A Southeast Asian Purple Yam Variety
Purple, Visual-First Dessert Craze
Twosome Place and Noted Keep the New Releases Coming
Purple, Visual-First Dessert Craze
Twosome Place and Noted Keep the New Releases Coming
Ube is a purple yam grown across Southeast Asia, including the Philippines. It resembles purple sweet potato and taro on the outside, but its flavor is uniquely mellowly sweet, nutty, and slightly vanilla-like. Rich in anthocyanins, Ube delivers that vivid purple hue without artificial dyes. It also contains nutrients like vitamin C and potassium, which helps explain why health-conscious consumers are drawn to it.
Cafes and bakeries are rapidly adding Ube to their menus. Globally, U.S. Starbucks rolled out an Ube Coconut Macchiato last month, and the ingredient is showing up in everything from cakes and gelato to cookies. Even some spots in Korea have started experimenting with Ube-infused beer and makgeolli.
Dessert brand Noted expanded its lineup on April 10 with six new Ube items: two donuts (Ube Milky Cream Donut and Ube Dubai Purple Donut) and four drinks. Noted reimagined Ube’s flavor and its purple visual through the brand’s own aesthetic. The Ube Milky Cream Donut is filled with rich Ube custard and Ube whipped cream, while the Ube Dubai Purple Donut adds crispy kataifi and white chocolate for extra crunch. Drinks like the Ube Latte and Cream Ube Matcha Latte were introduced to appeal to a broad range of tastes.
