Culture Organic Frozen Yogurt

ugh what the hell… I guess this place is closed and I have a damn gift certifcate someone got me shortly before they closed that I never got to use!
I heard it was good, but I guess now I’ll never know.
Booo!

From their FB pg: «Sadly, Culture is no longer open for business. So sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused any fans. Thank you for all your support over the past few years!»

Came here on Halloween with the little nephew. Treating him to a small bowl of organize froyo. The perfect tartness and texture, I think. Yum. Thick. I tried the Pumpkin flavor. Better than other fro yo places I’ve been too. I liked that most everything they used and had in there was environmentally friendly.
The only thing about it is it’s pricey. :P

It helps that I was very adamant about having frozen yogurt at the time. Otherwise, the wait for initial service would have bumped Culture down to 2 stars.
Honestly, I expect the delicious toppings and organic feel of the place, but I prefer much more attentive service.
I got the pumpkin frozen yogurt with strawberries and almond brittle. I should’ve stopped at the strawberries. The almond brittle was a bit too much for the flavor I chose — just saying.
Also, the smell of sweets and fresh waffles was gorgeous on my olfactories. If I had the time, I would have indulged.
Worth the stop-​in if you’re walking around in the area and want a light snack. Get the mini.

Yet another place that deserves an upgrade from Mr. Unilocal hypocrite. I gave it three stars and then became a frequent return visitor.
…Love the fro-​yo: organic and top quality; so are the toppings
…Love how everything is focused recycling and composting
Prices still seem a high, and the space feels a little sterile, but the quality, eco-​friendliness and location win out for me.

After a long 2 hour hike in the sun, this is exactly what I needed… and it reeeally hit the spot! I just got original yogurt with the honey glazed pumpkin seeds… and WOW… I was patting myself on the back for that choice. Although the pumpkin seeds looked more like sunflower seeds, hmm… I’ll still trust them I guess ;)
The girl helping us was very patient while we went back and forth for a while trying to decide, and they were very willing to let us try different things. The small size is plenty for one person… They pile it up pretty high (which I think is a huge plus to frozen yogurt vs. ice cream…). I would definitely come here again! Next time i am definitely going to try a sweeter one– homemade caramel sauce? yes PLEASE!
And the bigger perk– it’s organic! Which is quite important when it comes to dairy… so don’t mess around. pay the extra 75 cents.

If you’re vegan, the only reason to come to Culture Organic is for the donuts. Culture carries Pepples vegan donuts here and sells them for $ 2 a piece (which, amazingly, is $ 1 less than what Pepples itself charges at its kiosk in the San Francisco Ferry Building).
Otherwise, Culture has no vegan yogurts, no sorbet and nothing else of note. They do carry loose-​leaf tea, to their credit.
If Culture had a vegan yogurt I’d be here all the time. If you are looking for vegan fro-​yo, look no further than Fraiche in downtown Palo Alto, which features customizable soy yogurt. But no donuts.

This place is on the pricey side but otherwise rocks. The frozen yogurt is fresh and has a great tangy «yogurt-​y» flavor that I’ve really come to like. The fruit and other toppings are fresh and fruits are local and organic. The cups and spoons are all compostable and they have compost and recycling in the store which I really appreciate.
The interior has a cool decorating style and has comfortable couches and stools/​foot rests. It looks like the type of place where you could hang out for a good period of time and no one would care. Good for groups as the tales and chairs can be rearranged easily.

I am afraid that I cannot join the Culture club.
I do really like FroYo, and I’m not talking about the Android OS.
In Palo Alto, there are a plethora of FroYo choices, including Red Mango, Pinkberry, Fraiche and Culture. In the Yogurt wars, I am afraid that Culture falls to the wayside and can’t quite gather its probiotic muster to compete with the others.
It’s a little bit like comparing Wendy’s to In-​And-​Out. Sure — i’ll go and eat a square burger now and then, but I’m not going to go out of my way for it. In that analogous spirit, would I then compare Culture to a Red Mango.
The yogurt here is not as rich or tasty, and I think it may be the most expensive of the FroYo options. Lowest result for highest price = fail.
But — FroYo is still darn yummy. I’m not going to turn it down. It’s not as if Culture does a bad job or anything like that.
It’s just a square burger to me, that’s all.

