85 Degrees Bakery Review: The Taiwanese Bakery That Conquered LA's SGV

The Verdict

85 Degrees Bakery Cafe is not a boba shop. That distinction matters because most people who discover it through LA's Taiwanese food community arrive expecting something in the same category as Chicha San Chen or Sunright Tea Studio. It is not. It is a Taiwanese bakery cafe, which means the drinks are secondary to what comes out of the ovens. Understanding that before you walk in changes the experience from confusing to exceptional.

After visiting multiple SGV locations and working through the full menu across several visits, the verdict is that 85 Degrees is one of the best value food experiences in all of Los Angeles. Not because the food is cheap, though it is, but because the quality at this price point is genuinely difficult to find anywhere else in the city. The sea salt coffee is one of LA's most underrated drinks. The bread program is legitimately excellent by any standard, not just by bakery chain standards.

Why It's Called 85 Degrees

The name comes from the founding philosophy: 85 degrees Celsius is the temperature the founders identified as optimal for serving coffee. Whether that claim holds up scientifically matters less than what it communicates: this is a chain that launched with an idea about precision and quality, not just a market opportunity. That founding story is now baked into every drink they serve, including the sea salt coffee that made the brand famous.

Founded in Taiwan in 2004, the chain expanded through Asia before establishing its first US location in 2008, targeting Southern California's large Taiwanese-American community directly. The SGV became the brand's US base for a reason. The customers there grew up on Taiwanese bakery culture and could tell immediately whether 85 Degrees was doing things correctly or cutting corners. The fact that those same customers are the chain's most loyal regulars tells you most of what you need to know.

85 Degrees Menu: What to Order

The Sea Salt Coffee is the starting point and for good reason. It is a cold brew base topped with a thick layer of salted cream that you drink through rather than stirring in, so each sip pulls coffee through the cream. The contrast between the bitterness of the cold brew and the savory sweetness of the salt cream is not a gimmick. It is a genuinely interesting flavor combination that holds up across hundreds of visits, which is why this drink built a cult following before most LA coffee shops had heard of salted coffee concepts. Order this first. Order it every time.

The Tiger Bread is the visual signature of the menu, a striped bread with a slightly crispy exterior and a dense, chewy crumb. The striping comes from a rice paste coating that creates the pattern during baking. The texture is unlike any bread commonly found in American bakeries, closer to a Japanese milk bread in softness but with more structure. It is the bread people photograph, but it is also genuinely the right bread to order if you want to understand what 85 Degrees does well.

The Soft Milk Buns are the daily staple. Small, pillowy rolls with a light sweetness and a paper-thin crust that pulls apart cleanly. These are the items that sell out first on weekday mornings, which is useful information: if you arrive after noon on a busy day, the milk buns may be gone. They are worth arriving early for. Paired with the sea salt coffee, this is the best $8 breakfast in the SGV.

The Egg Tart is one of the better versions available at any LA bakery. The custard is set correctly, smooth without being stiff, and the pastry shell is flaky rather than dense. This is not the fragile Cantonese-style egg tart from a dim sum cart. It is the Taiwanese interpretation, which uses a cookie-style crust and a slightly richer custard. If you have had egg tarts elsewhere in the SGV, this version will stand out.

The Taro Slush and other drink offerings are competent but not the reason to visit. If you are specifically looking for boba, this is the wrong shop. The taro slush is sweet and refreshing but does not approach the taro milk tea quality at 7 Leaves Cafe or Meet Fresh. Order the sea salt coffee and let the bakery items be the main event.

LA Locations: Where to Find 85 Degrees Bakery

85 Degrees Bakery Cafe operates across the San Gabriel Valley, which is the right market for a Taiwanese bakery chain. The Arcadia, Alhambra, Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, and Monterey Park locations each serve communities with deep familiarity with Taiwanese food culture, which keeps the quality standard high. A chain that can maintain its standards in the SGV can maintain them anywhere.

The Rowland Heights location is the most convenient for people visiting the SGV boba corridor who want to add a bakery stop. It sits near several of the top-reviewed boba shops in this guide, making it easy to pair with a stop at Xing Fu Tang or TP Tea. The Alhambra location has the largest seating area and is the best option if you want to eat in rather than take out.

Arrive before noon on weekends. The most popular bread items, particularly the tiger bread and milk buns, sell out regularly. The stores restock throughout the day but the first bake is the freshest and the selection is widest in the morning. Weekday visits avoid the crowds entirely and the quality is identical.

Pricing

85 Degrees Bakery is among the most affordable quality food experiences in Los Angeles. Drinks run $4 to $7. Individual bread items are $2 to $4. A full order of sea salt coffee, two pieces of tiger bread, and an egg tart comes to around $13, which is less than a single drink at Boba Guys. The price-to-quality ratio is the best of any Taiwanese food experience I have reviewed in LA. Not because the ingredients are cheap, they are not, but because the bakery model allows the volume and freshness to sustain quality at a lower price point than a drinks-only operation.

How It Compares

Comparing 85 Degrees to boba shops is the wrong framework because the categories are different. The right comparison is to other SGV bakeries and Taiwanese cafes. In that comparison, 85 Degrees wins on scale, consistency, and accessibility while losing to smaller artisan bakeries on individuality and item selection. If you want a handcrafted approach with rotating seasonal items, find a smaller bakery. If you want a reliable, excellent version of Taiwanese bakery culture available across multiple SGV locations, 85 Degrees is the best option in Los Angeles.

Within the broader LA Taiwanese food scene covered in this guide, 85 Degrees pairs well with a boba shop visit rather than replacing it. A morning at 85 Degrees followed by afternoon boba at Chicha San Chen or Sunright Tea Studio is the right way to structure a SGV food day. These are complementary experiences, not competing ones.

Pros and Cons

Final Verdict

85 Degrees Bakery Cafe earns a 4.4 out of 5 and the distinction of being the best value food experience in Los Angeles that most people outside the SGV have not tried yet. The sea salt coffee alone is worth the drive to Arcadia or Alhambra if you have never had it. Add the tiger bread and an egg tart and you have one of the best food experiences available in LA County for under $15.

The 4.4 reflects a chain that is excellent within its category and that does what it does at a level most food operations at this price cannot approach. The deductions are for the lack of Westside presence and the occasional sell-out situation on popular items. Neither of those is a quality problem. They are the predictable downsides of a bakery that bakes fresh and has a loyal following. A genuinely impressive operation, and one of the places I return to most often during SGV days.

Frequently Asked Questions