I am really enjoying the return of warm weather to San Diego, even though I know it’s not here to stay. It’s a perfect excuse for me to eat a lot of snow ice.
Yogurt Swirl has so many snow ice flavors, so I’ve been trying to make my way through them. Snow ice, originally made popular in Taiwan, is made of ice blocks that are mixed with sweetened milk and other flavors. As a result, the texture is much softer and creamier than old school shaved ice. It melts slower and when it comes out of the shaved ice machines, it comes out in thin ribbon-like layers.
On this occasion we got green tea and caramel milk.
We really liked the caramel milk, better than the original milk. And look at those pretty thin layers! But we didn’t like the green tea. The green tea came out very watery and grainy. You can kind of see it from the photo. The layers aren’t as thin and are more icy so they just collapsed.
On another recent trip with fellow food bloggers, we opted to get taro and black sesame. 
The taro one is one of my favorite flavors here so far. The black sesame is pretty good too. It’s quite intense but doesn’t taste only of traditional black sesame. Instead it has almost a peanut butter taste to it, and for some reason the color is really really light instead of black.
The owners here are really nice and it looks like their snow ice is doing very well. You can read my original post here which has more information and shows all the flavors offered and toppings.
Yogurt Swirl
9168 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126
Next time you’re in the Bay Area, you should check out Snowflake Teahouse in Fremont. They opened about two months ago, I think, so they’re still sorting out some kinks, but their snow ice isn’t bad! The flavors themselves need a little work (half of my peanut one was super peanut-y and the other half was completely bland…), but the texture is pretty great! I’d love to hear how it compares to the SoCal snow ices.
Thanks for the rec. I haven’t really loved the snow ices in the Bay yet, but I’m always willing to try new ones. The ones in LA and OC definitely seem to have it right.
It’s a good thing we didn’t get the green tea. That didn’t look so good, being all watery. Perhaps the sesame was the lighter type of sesame seed? Also, if I’m ever up here again, I’ll have to try the caramel flavor. I know my husband will like that!
I’m not aware of any lighter black sesame. Not sure. Yes, try the caramel one! We enjoyed it.
P.S, I’m miffed that all these places are opening in my old ‘hood AFTER I’ve left it…
I think that’s always the case. I went to UCSD recently. Can’t believe how much it’s changed. Where was all that stuff when I was there? haha
Their logo… XD
I want a snow ice place near me!
Yeah I’m in love with the cute hamster! Mm, Blockheads isn’t too far right?