Cuppa Yo - Bend Oregon

Cuppa Yo

"Cuppa Yo is excited to be Bend's premier, self-serve frozen yogurt shop!"

Let me start off by saying that I have nothing against Cuppa Yo and/or anyone who enjoys self-serve frozen yogurt. More power to the owners and their league of fans. The Wife absolutely loves going to Cuppa Yo and defends it when I go off on one of my Gin induced rants. Speaking of which, here you go:

I've said it on twitter and facebook a few times now and I'll say it again here...IT IS JUST FROZEN YOGURT!! There is no reason to wait in lines out the door to fill up your own cup with as much frozen yogurt as you like, stand in another line (kind of the same line) to put on your own toppings, then stand in another line in order to pay. The lines actually seem to move quite quickly. On my one visit the line was out the door and it only took a few minutes to get my fro yo and pay.

The Wife is trying to sell me on all the flavors and talk up the place. She's giving me combo ideas and toppings to go with it. She's really trying to get me to give in and like it. I've been tough on Cuppa Yo since the first time I drove by and saw the crazy crowd in there. Back in the mid 80's my dad owned a Frozen Yogurt place. Secretaries on their lunch break would power walk in with their head bands and leg warmers, take off their walkman headphones and get their fat free frozen yogurts and bop off back to the office. I remember pops laughing his ass off all the way to the bank. He'd giggle about how the cup cost him more than it cost to fill it.

Now I'm on the chump side of the counter paying $0.40 an ounce like its some sort of fat free crack deal. I look over the selection at the time: Alpine Vanilla, Cable Car Chocolate, Kiwi Strawberry Sorbet, No Sugar Added Strawberry, Red Velvet Cake, Irish Mint, Original Tart and Blueberry Acai Tart.

Reluctantly I take a cup thats bigger than it needs to be and say "ah, that's how they get you". I pull the lever and get some red velvet cake yogurt and vanilla being careful not to fill it up like they want you to. I sprinkle some heavy cheese cake cubes (that's how they get you) over the red velvet side and heath / butterfinger crumbs over the vanilla.


The yogurt itself is not good, IN MY OPINION. To me it was watered down, flavorless, semi-frozen piles of a wannabe dessert. The toppings were great and to me, that's where all the flavor is.

"But its fat free" you say in a sad defense. To which I say, yes, and it tastes fat free. That's why you have to cover it with sugary, fat filled toppings like cheese cake and heath bar. And when you're done topping it off, you have 200 calories from fat in your "fat free" cup.

"But you don't have to put candy on it, you can put on cereal or fruit" you say stretching for anything that makes you feel good about your purchasing decisions. To which I say, why the hell would I want to do any of that? I'm fine with a scoop of ice cream. I'm fine with vanilla or chocolate. I don't need a bunch of additional shit on it to be happy. Ice cream is good just by itself. I don't put cereal or berries on my ice cream and its still delicious.

Now if I put butterfinger or heath bar in my ice cream, it is absolutely amazing!

So go on and enjoy your FroYo and be merry. That's your decision. The Wife laughs at my craziness and she is going to keep on defending her love of Cuppa Yo while I keep on making fun of her and it. I hope all of you still reading don't go all crazy on me.

On a final note, I finished all of my yogurt and toppings before we even made it back to the house. I had to as it was melting so fast. But the best part, a nice large drop of red velvet cake landed right in the middle of my freshly cleaned and pressed shirt. You won this round Cuppa Yo!

Cuppa Yo
937 NW Newport Avenue Suite 110
Bend, Oregon
http://www.cuppayo.com/