Where To Try Ube In Brisbane Right Now
Ube has officially reached trend status in 2026 for Brisbane/Meanjin’s food and drink scene—the flavour of the moment, if you will. It hasn’t not been a thing before now; in fact, ube has had its main character moment in Filipino bakeries and cafes all across Brisbane for a good few years. But it’s been taken to new heights in the past twelve months, hitting Dubai chocolate levels of fame.
You might have heard of ube, you might already love it. In an iced latte, with matcha or strawberry, in cupcake form, even as a purple donut-cross-pavlova. But for the ube-curious, what is it and who do we have to thank? And more importantly, where can you try Brisbane’s best ube desserts and drinks?
Let’s break it down real quick: ube is a type of yam from the Philippines and, thanks to its vibrant purple colour (you’d almost think it was something out of a Dr Suess novel) and sweet, nutty flavour, Filipinos have long used the root vegetable in desserts. Today, you’ll find most ube desserts use a ube halaya base: a jam-like puree made from cooked ube, milk, sugar and sometimes butter. Then in goes the rest of the delicious stuff.
And now for the best part—where to find it. Let’s get to it: here is where you can try ube in Brisbane.
Lola’s Coffee Bar
176 Ekkibin Road East, Tarragindi | 31 Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove
Image credit: Lola's | Instagram
This cannot be a ube list without Lola’s Coffee Bar—arguarbly the epicentre of ube drinks in Brisbane. As a Filipino-run spot, it’s no surprise the ube is sourced directly from the province of Pampanga in the Philippines, so we’re talking real-deal stuff. Plus, you know it’s good when the team were churning through a whopping 30 to 40kg of ube a week at one point. We’re big fans of the iced ube matcha or, in the desserts department, a slice of the ube cake is one to try.
Dovetail Social
49 Laura Street, Highgate Hill | 85 Overend Street, Norman Park
Image credit: Dovetail Social | Instagram
Dovetail Social is no stranger to the ube craze. In fact, they were stans of the sweet purple stuff well before it took off in Brisbane when they opened the doors to their first spot twelve years back. Now, the entirely gluten-free café has made a name for itself by baking some of the most unique ube pastries around town. Ube-flavoured donut meets a pav? Yep, it’s a thing. What about if you combine an ube leche flan with a lamington donut? You’d get Dovetail’s yamington donuts. For the ube-adventurous, this is the spot for you.
Brigitts Bakeshop
223 Calam Road, Sunnybank Hills
Image credit: Brigitts Bakeshop | Website
This Filipino sister-owned bakery, Brigitts Bakeshop, is all about ube in pastry form. You can opt to order your bakes online for pickup or head into the Sunnybank Hills spot for takeaway goodies only. The cookies, like the ube kataifi cookies, fly off the shelves so as far as insider intel goes, make sure you get in early if you want to get your hands on some. The hot pick here? All eyes on the ube duo cake—the beautiful result of ube cream cake and ube flan. But if you’re reading this article because you’re a fiend for ube in liquid form, Brigitts Bakeshop does one serious iced dirty ube latte. You can thank us later.
Milki Desserts
342 McCullough Street, Sunnybank
Image credit: Milki | Instagram
Milki pretty much does it all, but it’s their next-level ube range that’s landed them a spot on our ube Brisbane list. If you’re passing by, get stuck into the ube cakes, ube strawberry iced lattes and even ube mochi, but the winner here that we reckon is worth going out of your way for is the ube bingsu. It’s a sizeable bowl of fluffy shaved ube ice with a small mountain of ice-cream on top then you get to do the honours of pouring over sweetened condensed milk yourself.
Ugh Coffee
2958 Logan Road, Underwood
Image credit: Ugh | Instagram
Don’t let the name fool you, this is the good kind of, ‘ugh’. Like ‘ugh, I need more of this kind of ube in my life.’ Iced ube espresso? They’ve perfected it. Ube matcha latte? Ugh, we’ll take ten—especially if it has a salted caramel cookie on top. And let us take a moment for the vibe of the space that is Ugh Coffee—it’s less of a coffee shop and more of a stylish lounge room plucked straight from a Pinterest board.
Ria’s Pastries & Cakes
2/16 Railway Parade, Geebung | 7a/158 Station Road, Sunnybank | 6e/28 Elizabeth Street, Acacia Ridge
Image credit: Ria's | Instagram
Dare we say Ria’s is synonymous with ube. Despite having an array of tasty treats for takeaway (we’re looking at you, $4 ube cupcakes), we’ve included Ria’s in our Brisbane ube round-up because of their extensive whole cake and catering range. Because if you are or you know someone that’s ube-obsessed, Ria’s is the spot that can deck out the party with the purple good stuff. We’re talking ube slab cakes, dozens of floral ube-laced cupcakes, a fancy ube drip cake with strawberries, and even stacks of ube wafer sticks. All you have to do is pop in or call up your closest Ria’s to place your order.
Honourable Mentions
Some places are all about ube around the clock, others that tend to operate off a rotating menu can have some purple bangers from time to time. While they may not always be on offer—keep an eye on the venue’s Instagram—when they are, it’s worth changing your plans.
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Beurre Pastries, 33 Park Road, Milton: Seriously delicious pastries and a seriously delicious iced ube Biscoff latte. Picture this: housemade ube puree and ube syrup, cold milk over ice, and decadent Biscoff cream, in a cup. Thank you, Beurre Pastries.
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Pick A Cake, 3/33 Racecourse Road, Hamilton: They say Pick A Cake, we say pick the ube cheesecake if (or let's be honest, when) you spot it on the menu.
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Mas & Noey, various locations: Impartial to a gooey cinnamon scroll? Mas & Noey has levelled-up Brisbane’s scroll game by ube-fying the decadent treat. You won’t always find the ube scroll on the menu, and you won’t always find Mas & Noey at the same spot. But if you keep an eye on their Instagram and act quick, you might just find their pop-up trailer at your local market serving pillowy ube scrolls like you've never tasted before.
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Main image credit: Lola's | Instagram