After just a spoonful of Popota's vanilla ice cream, you'll become a true devotee to this flavour that is anything but 'plain' or 'boring', as some, shockingly, refer to vanilla. At Popota they seek the essence of flavours, and that's why they use ingredients like hazelnuts from Reus and pistachios from Castilla-La Mancha (which they roast themselves), create a different base for each ice cream, and use haute cuisine processes such as vacuum centrifuges or low temperature.
But they also end up with hits by mixing up the impossible – their Mago Merlín (coconut, banana and passion fruit, three dominant flavours that you get to appreciate in stages) received the award for Best Flavour at the Gelato World Cup 2018 – and betting on sorbets. Says Toni Viñas, one of the three partners, 'As [sorbets] are more technically complex, few ice-cream parlours make them, but I think the trend will grow. It's not easy to get such a creamy texture milk doesn't come into the equation. Look, the pineapple has 70 percent fruit, 29 percent water and 1 percent sugar, which we extract from grapes or carob. We have done away with sucrose.'
You'll also find they care about tradition (try the sublime horchata), seek out surprises (croissant, kumquat, or banana with 'gofio' toasted flour), work with Valrhona chocolates and design new product lines. But the big summer hit is often their amazing 'granizados' (slushies).