Housemade Toasted Coconut?
SOLD!!!
Crazy expensive though: $ 6.96 for a small original froyo w/​4 toppings. Less sweet than the other yogurt joints. I like.
Minor Detail: toppings should be updated regularly on the wall.
Next time: I’ll do without the toasted almonds, I liked the sliced variety. LOVED the gorgeous hand bruised blackberries and raspberries. The PERFECT ratio of toppings to yogurt.

I went her today with a girlfriend and their yogurt is amazing for organic yogurt! So creamy and thick! I had the pomengrate– blueberry mix and is was so GOOD! Prices are not cheap since small is $ 3.99 and topping at $ 1.00 each but its Palo Alto can you be that shocked.
They have tons of organic choices for dry: I saw homemade brownies, coconut granola mix, nuts, etc. They also had these homemade chocolate chip cookies that had no eggs that looked so YUMMY! They also have fruit toppings as well. They also had Yo’Wiches which is cookies with yogurt that looked amazing! I also saw shakes you can have too. Great location to people watch and hang as well!

There are two kinds of fro-​yo shops: places like Frozo’s and Yogurtland, (do-​it-​yourself, lots of flavors, lots of toppings.)
The second being like Blush, and Pinkberry, (they serve you, only a few flavors, usually focusing on tart.)
I expected Culture to be of the second variety, and was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t.
I was highly impressed that they make all their toppings from organic products.
Yes, they actually make the cookies, granola, brownies, crumbles, etc.
They don’t have a alot of flavors, but they do have both tart and sweet flavors.
I also liked that they are making an effort to be environmentally friendly. For samples they give you a real spoon that they rewash and use again. Why aren’t more places doing this?
The young girls working there were really nice, and let me taste more than one flavor, and also told me what their fave toppings are.
Unfortunately, the yogurt was kind of bland, but the toppings were pretty amazing.
I liked being able to have a small amount of sweet treat perfection, since they don’t overload you with toppings.
I did appreciate that they let me split my one topping into a little bit of two things.
I later saw a kid with a smaller size yogurt than what I thought was the smallest size.
On my next visit, I want to see if adults can purchase the kiddie size. That would be ideal.
My guy and I ended up sharing a small since neither of us wanted a big dessert.
As other reviewers have mentioned, it is expensive, but since they’re baking on-​site, and everything is high quality and organic, I can’t complain too much about their prices.

Culture looked pitch dark and i thought it was closed but they only turned off the lights. it was a hot day. with the lights off, it was cool inside.
music: hip hop
froyo availability: (made from straus organic yogurt)
–vanilla
–chocolate
–blueberry: creamy, some blueberry presence, not sugary
–original tart: creamy, not too tart
pricing: (s)3.99 (m)4.99 (l)5.99 toppings @.99 (homemade toppings, chocolate sprinkles, toasted almond splits, 9 in all. 6 organic fruits available.
best deal: medium w/​2 toppings: 6.49
frodrips:
–stoething froyo machine, bio compostable cups
–froyo creamy, not too tart, not sugary, just about right. cost more than self-​serve places thoug.
–nice leather sofa along wall, other chairs available.
–culture is «eco-​friendly».
–friendly service
–wacky wabbit wating: some white kids were dancing up a storm to the hip hop, enjoyed their froyo too. 5 stars!

Organic means BORING right?!
Right.
No fun in having your fro-​yo handed to you upon your order.
I want steel cranking swirl machines. I want a toppings bar. I want to hang out with the ultra-​cool high schoolers in skinny jeans and Edward Cullen hair.
Awww, none of it here.
Boring *yawns*.
Vanilla yogurt with graham cracker and strawberries was A-​OK.
So organic, it wasn’t sweet nor tart. Just boringly plain.
Oh well.

