FRO-YOLYMPICS DAY 1: Oko
Our first stop on the fro-yolympics was in Brooklyn. If you read my blog, you know that I’m not a fan of going to Brooklyn; why take a train for half an hour if you can get frozen yogurt right outside your door?! But, for the fro-yolympics, I’ll do basically anything. Most of the people that I invited told me they’d meet up with the tour some time during the day, but they weren’t trekking out to Brooklyn, not even if I enticed them with SUBSIDIZED frozen yogurt. The real frozen yogurt enthusiasts, however, took the train for 20 minutes to make it out to Oko for me (a special thank you to Justin and Ariel – sorry for being 30 minutes late and thank you for being so patient!). Oko, meaning “eco” in Hungarian, is the most environmentally friendly yogurt store I’ve ever visited. Almost everything in the store is made from some sort of renewable resource; their floors are made out of linseed oil (which is completely bio-degradable), their containers are made out of corn, their spoons are made out of potatoes, and their countertops are made out of pressed sunflower hulls! Oko also tries to get all of their products locally.
Oko’s lovely storefront:
1. Size of the hole:
The hole was EXTREMELY small because our yogurt specialist tapped the container on the table to maximize the amount of frozen yogurt we were served.
2. Tanginess vs. creaminess: On a scale from 1 to 5 (one being tangy and five being creamy), Oko scored right in the middle with a solid 3.
3. Topping Variety:
All of the toppings were stored in air-tight containers. They also serve berries with chopsticks, which is a cute touch!
4. Fruit Quality:
On a scale of one to five (one being over/under ripe and five being perfectly ripe), Oko scored a perfect FIVE!
5. Calories per ounce: Oko has 30g calories/ounce and 5g of sugar/ounce (their online menu includes all of this helpful information).
6. Price per ounce: Oko clocked in at a healthy 62 cents/ounce.
7. Atmosphere/quality of service: You can tell Oko really cares about the environment; their walls have a wood panelling that is made out of bamboo, their drywall is made out of recycled content, and a lot of other things that add up to a very eco-friendly store. They played top 40 hits and the atmosphere was friendly (although our frozen yogurt server was a little suspicious of us taking so many pictures).
8. Iciness vs. Smoothness: On a scale of one to five (one being icy and five being smooth), we rated Oko a 3; a perfect combination of iciness and smoothness!)
9. Number of flavors: there are 4 flavors at Oko – original, blueberry, orange creamsicle, and chocolate. The flavors change daily so you never know what you’ll get!
10. Resilience to heat:
Well, this case is special; they only give samples on small spoons so our sample looks a little beat up. On our frozen yogurt order, the melting wasn’t too bad (probably because we demolished it).
11. Presentation:
Very beautifully presented with LOTS of toppings. I don’t think I’ve EVER had that many toppings on a frozen yogurt! Brooklyn knows how to serve it up!
Only four people went to Oko (Justin, Ariel, me, and Chris), but we all enjoyed it. The rest of the frozen yogurt followers met up with us in Manhattan.
Final notes: We liked that Oko was environmentally friendly and that they have a buy 10 get 1 free card (Chris can testify to how much I love frequent buyer cards…I stuff them into my huge wallet!). Also, the solid texture really made the yogurt delicious and I personally love it when the fruit is slightly frozen by the yogurt (the yogurt is SO cold that when it touches fruit, it becomes crunchy). Also, we think it’s great that Oko’s owners found a Greek family (locally) to make their yogurt mixture. They offer other items like fairly traded coffees and teas, which is a nice alternative for people that aren’t interested in frozen yogurt. The only thing we disliked about Oko was the distance (since we all live in Manhattan), but in Brooklyn, Oko is the authority on frozen yogurt. We gave Oko a 4.0/5.0. Tomorrow, we head into Manhattan and explore Pinkberry!
Here are all of the entries in order (in case you wanted to jump around):
Day 1: Oko
Day 2: Pinkberry
Day 3:Red Mango
Day 4: Yolato
Day 5: 40 Carrots
Day 6: Very Berry
Day 7: Flurt
Day 8: Berry Wild Smooth and Kindy Icy
Day 9: Crazy Bananas
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