Zico Coconut Water: For a while, I tried different brands of coconut water wondering what all the fuss was about. At the end of the day, most tasted about the same. But then I purchased this relatively inexpensive bottle from the vending machine and realized that coconut water can taste bad. This bottle had a strong slightly metallic flavor. Not good. 2.0/5.0
drinks avoid zico coconut water 2.0
Disneyland Pumpkin pie churro: Massive churro (as it should be, at $5 a piece) dusted with seasonal pumpkin spice sugar and small edible ghost confetti. After dusting off more than half the sugar, I found the room-temperature churro to be completely average in texture and flavor. Purchased from Cars Land in Disney’s California Adventure. 2.0/5.0
dessert disneyland pumpkin pie churro 2.0
Smartfood Spicy Jalapeño Ranch popcorn: For last minute ingredients, I sometimes find myself at Safeway when all other options are closed. Their snack aisles are stocked with brands Berkeley Bowl would never carry, including this bag of Frito-Lay Smartfood popcorn. I still remember enjoying the white cheddar popcorn in lunch bag snack packs growing up, so I decided to give this spicy jalapeño ranch flavor a try. It was spicier than I expected, but I don’t think jalapeño and ranch are a particularly good flavor combination; on thei... (read more) 2.0/5.0
smartfood spicy jalapeño ranch popcorn 2.0
Happy Lemon Lemon black tea: Textbook mediocre black tea. Tastes like Lipton, and it probably is. On the plus side, the drinks contains an entire lemon, sliced into wedges. But the overall effect is black tea I can easily make at home. Good thing it was free (from the buy one get on free promotion during Happy Lemon’s opening weekend in Berkeley). 2.0/5.0
drinks berkeley happylemon lemon black tea 2.0
iTea Guava green tea with lychee jelly and boba: I can’t tell if the fruit teas are generally underwhelming or the quality of this bubble tea shop has just declined over time, but this guava green tea from iTea on Kearny in SF was too sweet, even at 30% sweetness, with a syrupy taste and no trace of green tea. Contains lychee jelly and boba, both of which were decent. Lines were incredibly long at the end of a weekday. Questioning whether I should just stop returning to this once-favorite place. 2.0/5.0
drinks bubbletea sanfrancisco sf itea guava green tea lychee jelly boba 2.0
Marin Food Specialties Fig Bars: I think figs are one of the most underrated fruits. Since I moved to Berkeley, I've enjoyed eating the Berkeley Bowl fig cereal bars fairly regularly, so I don't usually buy packaged fig bars anymore. This product was on sale, though, and given that it was a local brand, I thought I'd give it a try. Unfortunately, the filling was overly dense and far too sweet, while the cookie was too crumbly and a little bit dry. I have yet to find a good snack with the word "great tasting" on the labe... (read more) 2.0/5.0
berkeleybowl marinfoodspecialties fig bars 2.0