Last weekend, we gathered thirty of our closest friends and filled them with sugar. We conducted a blind tasting of donuts from eleven shops, with two emerging as the clear favorites.
The Criteria
We tasted yeast-raised glazed donuts (also known locally as “honey dip”) from every local shop we could find within a 10-mile radius of our home in Watertown, Massachusetts, plus Dunkin’ Donuts as a control group. Shops had to be donut-focused, not bakeries that happen to serve donuts.
The Process
Each donut was cut into eighths. The donut pieces were mounded on a plate marked with a letter (A-K, excluding ‘I,’ which can too easily be confused with other letters). Tasters were given a paper and pen to mark down their tasting notes. They could taste donuts in any order, and could take breaks with water, coffee, and a plate of cucumbers to cleanse the palate.
In an exercise of democracy, we used a ranked-choice voting system where tasters voted for their three top choices. But like all democracies, ours was imperfect: some people chose not to vote and others only ranked one or two choices.
Note that close to half of our tasters were children. We did not analyze the data to see if their preferences differed from those of the adults. More research remains to be done.
The Results
You can’t really go wrong with any of these places, each of which serve up freshly made donuts to crowds of eager locals. Each shop had its supporters. The top two were the crowd favorites, with eleven votes each.
#11: Linda’s Donuts, Belmont
(2–3rd place votes)
I was shocked that our beloved neighborhood donut shop came in last in our ranking. While a few tasters commented on the fluffiness of this donut, many tasters did not like the strong taste of cinnamon and brown flecks in the glaze. One simply wrote: “Meh.” Don’t worry, Linda’s, we’ll still be there bright and early at 6 a.m. to say hi to the regulars and slide into one of the plastic benches.
#10: Doughboy Donuts, South Boston
(1–2nd place vote, 1–3rd place vote)
Doughboy is another old-school local shop, bustling with regulars at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. There were even police cars out front. It’s open 24 hours, a rarity in Boston. Tasters were not sold on the glazed doughnut, commenting on its bland taste and cakey texture.
#9: Gail Ann’s Coffee Shop, Arlington
(2–2nd place votes, 2–3rd place votes)
Many tasters complained about the dry texture of this donut. Those that enjoyed it, oddly, misidentified it as Dunkin’ Donuts.
#8: Twin Donut, Allston
(1–1st place vote, 1–2nd place vote, 1–3rd place vote)
Tasters were split on this donut. While several tasters commented that it was a little greasy and tasted like fried dough, they disagreed on whether this was a good thing. If you like fried dough, try Twin Donut.
#7: Dunkin’ Donuts, Watertown (and all over)
(1–1st place vote, 3–2nd place votes, 1–3rd place vote)
Unsurprisingly, this donut was right in the middle of the ranking — not loved, not hated. Surprisingly, nearly all the tasting sheets left this one blank. Maybe this is the default “donut” taste for New Englanders, so we can’t think of anything to say about it.
#6.5: Cucumber
(2–1st place votes)
Overwhelmed by sugar, two voters abandoned donuts altogether and cast their votes for the palate-cleansing cucumbers.
#6: Blackbird Doughnuts, South End
(2–1st place votes, 3–3rd place votes)
My personal favorite, Blackbird’s airy brioche-like donut had a noticeable taste of lemon. I loved the “everything bagel” donut, a savory donut filled with whipped cream cheese that inspired either love or hate in tasters.
#5: Mike’s Donuts, Roxbury
(2–1st place votes, 1–2nd place vote, 2–3rd place votes)
Tasters enjoyed the fluffy texture and sweet glaze of Mike’s donut. The unofficially-tasted chocolate cake donut was also popular.
#4: Demet’s Donuts, Medford
(3–1st place votes, 2–2nd place votes, 3–3rd place votes)
Demet’s was described as a “classic donut,” “not too sweet” with a dark color and a slight cinnamon/brown sugar taste.
#3: Union Square Donuts, Somerville and Brookline
(3–1st place votes, 3–2nd place votes, 4–3rd place votes)
Tasters liked the contrast between the barely-sweet donut and the sugary glaze. A few people complained about greasiness.
#2: Donuts with a Difference, Medford
(5–1st place votes, 6–2nd place votes, 1–3rd place vote)
If you love donuts, move to Medford, home of the #2 and #4 donuts on our list. Slightly crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, this donut nearly took the top spot. Two tasters detected “popcorn notes” in this donut.
#1: Kane’s Donuts, Saugus and Boston
(6–1st place votes, 4–2nd place votes, 1–3rd place vote)
After sampling this donut, three different tasters simply wrote “Yum!” Tasters loved the flavor of the dough and the perfect distribution of glaze. These donuts were procured from the Boston location, in the Financial District, which serves fancier varieties at higher prices than the original Saugus location.
Note on Shop Selection
Anna’s in West Roxbury was inadvertently left out. In case you are familiar with the area and are wondering why we left out local favorites Ohlin’s (Belmont) and Verna’s (North Cambridge), sadly, these shops have closed down within the last couple of years. According to the GoFundMe updates of the Ohlin’s folks, whose shop was damaged by an explosion in 2016, they are currently helping a family member run a bakery in New Hampshire while they look for a new location where they can reopen locally.
How to Host Your Own Tasting
Disagree with our results? Have a tasting of your own! Here’s how:
- Identify the places you want to try and which item(s) you want to taste. Pick something that every place will have. I suggest that you stick to one item. At our tasting, we voted on one variety, but encouraged people to bring other flavors for unofficial sharing.
- Tell your friends when and where. Request RSVPs so you know how much to buy. In your invitation, ask for volunteers to pick up donuts. We had a friend bring coffee too.
- The day before, send out a reminder with a list of who is buying from where and how many donuts to buy.
- The day of, be prepared to cut up lots and lots of donuts. Label each plate of donut pieces with a letter, and prepare a secret key showing which letter goes with which donut shop. Provide coffee, milk, water, and optionally some non-sugary foods (like cucumbers!). Don’t forget to give your tasters instructions, and provide pens and paper for taking notes and voting. After you announce the winners at the end, post the voting tallies and the final ranking on the wall so the tasters can see, marvel, and debate.
