Cooling off with YoYo & CoCo

With YoYo & CoCo now gracing 45th Street with taro frappes and frozen yogurt cubes, Wallingford is asserting itself as the frozen treats district of Seattle. Even as someone with no sweet tooth and a lactose-intolerant spouse, I still find this claim-to-fame far more exciting than the direction we are threatening to head of becoming the unofficial smoke shop district of Seattle, but that is a topic for another story…

Today’s 90 degree weather served as ample excuse to ruin my kids’ dinner and sample this new Wallingford wonder.

I can safely report that YoYo & CoCo passes the 3 and 5 year old stamp of approval! My children loved every second of this experience, from the display cases with glass low enough for them to see and select their own flavors, to sitting at the small counter and dripping yogurt while they watched the world pass by on one of the hottest days of the Seattle summer.

We tried the frozen yogurt cubes in 3 flavors, strawberry and blueberry, passion fruit and milky mango. I thought the flavor was great and the texture was nice and creamy. I found the size of the yogurt cubes unwieldy and  wished each cube might be a bit smaller, but I am also not familiar with this style of dessert, so there is likely a trick I have yet to master. In addition to the YoYo cubes, I also ordered a CocoHo (coconut and horchata) soft serve cup with brown butter sauce and boba. We were all happy to try this, but the kids voted that they will stick with the familiar fruit flavored FroYo.

The coolest part (pun intended) was the chance to see the yogurt cubes forming as the staff member moved the sweet liquid around a very cold surface to take shape. In addition to being yogurt artists, the staff was friendly and helpful — assisting me with flavor suggestions and answering the never-ending questions of a 5 year old eager to learn everything about the process of making frozen yogurt cubes and just dreaming of this as a summer job many years down the road.

This was a terrific respite on a hot day and as we sat in the window, watching Wallinford stroll by, I was glad to have this new neighbor in YoYo & Coco.