A fish is turning heads in downtown Denver.
Coated on the inside with Nutella, the fish-shaped waffle cone, complete with scales and fins, chomps down on a heaping cup of strawberry- and matcha-flavored soft serve. Wedged next to it is a green matcha macaroon and two Pocky sticks, which may as well represent fishing rods used for the big catch. The whole thing is beautiful enough to go viral on Instagram or TikTok.
You can find the creation at Ichigo Matcha, a Japanese dessert and drink stand that opened at 1351 16th St. Mall last year. “Ichigo” means “strawberry” in Japanese, while matcha, a green tea grown mainly in Japan, has become increasingly popular over the past few years in the United States as a flavoring for all kinds of desserts.
On TikTok, whose userbase consists mainly of adolescents and young adults, multiple influencers have posted videos of Ichigo Matcha’s soft serve, each garnering thousands of likes.
Ichigo Matcha founder Emma Lkhagvajav opened a second location this month inside the North Classroom Building at the Auraria Campus — home to the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Community College of Denver — just in time for the fall semester.
While the cafe is less than a mile from the original stand, it’s only open to students, teachers and others with campus passes. (Most of the buildings on campus can only be entered with ID badges as of October 2023, when the Auraria Campus became a “secure campus”, its website says.)
In the near future, the campus location will take mobile orders and allow the public to pick them up from designated spots, said Alyssa Nilemo, Auraria’s deputy chief activation officer. Lkhagvajav, who didn’t respond to questions seeking comment, plans to open another business on campus as well, Mimi Bubble Tea, inside the Administrative Building this semester, Nilemo added. (That shop will also sell drinks for pickup outside the building.)
The agreements with Ichigo Matcha and Mimi Bubble Tea are on par with Auraria’s goals to improve the food selection on campus, as stated in its announcement of the partnership with Lkhagvajav earlier this month. In the statement, Auraria Campus CEO Colleen Walker said she and other campus leaders were looking for options “that reflect the diversity, energy, and evolving tastes of our student body and community.”
Kotomi Higashii-Picott, of Parker, and Naomi Aspnes, an international finance student at Auraria, visited the 16th Street kiosk recently after seeing one of the videos on TikTok. They ordered a strawberry-and-matcha swirl with a fish cone ($8.50).
“Fish cone!” the vendor shouted from the stand window with the treat in hand.
The matcha mix tasted like the actual thing — sweet but with a smooth, balanced earthiness — which isn’t easy to find, said Higashii-Picott, whose mother is from Japan.
Neither is the soft waffle cone, molded in the shape of a carp, known in Japan as “taiyaki,” Aspnes said. Ichigo Matcha’s taiyaki was soft, almost plush-like, with a mischievously sweet taste inside and out. (A video on Ichigo Matcha’s Instagram account shows employees baking taiyaki with commercial tabletop machines.)
Presentation is an important matter in Japan, said Higashii-Picott, wearing a furry cap with animal ears and a black Hello Kitty sweatshirt. In that respect, with its lettering, menu items and decorations, the two friends felt Ichigo Matcha also did the culture justice.
“It’s not really common in Colorado, but it was my favorite when I was a kid,” said Aspnes. “It was nice finally having it again.”
The reception for matcha in the U.S. doesn’t show signs of waning, though tea growers in Japan have struggled to keep up with global demand, according to the BBC, and are uncertain about the impact of higher U.S. tariffs on Japanese exports, ABC News reported.
Aside from the soft serve, Ichigo Matcha’s drink menu features matcha lattes, milk and bubble teas and fruit drinks. It also serves Japanese sandos at times, and other items.
“Now everyone’s a matcha fanatic, too,” Higashii-Picott said. “Well, when I was a kid, you all told me it tasted like dirt!”