We’ve seen so many ice cream trends in the past year, and it doesn’t seem to stop. From Thai rolled ice cream to visually stunning ice cream like fish-shaped ice cream cones and cotton candy clouds. It doesn’t seem to just stop there: unusual ice cream flavors like activated charcoal ice cream in charcoal cones are making their appearance.

Rachel Lee / Daily Nexus

This past weekend I visited Koreatown, Los Angeles, where you can find the best of the best  of Korean food and at amazing prices. Every time I take a trip to Koreatown I’m always finding unique restaurants or dessert places. This time I visited Drips & Swirls, a soft serve and coffee shop that originated the whole charcoal soft serve. Drips & Swirls first opened to the general public on Aug. 25, 2016, started by four owners. The most notable owner is David So, a Korean-American YouTuber/musical artist with about 1.5 million subscribers. The owners created a shop where their soft serves are made from scratch, 100 percent real milk with no fillers, powders or gimmicks and they strive for detail and care in every treat or drink. All their flavors are created and inspired by their Korean-American backgrounds.

Rachel Lee / Daily Nexus

When you first drive up to the shop, you might be surprised with how small it is, but as the saying goes, things come in small packages. The front of the shop has the menu of all their frozen treats and drinks and small windows for you to order and pickup. For their soft-serve flavors, they always have three of the same ones (charcoal crispy rice, melon bar and Captain Crunch) and a seasonal one, which at time of my visit was pistachio honey. Of course I had to get the charcoal flavored ice cream to see what the hype was all about, and my friend got the Captain Crunch to share. Their teas also sounded very interesting, so I ordered their Green Apple-White Tea draft tea. The soft serves were amazing and lived up to their shop’s motto, “All Flavor, No Gimmicks.”Both of the soft serves were so creamy, you could taste the richness in them. The charcoal taste was an unusual but familiar flavor. As for the tea, the natural bitterness of it enhanced the tart and sweet apple flavor. They also had a small seating area that was nicely decorated and provided a cozy, cute place for their customers to enjoy their treats.

Rachel Lee / Daily Nexus

The soft serves and drinks at Drips & Swirls are one of a kind. I would go again to explore more of their menu and would highly recommend it to anyone who’s in the area or just wants to enjoy tasty desserts at a reasonable price.

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