Cotton Cafe & Tea Wheel Pie

Operated out of the ruff food pick-up ghost kitchen, you have to get the wheel pies.They are out of this world! And now my favorite snack to get.I tried their egg and cheese, taro and pork floss, and red bean, black sugar, and mochi. All three were amazingly generous in filling and had a delight crisp outside (think egette waffles at happy lemon but so much better). The lovely lady also threw in a radish and cheese wheel pie --- think radish su bing but better because it was the end of the day and to apologize for the wait even though she was kind enough to take our order after the cut off point.They were not too sweet even for my palette, so while I inhaled these, I didn't get the sugar rush I usually get from most desserts, which is a huge bonus.All of the flavors sang, and this will now be my go to snack! Please support local small businesses and don't take off stars for this being a ghost kitchen (i.e. you not doing enough research like some of the other reviewers here...).Pro-tip, if you call or text them your order instead of going through online platforms, you get 10% off.Eat them when they are hot, or reheat them according to directions on the website!

I had high expectations of this place because of the four star review, but the location gave me a shock. On the outside, it says Uber Eat pickup, which means it's a central kitchen hub. Inside there are quite a few of presumably Uber Eat pickup drivers waiting for their orders. There are two order kiosks and a bunch of lockers for food pickup. So it's confusing to figure out how to order or pickup. Also because of the industrial feel of the business, the parking lot is full and hard to find parking. I don't think there's much space to sit and enjoy anything, this is pretty much a grab and go place. There's even a note on the window limiting people's inside time for 5 minutes.I got a Cool Summer Milk Tea which I could taste the coconut but no tea flavors, it's a bit too sweet and artificial for me. The boba is normal but can't compare to the freshly making ones. The lemon custard wheel pie is ok, good thick amount of lemon custard. I can see how this place is hard to compete with the saturated boba cafes in the Bay Area. The menu is interesting but the flavor isn't up to it.

Visited Cotton Cafe on a Monday afternoon and was pleased with my experience. The wheel pies are snack sized, only 3 inches in diameter, so if you want a full meal, I recommend ordering more than one. They taste like soft, fluffy mini pancakes stuffed with sweet and savory fillings. Got the cheese egg and black pepper tuna pies. The tuna mix was so flavorful and strong in its peppery taste, and the cheese egg pie was the ideal breakfast sandwich, especially since I'm a fan of pancakes and eggs, so to eat them together like a sandwich was super satisfying. The cheese was unnoticeable in both pies, but also unnecessary IMO. My food took about 10 minutes after ordering online, with a few minutes wait at the Ruff ghost kitchen when picking up. Human interaction was minimal and is sometimes not even necessary since they have self order kiosks and lockers that provide access to orders that are ready. They also have a bit of indoor and outdoor seating, restrooms, and a small parking lot.

Different strokes for different folks. These wheel pies were just not for me. My sister surprised me and DoorDash some wheel pies along with milk tea boba and everything was interesting. The mochi texture was good but the custard was very off putting. This did not taste like custard. It's missing the creaminess of custard and all I can taste is the cornstarch. The concept of the crispy wheel pie plus mochi and custard could work well together if executed correctly. The milk tea was extremely sweet. Sorry, these were just a big no for me.

My friend recommended this place so I looked it up and the wheel pie and boba looked interesting so I had to try it. I didn't know what to expect since I never heard of a wheel pie before. I thought it was similar to an egg custard tart tbh. The shop is inside the Ruff Food Pickup and you can either order from the kiosk or with the cashier. I think there are other shops as well, but I didn't get a good look. We ordered from the kiosk but I recommend ordering it online before getting there as the wait can be pretty long. You can keep track of your order on your phone and when it's ready, it'll let you know. You use your phone to unlock the lockers, which is where the food will be, It's pretty cool to see it pop open.The area to wait in is small and there isn't a lot of seating but I think it's because it's just for pickup or to-go, so you would probably need to go somewhere else if you wanted to sit. The drinks and wheel pie were really good. We got the Early Grey Lavender Milk Tea and 3 different wheel pies (oreo, red bean, and cream). The tea was pretty sweet even with 50% sweetness but I liked the flavor. You could even taste a bit of cinnamon. Have to say this is one of my favorite drinks. The wheel pie was amazing. It was like a mix of mochi and pancakes, kind of like taiyaki and they had so much filling. I had to go back to get some for my family!

Sweet sweet service! Lovely texture of the pies!This is a ghost kitchen type place, so we ordered online! I was really excited to try this place because i never had a wheel pie before! Its like Taiyaki but with way more filling! Yum!After we ordered we were on our way to pick up the pies, and they already finished making it so soon and informed us kindly through call. All of us enjoyed our pies and are thankful for a nearby dessert place where we can get some Taiwanese desserts! I loved my taro filled one! They have plenty of other attractive options, which my friends ordered. It's a bit expensive (~$5 for one) but keep in mind that there are not many wheel pie places that I know of in the area, which makes this special.Can you please fix the ordering on your website though? We could only order on mobile phones and could not access the online order with laptops/tablets.

I got these as a part of a TGTG order and I was not disappointed. This was my first time getting a wheel pie, let alone one that was custard and cranberry filled, but I will definitely be coming back!! It was filled to the brim and not too sweet. The summer green tea also wouldn't be on my list of things that I would choose for myself, but it was very refreshing and I'm glad I got to try it. The drink itself tastes like coconut, but also kind of minty, and the jelly it came with added a nice sweetness. The earl grey milk tea in the pouch was so stinking cute. I saved it for the next day and loved it. I will say though, pick up is a little difficult as this store operates out of a ghost kitchen, and there are a lotttt of people in there waiting to pick up Doordash/Uber eats orders.

Absolutely my new favorite snackI got tuna, matcha, and taro flavor. All of them were delicious. My friend likes the tuna, even I'm not a fan of tuna, but this one is actually good.My favorite was matcha and taro. They aren't too sweet with generous amounts of filling. Strong matcha flavor, smooth and warm. Such a delicious treat for a weekend.The owner is extremely nice! If there is anything wrong with your order, let she know, she will make sure you are happy!I will come back to try more flavor Order was fast and convenient

‼Hot new item in the Bay Area‼When we first saw Cotton Cafe and Tea Wheel Pie, we didn't have a clue what wheel pies were but they looked delicious and we were excited to try them. Cotton Cafe is located in a cloud kitchen in San Jose. Viviane, the owner, recently opened up her business with the hopes of bringing these delicious snacks that are a staple of Taiwanese street food to the Bay Area.The pies were hot and fresh and was delicious! It's just a grab and go place and such a cute idea. The boba earl gray was our fav!We also tried a few drinks and both were refreshing. The coffee is definitely an acquired taste since it mixes soda and coffee, but the smoothie was great and she makes the purée herself!We highly recommend trying out Cotton Cafe for a piece of this Taiwanese snack. You can swing by the cloud kitchen and pick up a wheel pie and choose from over 30 additional food vendors or order online at cottoncafesanjose.com. - -- -- -Taro PieCream PieBoba Earl Grey PieSicily Lemon Sparkling CoffeeStrawberry Smoothie

After checking out the yelp review, I was so looking forward to try the wheel cake. Big disappointment.- cream pie wheel cake, the stuffing is not smooth, instead, kind mushy- taro wheel cake, the flavor of the stuffing is good, but the cake batter is too doughy. The worst is there is a tiny plastic piece in the taro stuffing after we bite into the cake. Can't ignore this.- pick up process: the ordering system and pick up logistics works well.