Dominique Ansel Kitchen What-a-melon watermelon soft serve: Dominique Ansel celebrates the start of summer with a special watermelon soft serve, served in a fresh watermelon "taco" topped with thin seed-shaped chocolate. We braved the line of Instagram fanatics for 20 minutes in advance of the soft serve window opening at 11am at the West Village Dominique Ansel Kitchen. Admittedly, it's as photogenic as any Ansel dessert, with a mountainous swirl of glistening orange-pink sorbet. The soft serve itself had a concentrated melon flavor and great textu... (read more) 4.0/5.0
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San Pellegrino Aranciata Orange Soda: I think I've had every flavor of San Pellegrino fruit soda but have never written reviews of any of them. They aren't sodas I would normally choose to purchase; they're certainly better than Sprite or Sunkist, but I find them to be too sweet nonetheless. But when I found myself at Salumi, an Italian sandwich shop in downtown Seattle, I knew I would need a robust citrus drink to cut through a rich, meaty sandwich, and this cold fizzy Orange San Pellegrino worked wonders. Outside of this conte... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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Young Tea Roasted oolong tea with grass jelly: This small tea shop in Seattle's Chinatown / International District is just a few steps away from their impressively sized Mitsuwa Market. It takes pride in its traditional Chinese herbal teas, and it comes across clearly in their drinks. The oolong milk tea I had was just right: more tea than milk wth just a bit of sweetness at 50%. The grass jelly was one of the most memorable I've had, with a silky texture and slightly bitter flavor that complements the sweet tea. Highly recommended! 4.0/5.0
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Rachel's Ginger Beer: A Seattle-based venture, Rachel's ginger beer is available at restaurants around the city but has a mix of ginger + fruit concoctions available on tap at its Pikes Place shop. I opted for the classic, and it definitely tasted fresh, inducing a sharp tingly feeling in the back of your throat. I've made ginger beers from scratch at home that taste very similar. In other words, there's an important distinction to make: it tasted homemade, but not artisanal. Not as balanced as I hoped it would b... (read more) 3.0/5.0
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La Nostra Gazzosa: A sparkling lemon beverage from Italy that is more like a concentrated, flavored seltzer than a sugary soda, which I far prefer. Though it has 28g of sugar, it's still less sweet than most bottled sodas in the US - just enough sweetness, in my opinion. The drink has a slightly savory aftertaste as seltzer sometimes does along with a refreshingly acidic lemon taste. Good level of carbonation. Altogether, a unique and worthwhile drink. 4.0/5.0
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Sweet Sydney's Chocolate Chip Brownie: Purchased this brownie from the vending machine at work on a rare day I was craving chocolate. Upon first bite, though, I knew it was a mistake. I'm sure refrigeration came into play, but the texture was hard, and it was insanely sweet, like eating pure sugar. (There's 27g of sugar in this square). Definitely did not need the addition of powdered sugar on top. Standard chocolate flavor. A snack that is certainly not worth the money or calories. 2.0/5.0
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