La Super-Rica Horchata: A quick stop for lunch turned into a 2.5 hour detour, with extremely long lines at the Santa Barbara favorite La Super-Rica. Food-wise, while some tacos were excellent, it wasn't worth the wait, but the most worthwhile offerings were their fantastic drinks. The horchata was eye-opening, with a creamy mixture of spices and nuts and smooth consistency. Its styrofoam cup belied its complex and noteworthy flavor. If I came here again, I would request to skip the line and just get a cup of their ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional drinks santabarbara lasuperrica horchata 4.5
Asha Tea Asian Pear Oolong Tea: The fruit teas at Asha Tea in Berkeley are consistently good, with housemade textured purees made with seasonal fruit. The puree adds enough bite that I find your typical add-ons, like boba or grass jelly, are unnecessary. For this particular Asian pear tea, the strongly-flavored oolong had a rich and robust herbal flavor much stronger and more interesting than your typical green or black iced teas. The natural fruit carried enough sweetness on its own to cut through the tea, producing an... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional drinks berkeley fruit ashatea asian pear oolong tea 4.5
Pazzo Gelato Butternut Squash Gelato: A seasonal flavor that makes me wonder if we should all be eating butternut squash pie to celebrate Thanksgiving instead of pumpkin pie. A delectable combination of spices (cinnamon and nutmeg, I'm guessing) and creamy squash flavor. Very smooth. One of my favorite desserts from this year. 4.5/5.0
exceptional losangeles veggies pazzogelato butternut squash gelato 4.5
Back to the Roots Biodynamic Cinnamon Clusters: This boxed cereal comes in a milk carton and is composed of just four ingredients: stoneground whole wheat, cinnamon, salt, and cane sugar. The cereal is orecchiette shaped, and the stoneground whole wheat gives it a unique irregular texture in the same way that bronze dies do for pasta. It has a great spiced flavor and stays crunchy in milk. One of the best cereals I've had in some time. 4.5/5.0
exceptional organic berkeleybowl cereal backtotheroots biodynamic cinnamon clusters 4.5
Seabold Ginger Beer: When in LA, you may stumble across a glass bottle of ginger beer with a hand-written expiration date less than a month away. It feels hefty, matching its $7.50 price tag, with a misty yellow hue. Its packaging instructs you to invert and gently mix, enabling the ginger sediments disperse throughout. The drink is balanced – not too sweet with a good dose of lemon juice and a decent level of spice that fades as quickly as it arrives. It's not quite as good as the absolute best ginger beer ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
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Uji Black sesame soft serve: The best sesame soft serve I've ever had was at a small tea shop at the Mitsuwa in Edgewater, NJ. Whenever I see black sesame ice cream on a menu, I will typically order it to see how it compares, and the one at Uji comes really close. Uji is a small Japanese sweets shop on Telegraph in Berkeley whose menu includes soft serve (matcha, tofu, black sesame), mochi ice cream, and taiyaki. I ordered a cone of black sesame soft serve which comes in a generous portion and can be optionally ordered ... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional uji black sesame soft serve 4.5 ujitime