85C Bakery Cafe

This Taiwanese import, known as the "Starbucks of Taiwan," features a mix of European, Japanese and Chinese pastries and specialty coffees and teas. A signature is 85C?s sea salt coffee, which has hatched a full line of hot and cold sea salt beverages, including caramel coffee, jasmine green tea and green mountain tea.

On the food side, the menu counts more than 50 scratch-baked items, a much more extensive selection than most American-born bakery cafes. Along with chocolate croissants, Danishes, tarts and muffins, there is an array of exotic sweet and savory baked goods. These include pork sung buns, mango bread, red bean pine nut mochi and taro puff pastry.

85C expanded into the U.S. in 2008, opening its first location in Irvine, Calif. It's built on the same premise as that set forth by founder Wu Cheng-Hsueh: to provide premium coffee, bread and cake at affordable prices. The concept has since grown to 60 U.S. locations, adding 18 in 2018 alone—a jump of 43% year over year. Sales also rose significantly, growing close to 47%. 85C's culinary bent and devotion to coffee quality have generated a lot of buzz and driven traffic. Each cup of coffee is individually brewed to a temperature of 85 degrees Celsius to best hold its flavor, hence the chain's name.