What Is Jelly Coffee, the Japanese Dessert That’s Showing Up in Seattle? | Eater Seattle
"A tiny shop on First Hill opened only after several things fell into place: coffee jelly — once a common U.S. dessert and still widely popular in Japan where it’s called kohi zeri, essentially Jell-O made with coffee and usually served with milk or cream — had to exist (Starbucks Japan has used it in drinks before, it appears as a topping at some boba tea shops, and it’s sometimes available at H-Mart). A pair of architects, Heywood Chan and Ree Hamai, partnered with Japan–based chef Kotone Shiotsuki and worked for a year to identify the right beans and tweak the agar mix to account for differences between Japanese and American agar; Chan recalls, “We almost gave up on agar,” and the team was determined not to use gelatin to keep the product vegan. After popping up at a few local businesses, they opened on Broadway near Seattle University in December in a small, quietly sleek space with a takeout window facing the sidewalk and custom-made takeout cupholders — details that reflect the owners’ architecture background. Claiming to be the only coffee jelly specialty shop in the United States, they call their version “jelly coffee” (rather than “coffee jelly”) because the jelly is served in a cup topped with milk or ice cream and drunk through a straw as it melts; the texture is “not thick like a milkshake or chewy like the tapioca balls in boba tea” but instead is “akin to sucking up thin gummy worms that taste strongly of dark-roasted coffee,” and because the milk stays separate the drink becomes a kind of deconstruction of a typical cup of coffee. The menu also includes matcha jelly, black tea jelly, and a milk jelly (originally intended for kids but now used as a blank canvas with hojicha or genmaicha syrups), and the shop serves espresso on its own or as a jelly topping. For Japanese customers this can be a reminder of home: “The sweetness of any food in Japan, it’s very subtle,” Hamai says. Behind the polished brand — professional photos on the website and shop walls — is a homespun operation: furniture made from Chan’s camping equipment (which he also photographed), jelly produced in an offsite commercial kitchen by “a team of moms” working between childcare dropoff and pickup, and a front-of-house staff largely made up of students who often hang out in the shop. The owners emphasize meaning and staff wellbeing: “We have to make money, and we want to introduce our products to everybody,” Hamai says. “But I believe that unless you enjoy [something], unless you’re motivated, and unless it’s meaningful for you beyond money, then it won’t continue. It’s gonna disappear at some point. So we want to make sure people are happy and people are motivated.” It’s open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and until 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday." - Harry Cheadle
