Trienta Desserts: Extremes and Unexpected Hits
Trienta dessert trivia: one mildly interesting fact. Desserts from the Trienta Dimension are extreme in every way. "It tastes like chewing grass..." Yeah, because it is grass. They call it chopo, and when I asked what it was, they said it's grass woven and dried. To Trienta's dryads, whose muscle fibers are replaced by dietary fiber, it's like beef jerky. Out of curiosity, I bought some, and it tasted like tree bark slathered in malt extract and dried. The texture was soft, like the inner bark peeled and mashed smooth.
"Perfect for gifting to someone you hate..." Or maybe to a minotaur or cow beastkin. Anyway, it's rare outside this region, so it might make for a decent souvenir with some meaning.
First snack: flop. Definitely not to my taste.
"Is this agar? Pudding? Gelatin?" The second one is a jelly... or pudding? It's labeled as jelly, but the volcano-shaped packaging and the texture make it seem more like pudding. Wait—no, when I scooped it with a spoon, it felt jelly-like...?
"Ugh." To test the texture, I took a big bite, and it was way too sweet. Bitter. Yeah, bitter. The sweetness was so overwhelming it made my sweet receptors go on strike. My tongue went numb, tingling. This sweetness couldn't come from just sugar...?
I rushed to the hotel's coffee machine and brewed an espresso. Being cheap coffee, it had a strong burnt and bitter taste. Normally, I'd wrinkle my nose at it, but right now, it was a savior for my taste buds.
"Ugh, sweet." The quirky harshness of the cheap bean coffee neutralized the jelly's excessive sweetness. As the terrifying combo of mud-fermented hay-scented coffee—like ditch water—and the nerve-numbing sweetness waged war in my mouth, the sweetness finally peeked out shyly. My tongue ached. Even after rinsing with the ditch-water coffee two or three times, the piercing sweetness lingered.
Artificial sweetener? Unless they ditched the sugar from an old recipe and dumped in something hundreds of times sweeter, this flavor shouldn't be possible.
"Ah, figures." Food this intensely sweet must have reviews online. Sure enough, the net was packed with vivid testimonies from Trienta Dimension visitors.
"This is where the species differences really hit home..." Dryads look human but have plant traits. They breathe in CO2 and exhale oxygen, push low-oxygen high-carbon policies for nature conservation... Even in extreme cases, some take kids near smoking lounges for tourists, claiming the chemical smoke boosts immunity and lung capacity. To other races, cigarettes are poison, but to dryads, it's like irregular vaccinations or fluoride treatments at the dentist.
By that logic, this dessert fits right in. While other races pay premium for eco-friendly ingredients as "healthy," here artificial stuff is seen as better for you. No wonder this jelly flies off convenience store shelves—it all makes sense now.
"Anyway, no middle ground here." One's too grassy, the other's too sweet. Extremes meet, huh? When you hate both ends, it's a universal dislike.
"If the first two are like this, the rest must be the extremes..." I chugged the remaining ditch-water coffee. As the stinging sweetness faded, the nauseating coffee taste and aroma hit in full detail. ...No need to feel it this vividly. Anyway, on to the third snack.
"Hope this one's at least edible..." Third: chocolate minari banana. ...Yeah, another miss, honestly. Chocolate, minari, banana? What kind of combo is that?
"Oh...?" Still, I unwrapped it for a taste, and surprisingly, it was decent. Like chocolate-dipped green banana...?
"Ah, Minari Banana is an actual variety." Not real minari—it's a banana grown in Trienta's Minery region. Low on sweetness but with just the right green note, eaten like sweet potato. Coat it in chocolate, and the bittersweet, starchy flavor blends with chocolate's sweet smoothness into a nicely balanced treat.
"Pairs well with coffee too... not bad." My battered tongue, fresh from battling that sweetness, finally let the cheap coffee shine in its own right. A budget convenience store chocolate banana, but that's why it matches the cheap coffee perfectly. My highest praise: not too sweet, and tasty. Found an unexpected winner in an unlikely spot. Could snack on these when my head hurts later.
"The rest... eating more might turn my stomach. Stop here?" These three are outliers; Trienta has plenty of normal snacks too. With all the tourists, they stock tourist-friendly stuff: regular chocolate bars, chips, jellies, puddings. Everyday fare you see anywhere. Not worth coming to Trienta for—might as well grab 'em at the corner store without traveling.
"Trienta has so many delicious desserts, though..." Oh no, disaster. I bought a pile of convenience store snacks to suppress my cravings, but the sloppy finish only amplified them. Trienta desserts... delicious. If I had time, I'd hit three spots a day. But Trienta days are very short, so dessert shops close early too. And tomorrow, I've got multiple wholesalers to visit for contracts. Work first, personal greed later.
"Satisfied for now, at least." The convenience store stuff has personality enough. I bought backups too, so I can tough it out—
"...What luxury am I living, exactly?"
The next morning... or rather, dawn. I line up an hour before the dessert shop opens. Still 60 minutes to go, but the queue's already long. Thought I was early, but about 50 people ahead of me. No tourists—just dryads. Feels like a locals-only hidden gem.
"Great Forest Starry Night Tart... hope they have enough stock." The shop's Grand Milky Way, one of the top ten dessert spots in the entire Trienta Dimension. Consistently top 10 in the annual Trienta Dessert Competition—the best one I can hit right now.
"Why'd I watch those videos last night..." Before bed, I watched a few clips, hoping for vicarious satisfaction since convenience store desserts weren't cutting it. Big mistake. Trienta desserts. Should've realized search would tailor to my location! The algorithm nailed it, recommending nearby spots—including Grand Milky Way.
At first glance, the desserts looked pretty. Rewatching dazedly, I wanted to eat them. Scrutinizing closely from the start, I realized it was just two subway stops from my hotel. Early morning purchase, then wholesalers—tight, but doable? By then, it was game over. Came to, and here I was in line. Cravings are terrifying.
"No backing out now..." When I arrived, only about 50 ahead; after an hour, over 200 behind me. How do I know? Staff just reorganized the line for complaints—zigzagging in groups of 50, now over four rows. A guy who ran up panting, looking distressed, squeezes in tight before it's too late. Maybe aiming for other desserts since limited stock's impossible...
"We'll open shortly! Please maintain order!"
"Finally." Opening time hits, and the staff crisply flips the door sign from CLOSED to OPEN. Good. I spotted one while waiting—
Wait. "Whoa, they have this too?" Didn't expect to find my favorite here. Gotta grab one for sure.