Aurora’s Third Culture Bakery Delights Folks of All Kinds

East Colfax has had a sweet tooth for the queer oasis known as Third Culture Bakery since February of this year. Business partners as well as real-life partners Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu broke into the business of baking in 2016 when they opened their first location in Berkeley, and after growing to more than 60 distribution points by 2018, they had hit their stride and were ready to thoughtfully expand into new markets.

Building recipes which were intended to be reflections of their childhood in Taiwan and Indonesia, the pair developed a recipe full of vibrant representation and appeal to a pallet which desires tastes outside of the mundane.

“Being out here in Denver, whenever we visited, we definitely noticed that there was a lack of cool, interesting baked goods,” Shyu tells OUT FRONT. “Our baked goods use mostly rice flour, and so everything just happens to be gluten-free. Mochi, our signature product, is very chewy; it’s a different texture. We’ve always wanted to test out new markets that maybe haven’t been exposed to mochi or some of the stuff we’re doing. And, we also wanted to open a safe space where people could hang out and gather.”

Related article: Third Culture Bakery are Still Open for Mochi Muffins

Deriving the name Third Culture Bakery from a reference which is common in Asian culture, meaning a culture that develops from immigrants which is not quite American and not quite that of their traditional ancestors, Shyu and Butarbutar have brought the notion of that essence to the space and flavors they created within their pastries.

“I really like to have our business just be unapologetically gay but also bring a new, Asian flair to expose Denver to more of the Asian Pacific LGBTQ scene. I just feel like it’s such a different scene, and we have something so special,” Shyu explains.

With Aurora being a diverse mecca of cultures, background, and opinions, one thing is certain; Third Culture Bakery is sure to deliver kindness, acceptance, and tasty treats to every patron who walks through their doors. To learn more and see the menu, visit thirdculturebakery.com.

*Photo by Heather Smith