Ichigo Matcha has opened on Boulder’s University Hill, adding matcha drinks, soft serve and fish-shaped waffles to the neighborhood’s College Avenue food and drink options.
The shop opened in August at 1313 College Ave., according to Axios Boulder. It took over a storefront formerly home to Pizza 3.14 and Cheba Hut.
Axios Boulder reports that Ichigo Matcha’s menu centers on matcha drinks and Japanese-style desserts, including lattes, soft serve and taiyaki. The fish-shaped waffles come with azuki red bean paste as well as cheese or Nutella.
A Deep Menu Beyond the Waffles
Beyond those specialties, the shop offers Hokkaido and brown sugar milk teas, boba, fruit teas and sandos, according to Axios Boulder.
Ichigo Matcha joins other tea, drink and dessert businesses on the Hill. Axios Boulder names Lollicup, Kung Fu Tea and Scrooge Bahn Mi among the nearby businesses.
Part of a Growing Regional Footprint
University Hill is one of Boulder's dense commercial districts near the University of Colorado campus, and Ichigo Matcha's newest location gives the brand a foothold there alongside its existing Front Range presence. The company already operates two Denver locations, including one on the 16th Street Mall and another on the CU Denver campus, as reported by Axios Boulder.
University Hill’s commercial context
The University Hill General Improvement District was established in 1970, after property owners sought to fund an off-street public parking lot at 14th Street and College Avenue, according to the City of Boulder. The city says the lot has 42 spaces. Those details document the district’s origins and a public parking asset, but do not provide a full account of its current spending priorities. A December 2019 City of Boulder retail-market report listed average asking rates and pass-through expenses of $40 per square foot for small available spaces in the University Hill General Improvement District and Basemar Shopping Area; that historical figure is not a current rent estimate or a measure of business turnover. CU Boulder’s catalog lists fall 2025 enrollment at 38,808, but that single figure does not show enrollment change or establish customer demand.
That expansion mirrors a broader appetite for matcha and boba concepts along the Front Range, with University Hill now hosting several competing shops within easy walking distance of one another. Whether the neighborhood can support yet another entrant in that space remains to be seen, but for now, Ichigo Matcha has staked its claim on College Avenue with a menu built around fish-shaped waffles and matcha in nearly every form.
