Cupcakes vs. Pops

How about a little controversy for a Thursday morning?

So obviously I love pops. Love love love. But I'm not going to lie, I love cupcakes too. And I love the trend cupcakes have followed -- become more gourmet, try innovative flavors, show up every-fucking-where -- and I think it's a similar one to what pops can do. After all, it seems everywhere else in the US of A has their own gourmet pop provider -- certainly NYC and LA, but also places like DC and other cities without acronyms.  But it's not big in SF... why not? Is it my beloved "always fall" weather? Are we simply behind on culinary trends? Is there an over-saturation of the cold food market due to too much gourmet ice cream (Bi-Rite, Humphrey Slocombe, Three Twins)? Why haven't pops caught on in SF the way cupcakes did?

Talk amongst yourselves.

In other news, agave totally blows. Okay, it's probably user error, but trying to substitute it for sugar in a watermelon pop lead to a sticky layer of agave sitting on top of the pop instead of staying mixed in. Yuck-o. I will continue experimenting with sugar alternatives. Right now, I'm using organic evaporated cane juice and sometimes honey, but I'm open to other things. Any ideas, health-nuts?

Last piece of news: Samples are due next week for the Oakland Underground Farmer's Market. Hooray! Of course, that's the one week I'm out of town (going recruiting back in Chapel Hill, mainly to see my old puppy) so Jessica is becoming pretty much the best person ever by taking my samples in. Let's hear it for Jess! Hip, hip... hooray!! Oh, and I made up new names for them! Tell me what you think -- just offensive enough? Samples flavors are (drumroll pleeease):

Strawberry Ginger Beer  (Red-headed favorite)
Cookies and Cream (Teddybear Massacre)
Mission Brown (Mexican Chocolate)