What’s soft, chewy, and irresistibly delicious with just the right kick of heat?

New chili crisp mochi muffins from everyone’s favorite mochi muffin bakery, Third Culture Bakery.

Best yet, its mochi muffins are not only available at its Berkeley and Walnut Creek locations, but also now through nationwide shipping.

Partners in business and in life, Chef Sam Butarbutar and Wenter Shyu founded Third Culture Bakery in 2016 to create baked goods that reflect their Indonesian and Taiwanese heritages.

Their newest chili crisp flavor mochi muffin is a collaboration with Oakland Chef Stacy Tang, formerly of Taiwan Bento, to commemorate the Lunar New Year.

I had a chance try out their new shipping when they sent me some sample products to try. The muffins come six to an order, priced at $26.50 except for the Chili Crisp ones, which are $28.50. However, $6 from every box of the Chili Crisp ones is donated to the California Fire Foundation to support residents impacted by the recent Los Angeles fires.

The muffins come packed snugly in a box, with instructions included to heat them up either in the oven or microwave.

Naturally gluten-free, the mochi muffins are made with California-grown mochiko rice flour from Koda Farms, as well as high-fat French butter.

Even the chili crisp is house-made with chili peppers, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, star anise, tamari sauce, brown sugar, green onions, garlic, ginger, and vegetable oil. Drizzled over before baking, the chili crisp seeps into the top half of the muffin, providing a savory, spicy foil for the muffin’s gentle sweetness. Talk about a great afternoon snack or fun addition to a stir-fry dinner.

If spice is not your thing, you can also get sweet varieties such as Chocolate Chip or Ube mailed instead.

I sampled the Original, made with pandan and coconut milk. It boasts a light toffee taste from brown sugar, and a toastiness from a sprinkle of black and white sesame seeds. It’s wonderful in the morning with a cup of tea.

Speaking of which, Third Culture also ships its specialty teas. A must-try is the Honey Bug Oolong ($17 for 10 tea bags) from a family farm in southern Taiwan. It’s so named because the oolong tea leaves are bitten by tiny bugs, which prompts the plant to produce a defense mechanism that gives the leaves a natural honey-like flavor when brewed as tea.

This tea has been a personal favorite of Butarbutar and Shyu for more than a decade. One taste, and I can understand why. It’s earthy and smoky, with tannins that are more rounded from the tea’s natural hint of sweetness. It’s soothing yet with a fullness in taste. Surprisingly, it’s also supposedly low in caffeine. No wonder the New York Times touted it as its top tea pick in 2023 and 2024.

If you can’t make it to its Berkeley or Walnut Creek bakeries, it’s nice to know — perhaps dangerously so — that you can get your fix now with the goods mailed directly to your door.