Efa’s, Frozen Yogurt, Mitte

Frozen yogurt.

Why bother?

Am I right?

It’s a little like saying, “I’m in the mood for something bland, something white.”

“Snow?”

“Nope, frozen yogurt.”In Miami over Christmas, I developed a taste for  Yogen Früz.  They do a dizzying array of flavours and make them ‘fresh’ for your order; meaning they feed what looks a like soap bar (but is in reality a frozen fruit bar) into a machine that blends it with frozen yogurt.  It’s highly addictive, especially chocolate frozen yogurt with Reese’s Pieces candies strewn on top.  And yes, I know that by ordering that I am totally missing the point of the whole low-fat thing but you haven’t tried it, you don’t know how good it is.

In Berlin however, frozen yogurt comes in one flavour: yogurt.  (Efa’s also does a seasonal flavour.)  Which is probably the more honest approach otherwise it’s a bit like tofu burgers.  Either you want tofu or you want a burger but to want both is like wanting a Siamesoodle (a cross between a Siamese cat and a poodle, don’t google it, I made it up).

I tried Frohsinn frozen yogurt in Potsdammer Platz first and it tasted a little like their might have been an onion somewhere in its recent history.  Unlikely yes but that’s what I got, maybe the mango pieces had been cut on an allium contaminated cutting board?

Then I saw Efa’s and the Twitter blue announced that I was passing yet another frozen yogurt joint.  Efa’s has the added distinction that it is organic (being in such close proximity to Prenzlauerberg, it would have to be) and uses Agave syrup as a sweetener.

A lot of thought had gone into the display and you all know I am a sucker for store design.  It’s €2.40 for a small cup, €3.30 for a medium and €4.80 for a large.  €0.30 for each topping.  A hard sell in a city where a warm lunch rarely breaks the €5.00 barrier and if it does, there aren’t too many people around to buy it.Predictably, most of the bodies in there were foreign, hailing from lands where people will opt to spend £15 on 300ml bottle of Molton Brown hand soap instead of £1 for 250ml bottle of Dove handwash.  Hand soap destined for guests only who are encouraged not to use it.  Actually I prefer Miller Harris and I keep it in my bathroom.  For guests, I’ve decanted some Dove into a plain white bottle.  (Ha! Now you know friends, the good stuff is in my bathroom!)

Clearly I am an Efa’s customer.

After all that jabbering what do I think?

It’s not that bad.  ”I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am.”*  It’s refreshing, light and just like when you say something with your fingers crossed behind your back, it doesn’t count - calorifically speaking. Efa’s
Weinbergsweg 24 
Mitte, 10119 
www.efas.de 
Opening times: Mon - Fri 10:00 to 21:00 Sat - Sun 11:00 to 22:00

*From Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham.  What is that book about anyway? Is the moral of the story that you should try something before you say that you don’t like it? Or rather, if you are persistent and annoying enough, like Sam, you can get anyone to do anything, even to eat green eggs!