Pinkberry Introduces New Pinkbee’s Strawberry

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.