier to manage than their larger counterparts, which can be quite a choking hazard if you’re not careful. The tea boasted a beautiful, three-layered pattern with a blue, butterfly pea-colored layer on top. At Alimama you can choose the level of sweetness for your tea upon ordering which I really like, as I often find the standard leve of sweetness much too sweet.

Mochi donuts are made up of a series of small, connected dough balls forming a ring, and the texture is slightly chewy and bouncy. It’s widely believed that the first mochi donut originated from Hawaii in the 1990s, where a delightful creation known as Poi Mochi emerged. These were small, round, fried balls made from a dough consisting of a mix of mochi and taro. However, the ring-shaped mochi donut as we know it today is a more recent invention, thought to be inspired by both poi mochi and a particular ring-shaped donut from the Mister Donut chain.

Alimama Tea, 89A Bayard St, New York, NY 10013