During my recent trip to Los Angeles, I really wanted to check out Cafe Maji, a charming little cafe offering a cotton candy affogato, Italian sodas, latte art, and dessert waffles.
The cafe is oddly located inside a Fitness Center, but has become so popular that many visitors are there just for the food and drinks.
Matcha Latte
I started with a matcha latte. They drew the most adorable sleeping bear. So cute!
The drink itself was just average quality, but I loved my bear. Each latte also came with a small cream puff.
Snow Affogato
This was one of the main reasons I wanted to come here after seeing several Instagram videos posted by my friends. Generous scoops of vanilla ice cream is topped with a tall tower of fluffy white cotton candy. On the side is a steaming espresso. You drizzle the espresso on, instantly dissolving the cotton candy and creating caramelized sugar on the vanilla ice cream, offset by espresso. It’s really fun to watch and eat.
Update: Since visiting I’ve made my own Cotton Candy Affogato at home!
White Mocha Latte
Mr. K opted for a white mocha latte. His bear looked like it had fur.
Special Waffle with Green Tea Ice Cream and Red Beans
This was my friend’s order. I loved that it was fully loaded.
Here is the fitness center you need to look for as there was no signs for Cafe Maji on the exterior.
We had a good time here, but the service left much to be desired. It took forever to get their attention to take our order, and a long time for us to get our bill at the end, even though there were quite a few people waiting for tables. The Snow affogato is definitely worth a try though.
Cafe Maji
56 E Duarte Rd #2
Arcadia, CA 91006
What a neat idea for the affogato with the cotton candy! I had a drink (blueberry something I think) at a bar in the Wynn casino in Vegas that they also had a huge thing of cotton candy in that you then mixed in and it melted. Not sure it makes a difference taste wise but fun to watch 🙂
Ooh, that sounds pretty cool too!
Me again – actually at Up2You, TC said there was hot white chocolate. I thought it was cream. She said the workers told her and her friend to pour it on top of the cotton candy but the girls didn’t want to because they wanted to eat it separately.
I wonder if you could ask for espresso with the cotton candy/ice cream combo at Up2You. Hmmm! I think you should do some “research” to compare, ha ha! 🙂
Hmm, I think I will have to go do some investigating. hehe
I just discovered affogato a month ago and really enjoyed it. It looks even better with the dissolved cotton candy!
Mr. K loves it. ice cream with coffee. haha
I like the idea of the cotton candy affogato. Up2You Cafe has cotton candy with ice cream, but no espresso to pour over it to make in an affogato. looks cool though, as well as the bear face on your drink.
too bad the service sucked and the drink didn’t taste that great.
we were in the same area that same weekend. 🙂
I know! My decision to go was really last minute and we were only there for Saturday afternoon, otherwise we could have met up!
That’s such a cool idea!! I also love their latte art – I was silently squealing at my office! 😛
hehe, the only bad thing about such cute art is that I didn’t want to drink it and ruin it!
Cotton candy affogato?! Amazing! Who thinks of these creations?! California rocks!
seriously right? i’ve never seen it before. I need to try to do it myself but it’s hard to find white cotton candy. I would have to try making my own.
Wow! The latte and dessert is so beautiful…
I loved the presentation of everything!