Saturday, July 22, 2017

RockIt Swirl Transforms into Cuppa, the Update





Fro-yo girl here. Back in 2011, Eggettes in Glen Park (San Francisco, CA) remodeled and rebranded, becoming Rockit Swirl. I covered the story at the time: http://froyogirl.blogspot.com/2011/07/rock-it-swirl-takes-over-eggettes-in.html

Eggettes first introduced frozen yogurt at the Glen Park location in 2009: http://froyogirl.blogspot.com/2009/05/fro-yo-meet-eggettes-eggettes-meet-fro.html

The owners have remodeled and rebranded again. Rockit Swirl is now called Cuppa. Cuppa serves “bubble tea, froyo, smoothies, snacks and more.” I missed the grand opening in March but I did check out the shop recently.

Cuppa represents a somewhat fresh start, though the frozen yogurt machines have remained and the menu isn’t that different from the previous incarnation. Some of the Rock It Swirl signs are still present too. The interior has been painted and it does feel cleaner (and cleanliness was an issue before). It looks more mature.

Rockit Swirl became a grimy hangout for high school and middle school kids. More families are going to Cuppa now (but I also visited during the summer, so I'm sure fewer school kids were out looking for a place to go afterschool).

The froyo is still self-serve. They had 6 flavors at the time. The toppings bar is what they had before: syrups, candy, fruit, popping boba, nuts, sprinkles, granola, chocolate chips, coconut, jellies and mochi. It’s 65 cents an ounce.

The customer service was friendly but when I asked for a sample cup, she only gave me one. One sample cup isn’t helpful, especially since I didn’t like what I sampled.

Froyo flavors of the day:

  • Cable car chocolate
  • French vanilla
  • Strawberry: sweet, creamy, like ice cream, not yogurt 
  • Original tart: the best flavor that I sampled, it had a refreshing edge and clean finish without being watered down, it didn’t taste lemony but had a bit of sourness and tang
  • Almond milk, vanilla: dairy free, no probiotics, the texture was icier which I don’t mind but the flavor was very sweet and pretty chalky, plus it was bland
  • Mango sorbet

For snacks, they have spam musubi, potstickers, chicken bites, etc. The best thing they ever offered here was the egg waffles. And those haven’t been offered for years. It feels like the place has improved a little but not a lot. The changes are more cosmetic on the froyo side though they did add almond milk soft serve (a premium offering). I doubt I would return unless they brought back the eggettes but that seems unlikely. Eggettes have become popular again though, so they should offer them.

Glen Park is a lovely neighborhood. It deserves a higher quality froyo spot.

$5 credit card minimum.

3 out of 5 stars

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

* CUPPA: 2810 Diamond St., San Francisco, CA 94131

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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