Fro-yo girl here. Last June Pinkberry launched Pinkbee’s lowfat ice cream with the optional topping of the Honeycomb Drizzle. Now they’ve announced a new Pinkbee’s flavor, strawberry, available starting January 4, 2017. Pinkbee’s Strawberry ice cream is a fitting seasonal flavor with Valentine’s day around the corner. It will be available until February 28. Try the Strawberry Sweetheart combination, featuring Pinkbee’s Strawberry topped with fresh strawberries and chocolate drizzle.
I spotted and tried Pinkbee’s Strawberry a few months ago but it was a tiny melted sample so I didn’t get the full experience. I tried it again. The nice thing about it is that it’s made with a strawberry puree that has bits of strawberry in it. Also, it’s not too sweet. The texture is thick and creamy but it doesn’t feel too heavy. However, it has no tang and it doesn’t have the wonderful qualities of frozen yogurt. The aftertaste isn’t as nice as the frozen yogurt either. But if you like soft serve ice cream, it’s worth trying. My recommended toppings are strawberries, raspberries, yogurt chips, almonds and Almond Roca.
I first tried Pinkbee’s in 2014 at Pinkberry Koreatown (Los Angeles). I tried it shortly after trying Honeymee for the first time. Both Honeymee and Pinkbee’s are milk flavored soft serve ice cream products. They were inspired by the milk soft serve with honeycomb popularized by the South Korean chain, Softree. Pinkberry Koreatown also had a matcha Pinkbee’s flavor.
Pinkbee’s is definitely creamier than Pinkberry’s frozen yogurt product. It’s made with low-fat milk, so it is a lighter soft serve ice cream. Honeymee and Milkcow (a Korean chain) offer a creamier, richer milk soft serve that I actually prefer but the lighter version makes sense for Pinkberry. Anyway, I prefer their frozen yogurt to their ice cream. I know a couple of Pinkberry fans who don’t like Pinkbee’s but that’s probably because they love froyo.
Speaking of soft serve ice cream, several soft serve shops opened in Los Angeles last year, including Magpies in Silver Lake, SomiSomi in Koreatown, Matcha Matcha in Arcadia, Drips & Swirls in Koreatown and Beeline (now called Tea Master) in Little Tokyo. Beeline/Tea Master has the best matcha soft serve but I haven’t tried the new Matcha Midori which opened this year.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
Fro-yo girl here. CrèmeBee’s offerings aren’t innovative in Asia but they are in California. Their offerings reflect several Asian dessert trends: (1) raw honey with organic milk soft serve, (2) cotton candy on top of milk tea or soft serve, (3) nice looking parfaits.
The raw honey with organic milk soft serve was popularized by Honeymee in SoCal. Honeymee opened its first location in LA’s Koreatown. CrèmeBee’s soft serve is organic frozen yogurt; Honeymee’s is ice cream.
The cotton candy is made to order which makes a difference because packaged cotton candy tastes awful. There are two flavors: blue raspberry and purple grape. They make their own marshmallows and they’re cut into cute shapes (white clouds and yellow moons). Other toppings include raw honey, honeycomb, honey boba, pudding, honey castella cake, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce…sensing the honey theme? The plain CrèmeBee is served with raw honey ($3.95).
There are eight creations/parfaits to choose from ($3.95-$5.75) and one flavor of organic soft serve frozen yogurt. They also sell honey flavored teas and floats.
* Cloud 9 with blue raspberry cotton candy, cloud marshmallows and raw honey ($5.75): It’s super cute with that big blue cotton candy cloud. To eat it, you remove the cotton candy and put it on the tray. Tear off some cotton candy and eat it with or separate from your frozen yogurt. The frozen yogurt is plain/milk flavored. It isn’t tangy at all – it’s sweet, creamy and smooth but not as thick as Honeymee’s. The cotton candy is super light and has a hint of blue raspberry flavor. The soft marshmallows were really good – not as sweet as the packaged kind. The portion of frozen yogurt is small and there was a huge hole in the middle but with the cotton candy it felt like two desserts.
The shop is mostly white with a cute bee/honeycomb theme. I think it used to be another froyo shop called Splash Tea & Yogurt and before that A Tea Yogurt and Bluecherry Yogurt. That's four froyo places in the same spot.
CremeBee is having a grand opening celebration on August 29, 2015. The first 50 people will get free froyo. Everyone else will get 25% off that day. Doors open at 1:30 PM.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Rating: 4/5
* CREMEBEE, 137 W Main St., Alhambra, CA 91801
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
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Fro-yo girl here. Happy National Soft Serve Day! Guess what’s been spotted at Pinkberry Koreatown? Pinkbee’s premium lowfat milk ice cream made with organic milk. Pinkbee’s was announced on July 12, 2014: “Premium, lowfat ice cream made with organic milk. Delicious on its own or in one of our 9 tasty combinations including pure, locally harvested honey and honeycomb.” The milk is from “California’s best dairies.”
Pinkberry Koreatown is currently the only location to offer Pinkbee’s ice cream. It's available in one flavor, milk. Pinkbee’s comes in a cup (one size) or cone (they had chocolate dipped cones) with your choice of toppings. A cup with honeycomb called Honey Honey is $4.50. You can add gold flakes (Honey Gold) for an additional dollar. They also have an ice cream sandwich made with a rice cracker.
This location also has been remodeled with a honey theme. The wall looks like a giant white, gold and brown honeycomb and the water dispenser looks like a glass beehive.
Pinkbee’s is clearly inspired by the new food trend in South Korea popularized by a chain called Softree. Softree serves a rich organic milk soft serve with honey chips (honeycomb). It’s available in a cup or chocolate dipped cone. Softree started with one location last year and now operates 26 locations. Honey chip ice cream is now available in Taiwan and the US. Honeymee opened in Koreatown back in May 2014, serving true milk ice cream with honey. Café MangoSix, a Korean café in Beverly Grove, offers fresh honeycomb as a froyo topping.
Honeymee vs. Pinkbee’s: Honeymee’s organic milk ice cream is thicker and richer than Pinkbee’s (I think Honeymee has a higher fat content). It’s also milder and not that sweet; Pinkbee’s has a stronger milk flavor. The honeycomb is soft and chewy. It does have some waxy bits but not many of them.
Honeymee is available in a cup or cone. They also have a Babee Bun which is a fresh soft bun filled with ice cream. A Honeymee (cup with honeycomb chip) is $4.75.
Milk flavored soft serve ice cream is nice but it’s not as refreshing as froyo on a hot day. It does pair well with honey but so would a plain/original frozen yogurt.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* PINKBERRY KOREATOWN: 3300 West 6th St. #4, Los Angeles, CA 90020
* HONEYMEE: 3377 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 116, Los Angeles, CA 90017
* CAFÉ MANGOSIX: 8428 W 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA 90048
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
