A troop of tasters hop a Subaru and try out four of Seattle’s newer weigh-and-pay hangs.
Unlike the popular chains that proliferated in years past (i.e. Red Mango), this current crop is self-serve. You select the flavor and toppings and price is determined by weight.
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We begin at Yogurtland, a Cali company with big plans for Seattle. The flavors—so many! Where to start?!—range from fruity (mango, strawberry) and exotic (lychee, taro) to candy-like (chocolate coconut truffle, vanilla wafer) to downright questionable. Devil’s food cupcake batter? All told Yogurtland offers 16 varieties on any given day, among the most of our stops.
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We settled on Yogurtland’s strawberry, plain, and mango. The first was nice enough, if not a tad too reminiscent of soft serve. Though not as tart as we would have liked, the plain was highly delicious and got a gold star for texture; other plains we’d sample would clump into craggy nuggets. The mango, meanwhile, tasted of unflavored yogurt mixed with something generic. Also: beware the gummy bear—the gooey guys add more color than yum.
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Where are we, Shibuya? Customers choose the color—all neon, of course—and character—all Hello Kitty—of their spoons.
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Next stop: Zoëyogurt in Greenlake. While megachains dominate the market, several mom-and-pop shops have entered the game locally. Tom Hudson says he and his wife Donna visited Southern California a year and a half ago and upon return, noticed a dearth of froyo here in Seattle. So they opened Zoëyogurt. They attended “Yo U” classes to learn the ropes. Since March the Hudsons have been churning 70 different flavors, a dozen of which are available every day. (The aforementioned Peaks opened after the tasting trip.)
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And what of the prices? They’re pretty cheap! Every spot has its own system, but we’ll say the average is 40 cents per ounce. At Zoëyogurt this hefty serving plus two others totaled $8.40.
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Like to pucker up? Zoëyo’s plain brought the tartness we sought at Yogurtland. Cake flavors, we learned, like the “batter” mix here and the red velvet chocolate at our next stop, are best avoided.
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Fremont’s Cool Whirled proved the favorite stop. The selection is noticeably smaller (and, what’s this, just one type of spoon?), but every flavor we sampled (except for that funky red velvet chocolate) was a winner. The texture was creamy and luxe while the piquant yogurt tasted natural and healthy. The cloying artificial sugariness we’d found in others just wasn’t there.
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Don’t miss Cool Whirled’s refreshing raspberry pomegranate—it’s like eating a bowl of freshly picked fruit. The honey lavender and thin mint are also excellent.
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Like Yogurtland, California-based Menchies has sprouted many area offshoots, with more due soon in West Seattle and Puyallup. Like Yogurtland, Menchies ups the cute ante: note the swirly coiffed mascot.
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The Queen Anne Menchies lacked the spic-and-span sparkle of the three other spots. And while the chocolate-vanilla mix disappointed—it was powdery, and tasted of low quality ingredients—the pineapple packed a tasty punch.
For years Californians have obsessed over froyo, now it’s Seattle’s turn. In the past eight months self-serve shops have colonized practically every corner—and plenty more are in the pipeline. As Tim Riley, who just opened Peaks Frozen Yogurt Bar in Bellevue, put it, “What we’re seeing now is the start of the firestorm.”
Funny thing is, they’re all essentially clones of one another. Neon is the color scheme of choice, and sparkly, spa-like tiles the standard trimmings. Cutesy mascots pepper the surroundings, so spotless they verge on sterile. Patrons—a gaggle of chicks, guaranteed—giggle with a kid-in-the-candy-store trill as they sample kiwi this and mango that. “It’s Disneyland,” Riley offers as a spot-on observation.
With that question in mind, a handful of recruits ditched work and pigged out at four of Seattle’s more popular froyo spots. Which was our favorite? Click through the slideshow to come along for the ride.
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