July 19, 2011 | 986 Comments

Maiberry

In a sea among many, you’ve got to do something that’s going to make you stand out from the crowd.

Here in Fort Collins, we have an incredible amount of frozen yogurt options – Mahalo, Spooners, Golden Spoon, Coolberry, and now Maiberry. Each place has their own personality – some have better flavored frozen yogurt, others have better toppings, and some have the edge on better price per ounce – but they all serve pretty much the exact same thing.

Except Maiberry.

Yes, they are serving FroYo, but they’ve added a twist that nobody else has here – Greek-style.

Greek yogurt has been a recent trending food fad, filling the grocery store shelves with tart Greek options right next to the sickly sweet traditional fruit and yogurt mixes. Greek yogurt has higher protein content and less sugar, leading it to be a better, and healthier yogurt choice. It also has a unique thicker texture and pleasant tangier flavor that really makes it a delicious treat. So, to take this type of yogurt and turn it into a frozen dessert? Brilliant.

Maiberry (pronounced “my-berry” after the founders name, but also a tribute to the fictional Andy Griffith Show town “Mayberry” – so I suppose you call it what you want), is a Boulder-based franchise. The Fort Collins location opened in march of 2011 right next to JeJu Sushi on College and Olive Street. There are also locations in Denver, Ohio, and Texas. The Greek-style yogurt is combined with rSBT-free milk from an organic Boulder dairy and beet sugar to create a fat-free dessert that tastes completely different than all of the other frozen yogurt shops in town.

The kids and I decided try some frozen yogurt on a super hot summer afternoon. The Preschooler made some crazy concoction with chocolate frozen yogurt, M&M’s, Gummy Bears, and kiwi (he ate it all and loved it).

The Toddler had strawberry cheesecake frozen yogurt with fresh strawberry slices and cold, chewy cheesecake cubes. This was fantastic. Even though the frozen yogurt has the Greek tang to it, sweet flavors still taste deliciously sweet.

I decided to go with a total odd ball mix – original tart frozen yogurt, fruit jelly, pina colada jelly, longans, and lychee. Longans, also known as “Dragon Eyes” are a South Asian fruit that are very similar to lychee. They have the texture of a peeled grape, but a sweet, zesty succulent flavor all of their own. They mixed in well with the tart Greek yogurt, which was especially tart and sour, but incredibly tasty.

On another day, I decided to try out one of their more creative menu items – the Glaçée. It’s a combination of shaved ice and Italian gelato topped with whatever fruit and syrups you’d like. I chose to go with the original Sweet-Milk flavor – shaved ice frozen with sweetened condensed milk, and added mango, strawberry, and mochi.

On those oven-hot summer days that make you melt into a puddle on the floor because it’s so unbearably uncomfortable – get this. I got brain freeze while eating it. While the sweetened condensed milk did give it that undeniable canned milk flavor (I suggest going for a different flavor), it was super refreshing. The fruit and mochi combined with the arctic cold shaved ice were winners for me. Sweet, chewy, fresh, cold, milky, awesome.

There are a slew of other unique menu items – açaí bowls (that make for a great breakfast), smoothies, and fresh lemonades – to name a few, and almost all are items you won’t find at any other FroYo shop in Fort Collins. Not only have they set themselves apart from all of the other Frozen Yogurt options, they’ve done so deliciously.

Maiberry
236 College Avenue
(970) 631-8414
www.maiberry.com

Kid-Friendly? Yes

Parking: Old Town street parking

Healthy Options? Many! You pick your portion size, and the Greek froyo has higher protein and lower sugar than other options.

Budget-Friendly? You pay by weight, and other options are on the higher end of the price scale (over $6 for some)

Recent Health Inspection: Good