Ümacha Cheese Cream & Bubble Tea

Unlike many Mitsuwa Japanese supermarket locations, the Costa Mesa store currently features two matcha treat specialists in its food court – dessert specialist Ren Matcha & Mochi, with a drink-heavy menu only steps away at Ümacha. Operated separately from a similar New Jersey location, Ümacha serves milk teas, teas topped with cheese cream foam, fruit and tea lemonades, coffees, and “craft creme brulees,” which from our experience were pretty good.

Constantly shifting digital menus make ordering at Ümacha a little tricky. We went with Marry Me Mango, a jasmine fruit tea with mango jelly, mint, and added boba ($6.50); a Ceylon black milk tea with added lychee jelly ($6.50); and a large matcha lemonade with added boba ($8). Each of these drinks tasted as expected, with enough fruit, tea, boba and/or jelly flavors to be discernible despite other ingredients, and though none was amazing, the potentially dicey mix of matcha and lemonade nicely juggled two potentially strong flavors. Drinks were generously portioned with boba, though a request for “less ice” still had plenty of ice.