A snack or pastry pairs well with coffee when it balances or complements a coffee’s rich, sometimes bitter flavor profile.
That’s why you often find cakes and cookies sold at coffee shops. These pastries are buttery and sweet, have different textures like a crunchy biscotti or flaky pastry, and can be dipped in coffee to absorb some of the coffee flavors to make the drinking experience more enjoyable.
All this typing has gotten me hyped for some more coffee and snacks….I digress.
As I was walking up and down the snack aisle at my local Asian supermarket, I realized that there are a lot of Chinese snacks that can go well with coffee. A lot of these snacks are buttery and sweet, have different textures and flavors, and can be dipped in coffee!
Plus, most of the snacks are cheaper than a coffee shop pastry.
So I grabbed a couple of Chinese snacks that I’ve never had with coffee and took them for a test run. Here’s what I recommend!
5 Chinese snacks that go with coffee
These are in no particular order. Each is a common snack you can find at your local Asian supermarket. Note : Buy any of these in-store; many of them are pricier online.
Biscuit Rolls
Coffee: Agave Latte
Location: Cartel coffee in Tucson, AZ
These rolls are buttery goodness. I can finish like 10 of these rolls in one sitting. They’re crispy and lightly sweet, which goes perfect with any iced or hot coffee.
IMEI and Kee Wah egg rolls are pretty popular options. My go to is the IMEI egg rolls.
Asian stores often sell these snacks in bulk – a huge box of these for like $10 as shown below, but you can also find smaller packages.
These biscuit rolls can come in different flavors like cream or sesame. I just got the normal flavor.
Sesame wafers
Coffee: Honey Lavender Latte
Location: Presta Coffee Roasters in Tucson, AZ
These sesame wafers are crispy and flaky. When you dip these wafers in hot coffee, they get even better.
The sesame flavor really harmonized well with the honey lavender latte I had. There wasn’t any competition between flavors, and I could still taste the coffee!
These wafers come in all different flavors. I’ve tried a lot of them (strawberry, vanilla, lemon, and chocolate), but I’ve found that the sesame flavor wafers pairs best with coffee. The sesame flavored wafers aren’t overly sweet compared to other wafer flavors, and the sesame flavor doesn’t conflict with or overpower any typical coffee flavors you might see or get (like caramel or vanilla or mocha).
IMEI and Garden are the most popular brands that sell these. I usually go for IMEI since I eat more of their snacks.
Personally, I think this is one of the best Chinese snacks with coffee.
Pineapple Cake
Coffee: Caramel Latte
Location: Decibel Coffee Works in Tucson, AZ
Pineapple cakes are buttery pastries that have this rich crumbly crust and a pineapple filling that is both sweet and tart. I think these go well with any coffee.
Some pineapple cakes are sweeter than others and some are tarter than others. The one you see in the picture is on the sweeter side so it’s better if you get a coffee that’s less sweet.
You can find so many different brands of these Pineapple cakes at your local Asian supermarket. My go-to brand is CHIATE. Their pineapple cakes are buttery and have a pineapple filling that has the perfect balance between being sweet and tart.
You can find this pastry at any Chinese bakery store.
Bin Bin Rice Crackers
Coffee: Honey Lavender Latte
Location: Un Caffe in Houston, TX
These crackers are lightly sweet and have this satisfying crunch to them that makes them a great snack to have with a sweeter coffee. These are thick crackers so if you dip them in coffee, they won’t get soggy!
Avoid the slimmer versions – stick with the ones shown in the picture.
One bag consists of 6 packages. Each package has 2 crackers. I’ve found these as cheap as $1.50/bag. If they aren’t on sale, they usually go for $2/bag. That’s 1/3 of the price of a Starbucks Latte.
I-mei French Cookies
Coffee: Black Coffee
Location: Homemade by my mentor 🙂
These cookies have a sweet and thin center filling that goes well with black coffee or any coffee that isn’t too sweet.
The outer cookie shell is thin, crunchy, and lightly buttery.
These cookies come in multiple flavors – strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, etc…I got the vanilla flavor but all the other flavors are great too! So you can enjoy these cookies with different coffee flavors.
The only con is that this cookie is big. So it’s not something you can easily dip in your coffee. You’ll have to take some scrumptious bites first before you dunk it!
Try some of these snacks with coffee next time!
Let me know if you think there’s any other Chinese snack that go with coffee. I’d love to try them out!
