POP'S Helado!!

Pop's helado (Ice Cream) shops are all over here in Costa Rica. Because of this I was assuming that they would be pretty good. Well, I was finally able to try one! There are a lot of options to choose from; beginning with hard ice cream flavors, banana splits, sundaes, and milkshakes.

 I decided to get a caramel shake. The shake was pretty good, however, I like toppings in my shakes and there were no options for mix-ins in shakes, which was a little disappointing. The milkshake did not come close to reaching the top of the cup, and for the price I would have expected at least that. The shake tasted good, but it was extremely runny; personally, as I have mentioned before, I like shakes that need to be eaten with a spoon. I am sorry to say that my pop's helado experience was not one of the best that I have experienced here in Costa Rica thus far.

Dos Pinos! It really is the BEST ice cream in Costa Rica!

When we arrived here in Costa Rica, we asked a few people where the best place is to get ice cream; and a everyone we asked said that the Dos Pinos brand was the best and that Costa Rica actually ships it to different places. When Kyle and I were in a small town called La Fortuna at the base of the Arenol Volcano, we found an ice cream (Helado) shop that served Dos Pinos.

I tried caramel and chocolate vanilla swirl flavors in a waffle cone Sunday with chocolate chips and caramel syrup on top.

This ice cream was so creamy and delicious! The chocolate chips on top were not just any chocolate chips either, they had yummy crunchy centers!

The Shop was very cute, very clean, and had a wide variety of options. However, I was not a fan of the waffle cone. I don't know if it was because of the humidity or just how it was made, but it was very thick and hard to chew. Over all, this was a very good place and Dos Pinos stayed true to its good reputation!

Self Serve Frozen Yogurt In Costa Rica!!

We found this place on our way to school one day and we decided to try it. I was so excited to try the yogurt that I needed two bowls in order to try all the flavors that I wanted to. The flavors were mint, dulce de leche, mango, chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, and a couple other fruits that I had never even heard of before. The fruit flavors were the best, they were very good! The other flavors however were good, however they were watered down quite a bit.

As for toppings there was a large selection including fresh mango, strawberries, kiwi, etc. candies, and a new topping that I have never seen before at an self serve shop was jello. They had green and red jello cubed in their topping selection.

As for the atmosphere, it was very clean and very inviting. The price was about the same as home ($3.00) roughly a bowl. It was muy deliciouso!!!!

Gelato!! Costa Rican Style!

This begins the Costa Rican portion of the Ice CreamCapades! The other night we went to a gelato shop. It was deliciouso! I hope that we can go back soon!

The gelato was extremely creamy and rich. It was a very good price compared to the states. The flavors offered were lemon, chocolate, strawberry, kiwi, and pistachio. The two flavors that I got were pistachio and lemon. The pistachio had small pieces of pistachios in it and the lemon had small pie crust clusters in it; both were equally delicious! I would give this place a 10 in gelato shops!

Spoon Me!

 I am sorry, There are no pictures this time, we are out of town and I forgot the pictures we took. Look forward to next week because we will be in Costa Rica!! I will hopefully be able to find some good ice cream to blog about down there!
Spoon Me
Frozen Yogurt shop Rating
 Rating Between 1-5      
Yogurt Quality    2      
Yogurt flavor variety    1      
Mix in variety    2      
Price    2      
Atmosphere of venue    2   

    I have heard mixed reviews from those who have tried spoon me and I decided I needed to try it myself. Everyday there is a featured name of the day, and if it is your name you receive a buy one get one free. Well, today’s name was Kyle and so we decided that this would be the best time to try it out.
    Spoon me offers only four flavors, three of which stay the same all the time (Acai, Natural, and Chocolate). The featured flavor of the day when I was there was Pina Colada. Kyle and I both chose to get the eight ounce size that cost five dollars. Though they do pack it in, I would rather fill my cup myself for cheaper.
    When it came to the mix ins there are about six fruit mix ins and about 15 candy mix ins. They offer the typical chocolate chips, brownie bits, cookie dough, cheese cake bites, etc. I was sad to see that my favorite Butterfinger was not an option; in fact they do not have any candy bars at all. One thing that they do offer that I have never seen anywhere else are crushed pop tarts.
    After calling ahead to see if they offered any lactose free flavors for my husband that is lactose intolerant, I found out that all their flavors are diary free; in fact their yogurt is a powder that is mixed with water. This explains why their yogurt is not creamy at all. I do have to hand it to them however, for being a powder/water mix it tastes pretty good, just not the type of creamy yogurt I would go for. After trying spoon me, I am sad to say that I will be joining those who also gave it a poor rating.