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Palm Springs has its own version of Pinkberry; it’s called Cactusberry.

In a older post where we visited Yogurtland, I posited: Does Mikey like the sour yogurt? Back in April, I had introduced him to PinkBerry for the first time, and he was so overwhelmed by it that he blogged about it here. After the YogurtLand visit however, I concluded that although he didn’t care for the PinkBerry decor (he is a design guy; after all, he is an architect), he did indeed like the sour yogurt.

Two weekends ago, we went to Palm Springs. Yes, we went to Palm Springs in AUGUST in the 117 degree desert heat. It was for a friend’s birthday celebration, so we had a good reason. Anyway, we ran into CactusBerry on our way to lunch in downtown Palm Springs. It was impossible to miss; I mean, even if you were illiterate, you could tell just by the colors and font style of the sign, that this was another sour yogurt joint.Â

Here’s my quick summary (because how many different reviews can one read about this stuff?):

CactusBerry offers 2 types of yogurt: original and passionfruit (which, in my opinion, sounds so much better than that weird green tea one from Pinkberry). There are also less topping choices– no mochi (my favorite!) but plenty of Captain Crunch cereal (weird).

How did it taste? Not bad. It was creamier than PinkBerry and Yogurtland. We had the original with kiwi, blackbery, and strawberry.  The fruit was very sweet (either it was the right season for the fruit or they added sugar to it).

But, what sets CactusBerry apart from its competitors is their eco-conscious approach. Their containers are made from corn, while their spoons are of potato starch.Â

If you ask for a sample, they try to make you use the same sample spoon/cup as the one you’re going to use with your purchase. I really appreciated this, but it seemed cumbersome for the employee to explain to the customer:

He first asked for a sample of the passionfruit. Then she asked, “If you were going to order one, which size would you order?” The customer looked at her, perplexed, like, dude why does it matter. Then, she said, “The reason I ask is because we are a green business, and we try to minimize use of the materials” blah blah blah something like then. Aha, now it made sense.

As I’m sure everyone is aware, pinkberry imposters have been infiltrating the southland.  Not to be overlooked was Irvine, as the city welcomed its first sour yogurt host this past weekend: Yogurtland.

Nestled in another non-descript strip mall between Tofu House and Taiko, Yogurtland and its bright sherbert colors screamed at us as we walked into Tofu House. Mikey was beside himself; he couldn’t believe that there was a sour yogurt joint in his neighborhood, and not only was it sour yogurt, but it was a wannabe. I couldn’t tell if he was excited or horrified or tickled pink, but I dragged him in there with me anyway.

I don’t even know where to begin with this place. How about: Sensory overload. Or, Yogurt propaganda. Clearly, they were striving to be a pinkberry. I won’t describe it all here as I can go on and on so just view the pix below.

I will note that what makes Yogurtland different from pinkberry are:

- Yogurtland is all self-serve, frozen yogurt and toppings
- Yogurtland charges by the ounce: $0.30/ounce
- Yogurtland’s menu offers much more variety: from NY cheesecake yogurt to peanut butter to no-sugar-added strawberry banana to– everybody’s favorite– the original

Let me tell you, it is easy to go buck-wild when you’re serving yourself– especially when you’ve got a greedy b*tch like me controlling the yogurt dials. So, while I helped myself to the strawberry and original yogurts with the mochi, kiwi, and strawberry toppings, Mikey roamed the store.Â

If you read Mikey’s previous post on his lactaid-pinkberry challenge, you’ll remember that Mikey was on the fence about this sour yogurt phenomenon. As I filled up my medium-sized cup, I looked back and saw this gleeful look on Mikey’s face. Giggling to himself, Mikey was taking photos of the store (unlike pinkberry, Yogurtland allows photographs) with his camera phone and, really, he seemed to be having a grand old time. I asked if he wanted any and, as expected, he refused.Â

After filling my cup, we approached the cashier where my yogurt concoction was weighed: 1.03lbs, which totaled $4.90. “You get more bang for the buck here compared to pinkberry,” Mikey commented.

We opted not to eat there, taking the sour stuff home instead. When did finally ate it after dinner, Mikey skipped the strawberry (which wasn’t so good anyway), diving straight into the original. And, pretty soon, most of 1.03lbs of yogurt was devoured.

So, after a month of mocking pinkberry, its tart yogurt, its creepy cult-following, and its overdone pop decor, guess what freaking happens: Mikey admits that, though he doesn’t care for the environment, he actually likes the yogurt.Â

Hell, Mikey likes it; he really, really likes it!