Summertime in College Park means soaring temperatures, occasional thunderstorms and, of course, frozen yogurt. What was once a niche also-ran to ice cream has now become a pretty good alternative to the likes of Cold Stone and The Dairy.

But which of the area’s three fro-yo shops is the best? To find out, I conducted some very unscientific taste tests.

Yogi Castle

Located in Hyattsville near Busboys and Poets

Just before entering Yogi Castle, a brightly colored sign advertising yogurt pies caught my eye. Yogurt pies? Terrible visions of unspeakable monstrosities filled my eyes. I must try this yogurt pie; I must have it inside me.

Unfortunately, Yogi Castle didn’t sell yogurt pie by the slice, nor did they have any in stock when I visited. Maybe it’s for the best, as I had the sneaking suspicion that ordering yogurt pie could well have ripped a hole in the fabric of space and time. Or worse, spurred on diabetes.

Magical yogurt pies aside, Yogi Castle does have other merits. It has by far the largest variety of frozen yogurts of the three places I’ve visited. Not only does it have the standard strawberry, chocolate and vanilla frozen yogurts, Yogi Castle also has multiple nondairy sorbets and eccentric frozen yogurts.

Toppings-wise, Yogi Castle lacks some of the fruit options found at its competitors but makes up for it by offering a large variety of junk-food toppings, including chunks of yellow cake.

I sampled, among other flavors, a Euro Tart frozen yogurt that tasted strongly of Greek yogurt. Flavor was good — not amazingly strong but not hugely watered-down either. Texture was similarly fine. 

Yogiberry

Located on Route 1 next to Ratsie’s 

Yogiberry’s decor isn’t particularly inspiring. The store’s garish collision of retro-futurism and Asian design combines for a rather dingy result. The pebbles on the floor don’t mesh well with the omnipresent fluorescent green and only serve to make the fro-yo joint feel dirty. It’s a state of affairs not helped by the messy yogurt dispensers and the messy toppings bar.

The frozen yogurts at Yogiberry lean slightly more Asian than Yogi Castle. You get flavors such as taro popping up alongside chocolate and mixed berry. Similarly, the toppings include fruit boba, kiwi, aloe chunks and the saddest slivers of strawberries this side of a McDonald’s sundae.

The yogurt itself was also a far cry from that of its competitors. Watery, gritty and bland, almost all of Yogiberry’s fruit flavors were extremely disappointing. Without the toppings, the fruit yogurts are borderline inedible.

On the other hand, the chocolate frozen yogurt held up fairly well. It lacked the richness of Yogi Castle’s chocolate, but it had a smooth enough texture to be palatable by itself.

Tutti Frutti

Located under Domain at College Park 

As the newest of the three fro-yo shops, Tutti Frutti had a lot to prove. Well, OK, it actually has a very low bar to clear here, thanks to Yogiberry’s god-awful performance, but I was still inclined to dislike the place because of its terrible name.

Fro-down

Tutti Frutti? I’m not even sure how to pronounce it. At least the names Yogi Castle and Yogiberry suggest frozen yogurt.

On the other hand, Tutti Frutti does have the nicest interior of the bunch. Instead of shocking green wallpaper, Tutti Frutti opts for autumnal colors much more pleasing to the eyes.

The selection of frozen yogurt leans toward fruity flavors. Fair enough, given the name, I suppose. Flavors such as honeydew, lemonade and banana join the standard chocolate-vanilla-strawberry trifecta.

But to my great surprise, these fruit yogurts actually taste like fruit. Admittedly, no one will ever confuse the honeydew frozen yogurt for the actual fruit, but Tutti Frutti’s velvety yogurts are packed with bright, fruity flavor.

The toppings also heavily skew toward colorful selections of fruit and fruit-flavored boba. Tutti Frutti gets an additional brownie point for being the only one of the bunch to have green apple jelly.

Winner

As much as I want to declare Yogi Castle the best for creating the perverse yogurt pie, Tutti Frutti is the obvious winner here. The strong quality of its yogurts and the shop’s lack of radioactive green decor make it the clear standout in College Park.