Portland dessert makers go harder in summer than any other time of year. It’s not just the usual rotation getting refreshed. These are limited runs, small-batch flavors, and builds that only make sense when Oregon farms are in full swing. Some of this disappears next month. Here’s what’s actually worth going out of your way for right now.
Salt & Straw
📍 838 NW 23rd Ave / 2035 NE Alberta St / 3345 SE Division St
July is Berries Series month, and this year’s lineup includes Goat Cheese Marionberry Habanero, Birthday Cakes and Blackberries, Huckleberry Oat Crisp with Foraged Porcini, and Raspberry Marzipan Princess Cake. The Goat Cheese Marionberry Habanero is the one to get: tangy and jammy up front, with a slow heat that sneaks up on you. If you’ve been defaulting to the permanent menu for years, this is a good reason to finally branch out.
All five flavors are gone after July 31, so the window is tight. Single scoop is $6.25, double is $8.25. Worth mentioning too: Salt & Straw is currently exploring a sale that could top $200 million, which has a lot of Portlanders paying attention to what that means for the brand long-term.
Fifty Licks
📍 2021 SE Clinton St / 1647 NW 21st Ave
Fifty Licks makes their custard base from scratch using real egg yolks, and every summer they pull fruit and berries directly from the Portland Farmers Market. Right now, that means Mango Sticky Rice in coconut cream and Coconut Lemon Saffron on the rotation. The Mango Sticky Rice is genuinely unexpected in the best way. The Lemon Saffron sounds like it’s going to be subtle and then you look up and it’s gone.
Scoops run $4–9, pints around $13. There are about eleven flavors daily plus two soft serve options, and the menu shifts as ingredients come in, so don’t assume what’s there today will be there next week. SE Clinton is the original spot. The Slabtown location on NW 21st is the easier call if you’re already on that side of town.
Ice Queen PDX
📍 2012 SE 11th Ave
The summer paletas here have included mangonada, Jamaica mango, and toasted coconut. The mangonada is the one to start with if you haven’t had it: mango, chamoy, Tajín, layered so the sweet and spicy hit you at different points as you eat through it.
Paletas are around $10, Thiccflurries are around $11. There’s a topping station with chocolate sauce, Smarties dust, cherries, and handcrafted chamoy from Pica Drip if you want to build it out before you leave. Closed Tuesdays, and weekdays are noticeably more laid-back if you want to take your time.
Wailua Shave Ice
📍 1022 W Burnside St, Unit
Wailua uses fruit juice and cane sugar for their syrups, no corn syrup, and tops everything with haupia foam, which is whipped coconut milk. The Ube build is the crowd favorite: ube milk, ube foam, toasted coconut on top. It’s earthy and creamy and the coconut adds a little crunch that makes the whole thing feel intentional. The Lava Flow with pineapple, haupia foam, and strawberry is the other one worth getting.
There’s no indoor seating, but Powell’s has benches right across the street which honestly makes for a pretty good afternoon. Order ahead online before you walk over. Two people sharing a large bowl is a perfectly reasonable move and makes the price a lot easier to justify.
Premium Matcha Cafe Maiko
📍 3416 SE Cesar Estrada Chavez Blvd
The Mixed Shaved Ice with vanilla cream or seasonal builds like lychee matcha has been consistently well-received. What sets Maiko apart is that the matcha actually tastes like matcha. It’s not buried under sweetener. If you’re not fully committed to straight matcha, the matcha-vanilla swirl is a good middle ground.
The Maiko Special (Mixed) is the full experience if you want to go all in: soft serve, matcha and vanilla cream, matcha chiffon, chestnuts, and shiratama mochi. Pricing runs $7–10 per person. Seasonal flavors rotate so it’s worth checking the menu before you make the trip.
Snowy Village
📍 3912 N Vancouver Ave, Ste 105
Snowy’s Korean shaved ice uses a snow base made from milk instead of water, which gives it a lighter, subtly sweet texture that actually holds up in a bowl instead of turning into a puddle. The classic build is red bean, mochi, and sweetened condensed milk layered over that base. Rich but not heavy, and once you try it you’ll get why people seek this out specifically over regular shaved ice.
The menu also runs taiyaki, red bean mochi, and green tea cheesecake if you want to round out the visit. Portions are generous enough that splitting a bowl is totally normal and makes it one of the better value spots on this list.
Bambū Desserts & Drinks
📍 8001 SE Powell Blvd, Ste M
Bambū makes their chè fresh every day: fresh-cut Thai young coconuts, house-made pandan jelly, red tapioca, and fresh taro paste. If you haven’t had chè before, think somewhere between a fruit cup and a cold dessert soup, layered with sweet beans, jellies, and coconut. The Fruit Addict is the summer order: lychee, longan, jackfruit, and coconut in a chilled coconut base. It’s light, it’s cold, and it doesn’t leave you feeling like you overdid it.
There are about 15 varieties on the menu, all dairy and gluten-free. This spot is genuinely underrated, probably because it’s tucked into a strip on Powell that’s easy to drive past. Go on a weekday before 2 p.m. and you’ll usually have the place to yourself, which is a nice change of pace.
Every summer I end up saying I’m going to try a bunch of new places, then somehow keep going back to the same one. So this list is as much a reminder for me as it is for you.
If you’ve been looking for an excuse to get out of the house, this is it. Order the dessert you’ve been thinking about all week. Summer’s too short to keep putting it off.
Comments are closed.