MeloMelo Coconut Dessert

If you’re in Southern California and a fan of coconut pudding, you’re probably aware of at least one of two regional brands – Rowland Heights-based MeloMelo and Costa Mesa’s Kokonut – though Orange County residents are more likely to have encountered the latter through its wider distribution in local restaurants and bakeries. Founded one year earlier, MeloMelo takes a very different approach, operating shops across California that feel more like fashion boutiques than cafes: Orange County’s sole location in Irvine places refrigerated glass dessert jars with peach-colored lids immediately inside its front entrance, while staff use the same proactive pitching skills that sell cosmetics at department stores. Somehow treating coconuts as luxury goods, MeloMelo’s displays initially focus guests on $13 single-serving dessert containers, and its website goes even further, placing this message right at the top of its homepage:

“To ensure a refined ordering and fulfillment experience, our online store currently requires a minimum order value of $200.”

That’s right: If you want to order from MeloMelo’s site, you’ll need to spend literally hundreds of dollars – because that’s how much it now costs to ensure a refined coconut dessert experience. Welcome to the mid-2020s!

Given that Kokonut’s puddings can be had for as little as $6, one might imagine that $13 alternatives would fall flat, but MeloMelo actually offers a range of coconut jelly desserts at different prices. For $7 ($8 through the website), you can get a jar of basic coconut jelly, while $10 buys versions with added strawberries, kiwi chunks, or osmanthus tea and orange jelly; most jars feature more complex ingredients, and go for $13. Full-sized coconuts filled with jelly and still possessing their original coconut meat are available for $10, and a smaller second display case offers limited-time specials.

Since we didn’t want to stick with just basic coconut pudding, we ordered three different MeloMelo desserts to see how they compared with one another, notably including two of those limited specials. Our first choice was the blue mango coconut ($13), which tops MeloMelo’s standard “signature” coconut and dairy milk jelly with translucent butterfly pea flower jelly, while filling the jar’s base with pureed mango, adding sugar to balance out what would otherwise be neutral-to-sour flavors. On a positive note, the three layers create a natural beach-like scene when viewed through the clear jar’s side; a “sunset mango coconut” swaps the blue jelly for a blood red layer of glutinous rice. We wished we’d ordered the latter instead, as the blue mango version turned out to be pretty plain despite its good looks; it would have benefitted from a stronger second texture and either another flavor or more sweetness.