Sweet Lab
Fro-yo girl here. Rosemead is a smaller city in west San Gabriel Valley (Los Angeles County) with a population of 54,058. The population is predominantly Asian (60%).
Froyo hasn’t had much of a presence in Rosemead, California. It’s never been home to any large froyo chain though Yogurtland, Menchie's, and others can be found nearby. I’ve only had froyo in Rosemead, California once – at Sweet Lab, 8526 Valley Blvd Ste 112. They made it fresh with liquid nitrogen and added the scoops to a bubble waffle. Sweet Lab opened in 2016 and closed in 2021 or 2022. It seems like they stopped offering froyo as a base and the only froyo left on the menu is Beijing yogurt ice cream.
Other froyo shops that closed:
- Very Berry, 188 W Valley Blvd, was a counter-serve froyo shop that also served shaved ice. It was open from 2007-2008.
- Yo Love, 8150 Garvey Ave Ste 113A was a self-serve froyo that charged 33 cents an ounce and was open from 2010-2011.
Non-froyo shops in Rosemead like Jamba Juice and Cold Stone Creamery likely offered froyo at some point. Perhaps other places like Tapioca Express did as well. But I don't think there are any places left to get froyo in Rosemead. Sad!
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. There are so many boba tea shops but very few offer purple rice yogurt drinks. I found another one though, Gotcha Tea House in Rosemead, CA. Gotcha is a Taiwanese brand that farms its own tea. The tea comes from a single tea plantation in Mount Ali, Taiwan.
The Gotcha menu includes many types of drinks, including Yakult tea, yogumuji yogurt, slush, macchiato slush, milk tea, brown sugar drinks, fruit tea ad brewed tea. Some drinks are available hot or cold. Choose from medium or large size. They also have your typical add-ins: boba, jelly, pudding, red bean, popping pearls, cheese foam, aloe vera, etc.
Purple rice yogurt is part of the Yogumuji drink series. These drinks are made with fresh Japanese style yogurt. I’m not sure how the yogurt is Japanese style. They don’t make their own yogurt. He mentioned that they use Greek yogurt. The fruit flavored Yogumuji drinks are flavored with fruit flavored syrups.
Purple rice yogurt ($4.75, large): The drink is not sweetened (you can ask for it to be sweetened though). They put yogurt, lots of ice and steamed purple rice in a blender. I am not a purple rice yogurt drink expert because I’ve only had it one other place but I prefer The Alley’s version where the rice isn’t blended into tiny pieces. Part of the appeal of purple rice yogurt is the chewiness of the rice. Gotcha blended the rice so much that there was nothing left to chew on. And they used a lot of ice. The drink was thick and icy. It was mildly tangy and I could taste the yogurt and a bit of nuttiness from the purple rice. The Alley’s version was more like a shake, whereas Gotcha’s was like a slush.
For a history of purple rice yogurt drinks and health benefits, see IFYA’s post, Now Trending: Purple Rice Yogurt Drinks.
I’m hoping that Meet Fresh, which has purple rice drinks but not purple rice yogurt drinks, will add purple rice yogurt drinks. Fingers crossed.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
* GOTCHA TEA HOUSE: 3524 Rosemead Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770
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. Sweet Lab opened recently in Rosemead; they use liquid nitrogen and KitchenAid stand mixers to make your ice cream or frozen yogurt to order. One order gets you two scoops and they use cookies, nuts and cereal to make cute faces on your ice cream or frozen yogurt. You can get liquid nitrogen ice cream or frozen yogurt in a cup, waffle cone or Hong Kong style egg waffle cone (aka egg puffs, HK waffles), milk teas, and hot spicy dip (which I think it’s like a hot pot?)
There aren’t that many ice cream and yogurt flavors to choose from but the fruit flavors are made with real fruit. Froyo flavors ($5.50-$5.95): Double berry (strawberry, blueberry), Strawberry, Blueberry, Papaya, Mango
I recommend getting the egg waffles – they’re also made to order. The waffles look kinda like bubble tape. The bubbles are soft and the batter in between is crispier. People like the contrast between the warm waffles and the cold ice cream or frozen yogurt.
* Strawberry yogurt ($5.50): A little simplistic but natural tasting; imagine adding fruit to yogurt and freezing it. The frozen yogurt wasn’t too sweet and it was actually sour and tangy. The texture was soft and smoother than a mix in style yogurt. Some parts were firmer.
* Egg waffle cone ($1): Very nice, the soft parts were soft, the crispy parts weren’t too crispy, the batter wasn’t too sweet and it had a hint of coconut, just $1 with your froyo or ice cream order, it’s totally worth it
I think my favorite part was the egg waffle cone but I don't think it would go well with soft serve froyo because the froyo would make it soggy.
$15 credit card minimum.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
4 out of 5 stars
By Lolia S.
* SWEET LAB: 8526 Valley Blvd. # 112, Rosemead, CA 91770
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.
