Powder Matcha Shaved Ice: This Taiwanese shaved ice shop on Divisadero in San Francisco has a variety of Asian flavors like black sesame, matcha, and Vietnamese coffee. Having had their excellent black sesame on a previous trip, I opted for matcha, which was shaved into thin, overlapping ribbons. While I remembered the black sesame shaved ice being remarkably light, this one texturally was more dense, with the ice cream packing together less than 1/3 of the way through. The matcha flavor, though, is very good and ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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The Nobel Times Super Cola candy: While the packaging says "Since 2014," I have vivid memories of eating the lemon version of this sweet as a child. (The date is likely a result of an acquisition.) Inside are individually wrapped cola-flavored hard candies. Like Warheads, it induces discomforting anticipation of a largely unpleasant sour flavor at the onset; unlike Warheads, there is a much more mild sweetness after the coating wears off. I remember running the snack under the kitchen sink to rub off the salty-bitter exterio... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Heart of Tea Peach tea: Purchased from the nice vending machine at work, this bottle of tea stands out with its well designed packaging. The drink has a round herbal black tea flavor that I enjoyed, but the peach flavor was too sweet overall. If they had an unsweetened version, I would probably purchase it again. Until then, probably best to stick with Honest Tea (the barely sweetened kind in the glass bottles, not the plastic ones post-Coca-Cola acquisition). 3.0/5.0
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Purple Kow Roasted oolong tea with boba: A so-so cup of bubble tea at this downtown Berkeley location of Purple Kow. Too milky to have much herbal flavor; the boba is slightly chewier than average. Generous cup given the price. 3.0/5.0
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Chester's Cheese flavored Puffcorn: Long gone are the days when Chester the Cheetah starred in his own video game (see Too Cool to Fool, NES 1992). While he's still featured prominently on Cheetos packaging, his name is a relic of 90s/00s commercial spots of my childhood. A quick search on YouTube for Cheetos ads reveals a shift away from pure animation to showing real people interacting with a CGI Chester. But on a recent trip to CVS, I found a bag of Chester's Cornpuffs, a product I had up to this point not seen before. It s... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Full Tilt Ice Cream Mango Strawberry Sorbet: Part ice cream shop, part arcade, Full Tilt is a chain of family friendly shops located in various parts of Seattle. Along with their colorful assortment of flavors is their equally colorful staff (many heavily pierced and tattooed, at least at the time of my visit to the Ballard location). The texture of the mango strawberry sorbet I purchased could have been smoother, but the flavor combination was unique, although a bit sweet. I'm hopeful that they're able to maintain a sanitary environ... (read more) 3.0/5.0
seattle icecream dessert fruit fulltilticecream mango strawberry sorbet 3.0