Monday, December 28, 2009

2009: The Fro-yo Year in Review


Fro-yo girl here. Back in January 2008, I developed my wish list for 2009. Most of my wishes had come true by June 2009. Here’s a look back at what I wished for and what actually happened.

* Soy fro-yo: Not much has changed. It’s still offered by Fraiche but hasn’t caught on. WholeSoy & Co. offers pints of organic soy fro-yo at health food supermarkets but I haven’t seen it yet: http://www.wholesoyco.com/product_frozen.html and it doesn’t come in any tart flavors
* Kefir fro-yo: Culture offered it a few times but not for long. Apparently it didn’t agree with their fro-yo machines. Starfruit Café in Chicago added a second location in 2009.
* New fro-yo flavors: There was much progress in this area from all over the world. In the Bay Area, Blush introduced the first organic cookies n’ cream flavor, along with guava and pina colada. Tuttimelon launched many new flavors including passionfruit, coconut, guava, and almond. Pinkberry added passionfruit, coconut, and chocolate. Red Mango added pumpkin spice and the unique Tangomonium. Sadly, some unique flavors like Chill Café’s Red Tea are no longer available.
* Mochi at Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt: I’m very frustrated that they still don’t have mochi. It’s almost unforgivable. I know that they aren’t like other fro-yo shops but mochi is my favorite fro-yo topping.
* More homemade mochi all over: This really happened at places like Sweet Orchid in Fremont, Coco Swirl, Hello Desserts, Yogurtastic, and Fraiche. And flavored mochi became fairly common.
* Tuttimelon’s growth continues: Tuttimelon continues to be the largest fro-yo player in the Bay Area, expanding into almost every SF neighborhood, the South Bay, Peninsula, East Bay, Asia, and Canada. Most of the new locations are self-serve.
* Fro-yo at Target and Trader Joe’s: Trader Joe’s offers frozen tart fro-yo. Target carries Ben & Jerry’s fro-yo.
* Tart fro-yo in your local supermarket freezer section: Trader Joe’s, Dreyer’s, Haagen Daaz and Cefiore answered the call for supermarket tart fro-yo.

I’m fairly happy with 2009 because most people in the Bay Area can now get fro-yo without driving too far and fro-yo shops keep on opening. There were also unexpected surprises like my new collection of Yogurtland spoons.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

5 comments:

Bonnibella said...

I agree the fro-yo explosion is still happening, especially now target is providing it too. I'm interested in trying soy fro yo

Lolia S said...

You should try the soy fro-yo at Fraiche!

bananas. said...

before 2009, there was not one fro-yo place in my hood...heck, i didn't even know what fro-yo was! now they're everywhere and i couldn't be happier.

Lolia S said...

I feel the same way, Bananas - happy that fro-yo is everywhere!

stellaincognita said...

Have you been to Starfruit in Chicago? It's disgusting, and I adore (regular) kefir. :( Chicago's Berry Chill and Yoberri, on the other hand, are quite good. As a Chicago native going to school in the East Bay, I hate that the froyo trend hasn't caught on as much here (I'm in Chicago for the break, and still craving froyo daily, despite the frigid weather!). :(