Not as tart as some places but good with a lot of fresh and organic toppings to choose from. I shared a small plain with strawberries and gingersnap granola. The granola was really just broken up gingersnaps and it was good but the texture was not what I was expecting.
I want to try one of the froyo sandwiches I read about in another review. If it stays hot, I may have to go tomorrow.

My review is honored with a review of the day (ROTD) in the Penninsula!
I think my bowl fro-​yo taste even better now!
Which pictures do you like?

I love pumpkin. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry, pumpkin spice latte, and of course, pumpkin froyo. So when I heard that Culture was serving TART pumpkin froyo, I made like lightning and bolted over to Palo Alto.
And I loved it! I had a sampling of the pumpkin and strawberry froyo, both of which were handed to me on the cutest sample-​sized platter. The strawberry lacked a whole lot of strawberry flavor, but the pumpkin was great. The pumpkin spice was not entirely overpowering. It was the just the right amount of oomph and it definitely worked well with the tartness of the froyo. So I stuck with the half pumpkin and half original and was duly pleased. And not to mention their toppings — oh my, the toppings! I opted for the chocolate meringue cookies and coconut crunch. Both were so crunchy and fresh, as if they were just baked, which I’m sure they were.
This place really lived up to all those 5-​star reviews that have been consistently updated by the one and only fro-​yo girl. High quality ingredients + innovative toppings + eco-​friendly utensils + green building materials = super cool out-​of-​the-​box froyo shop!

They didn’t have the orange pound cake crumbs that The Froyo Girl referred to in her most recent update, but the information that she provided about the fresh strawberry yogurt being a thing of the past soon was enough incentive for me to finally head out to Palo Alto to try Culture.
After sampling the strawberry I had a medium strawberry with (more) strawberries and fresh plums (
). I loved that both of the fresh fruits were sour in taste. The yogurt had excellent strawberry taste, was quite firm and smooth. The tartness factor was neutral though. The yogurt was actually more sour than tart. I enjoyed it, and had I not just eaten lunch I would have returned to the counter and ordered another.
I didn’t try the other froyo flavors — original, chocolate or pumpkin. I hate pumpkin! Some of the toppings were kind of unique looking. I do like citrus flavored cakes though. The two young ladies behind the counter were very helpful and friendly. I’ll be back when strawberry season is in full tow again. Great stuff!

Green Fro Yo… WHAT?
Yes Indeed.
Here comes a smart, responsible business, who may lose you on the price, but gets major bonus points on service and their quest to save the world.
Although I missed out on Fro-​yo girl’s event, I managed to sneak in for an afternoon break on the same day. No self serve, no price by the ounce, just 4 flavors to choose from and a handful of simple toppings. Concept is simple, and the strawberry tart with chocolate meringue and coconut crunch is a perfect alternative to the mochi and mango I always favor. I did get lost on the specials and their respective names, but as long as you have some patience, and a concern for our environment, then it will work out just fine.

Let me start by saying I’m really happy that a dessert/​froyo place has opened on California Avenue. With quality restaurants like La Bodeguita del Medio, Bistro Élan, and the Counter, I much prefer going to California Avenue than the overhyped University Avenue of downtown Palo Alto.
The one thing missing was a hip froyo place. Last time, my friends had to drive to Red Mango after a dinner at La Bodeguita. Well, no more. Culture has successfully filled that void.
Sleek and modern, Culture has an interior design reminiscent of Tartini and Red Mango. The first thing you’ll notice upon entering though is the aroma. Warm and inviting, the aroma is reflective of the housemade toppings that are Culture’s signature.
Flavor choices were original and strawberry. We got a small original and accompanied with freshly baked meringue cookies and organic raspberries.
Though it might have been the raspberries, I found the original more tart/​sour than I liked. The more I try froyo places, the more I like the creamier flavor of Red Mango.
For our small froyo, the cost was about $ 5 and I think Culture charges per topping. (Mae treated so I’m not quite sure). While I appreciate the quality ingredients, I did miss mochi and the all-​u-​want bargain goodness of Frozo’s.
Nonetheless, the higher prices are somewhat reflective of the area (Jin Sho and Bistro Élan can get pricey) and I’m still glad that California Street has a froyo place to call its own.