Want sugar-free ice cream? A new ice cream shop in downtown Burlingame offers soft serve in flavors like black sesame, matcha and red guava. According to Buena Rinchin, owner of Buena’s Organic Soft Serve, the ice cream has just a quarter of the sugar of regular American ice cream.
“I want people to know that ice cream can be delicious without a lot of sugar,” she said.
For a 6-ounce serving of Rinchin’s Organic Soft Serve, the sugar content ranges from 7 to 11 grams, depending on the flavor. If you want to get it in a cone, the sugar content remains the same, as the homemade cereal cones are also sugar-free. This doesn’t mean replacing the sugar with monk fruit, sucralose, aspartame or any other sugar substitute — it just leaves it out.
“It doesn’t affect the taste at all,” Rinchin said. “Soft serve should be fluffy, soft and delicious.”
Rinchin, who also owns La Vie Nail Bar in downtown Burlingame, immigrated to Oklahoma from Mongolia as an international exchange student at age 17 and has lived in Millbrae since 2018. Located in the former Pressed Juicy, Buena’s Organic Soft Serve is Rinchin’s first location in the food and beverage industry, and the debut was influenced by a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.
“I was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago, and I love desserts and food, but American ice cream is high in sugar,” she says. “I used to take my kids to Salt & Straw, and I could feel the sugar rush through my body with just one scoop of the kids’ ice cream.”
She missed the soft serve she had as a child in Mongolia, and realized there were no high-quality soft serve shops in her area. So she decided to make her own.
She partnered with Valley Ford Creamery in Sonoma County to produce organic milk and serve six flavors at a time, but was limited by the amount of electricity the machine could run on. There are four flavors on the menu at all times (chocolate, vanilla, matcha and black sesame), with two more flavors rotating weekly or biweekly (previous flavors have included dragon fruit, taro, strawberry and raspberry).
Cups and cones ($7.99) come with a topping (such as milk chocolate chips, Oreo dust, sprinkles, coconut flakes, strawberry cake crumbs, toasted almonds, corn flakes, mint sprinkles or marshmallow cake crumbs), or add a mini crepe ($2.99) or upgrade your cup or cone to a crepe or pancake ($10.99-$12.99).
“People don’t tend to pay much attention to flavoring or making the perfect crepe. They just mix it with water, eggs and salt, and then they think people can get flavoring from Nutella, fruit and sauces,” Rinchin said. “In my crepe, there’s no water. I add organic milk, butter, eggs, vanilla extract and a little salt. So the crepe is delicious on its own.”
In addition to soft serve ice cream and crepes, Buena’s Organic Soft Serve offers kids’ breakfast combos (peanut butter toast with a choice of strawberries, blueberries or raspberries, served with organic milk), deli sandwiches and espresso drinks. Rinchin hopes to introduce affogato ice cream to her menu soon and is considering adding a savory breakfast crepe option if customers are interested.
While the shop itself is small, with just one table for two inside, there is seating outside for 12 people.
“My goal is to be on every main street because I think there should be organic, healthier ice cream options available to people whenever they want it,” she said. “We should all start watching our sugar intake and it has to start somewhere.”
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