About Us

What is wagashi?

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Japanese confectionery (wagashi) has a long and rich heritage much like the rest of Japanese cuisine. But it didn't really become widely available until the 1600's with the introduction of sugar by European merchants.

Confectionery then became widespread in Japan with its inclusion in tea ceremonies and the commercialisation of sugar. This is when wagashi truly developed into the sweets we see today.

Confectioners began to create intricate and beautiful designs inspired by poetry and nature. In fact, wagashi was raised to an art-form (often wagashi is described as "edible art") and sought to engage all human senses with their amazing designs, flavours and textures.

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This is the experience MinnieSweets brings to Melbourne!

We are small batch maker

There's a joy in discovering something new - that jewel that you just want to tell everyone about!

That's the feeling we are striving for! That's why we initially started as a market stall business for the flexibility to go new areas, to spread the word about the wagashi experience, and get closer to our customers.

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Minako Asai (please call me Minnie!) is the owner and creator of MinnieSweets.

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After a career working in the incredible food hall of one of Japan’s largest department stores, Minnie is now on a mission to bring the authentic, handmade Japanese confectionery (wagashi) experience to Melbourne!

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Minnie would love to make Melbourne known for this incredible, edible art!

Ingredients

We take great care in sourcing, storage and preparation of ingredients and hope you sense this when you taste our sweets. Simplicity is a pillar of our philosophy, and many of our sweets only a few key ingredients.

A core ingredient, our Adzuki beans are Australian grown and create a fantastic sweet bean paste (an). There are two kinds of an-paste: Koshi-an which is smooth without the bean skin; and Tsubu-an which has the skin still in the paste and creates a fantastic texture.

We use white cannellini beans for our smooth white bean paste. This is a key component of products such as Nerikiri and Strawberry Daifuku.

An amazing source of antioxidants, matcha (or green tea powder) is enjoying massive popularity around the world currently for its health benefits. Matcha used in Japanese tea ceremonies is traditionally paired with wagashi, so we have sourced some of the highest quality matcha from Kakegawa in Shizuoka. 

Yuzu is a superfruit from Japan, and is often described as a combination of lemon, mandarin and grapefruit. We have an amazing local supplier called Mountain Yuzu.

And all of our sweets are plant based (PB) and gluten free (GF).