Kaua’i Shave Ice Review #2: Tege Tege Shave Ice

Tege Tege is the new kid in town when it comes to shave ice, or at least the new kid in the town of Kapa’a, on the east side of the island. Apparently Tege Tege has been operating up in Kilauea on the north shore for a couple of years, but a couple of months ago their truck showed up on the north end of Kapa’a, right next to Otsuka’s furniture store. We’ve never seen them without a line at their window.

While I was getting my hair cut yesterday, Brett took the girls to give Tege Tege a try. Brett selected a coconut shave ice, YaYu chose strawberry, and WenYu picked green tea. They also picked up an extra green tea shave ice for me (without the snow cap).

Tege Tege’s ice is hand shaved using a special Japanese machine which creates extremely fluffy ice with an almost creamy texture. Organic fruit syrups are added several times along the way as the cup is filled with ice, ensuring each bite is full of exquisite flavor. Each shave ice receives a complementary snow cap, and with the exception of three flavors (grapefruit, lime and gooseberry) each icy confection is topped off with fresh, organic fruit. Instead of fruit, a green tea shave ice receives a generous helping of anko, sweet red (azuki) beans, the traditional accompaniment to green tea flavor in Japan.

All this quality and craftsmanship comes at a price though. Regular flavors are $7 each; green tea is $8.50. Ice cream is an additional $2.00 (we skipped the ice cream). Tege Tege only offers eight flavors, but finished product is big, and the shave ice is dessert quality and very filling.

The Tege Tege trailer is within walking distance of our house, so I’m sure we’ll be going back one of these days. The cost is pretty high for shave ice, but the quality is several steps above what we’ve had elsewhere. The presentation is beautiful, the flavors unbelievably rich, and the texture amazingly creamy. In our opinion, Tege Tege is well worth a splurge once in a while!