Humans of Salt & Straw: Anh Tran and Derek Lu

Warning: This is the sweetest engagement story you'll ever read.

In August 2018, when Derek Lu and his partner, Anh, moved from NYC to Seattle, they landed a sweet new spot: an apartment directly above the Salt & Straw on Pike Street. The scoop shop immediately became the couple's happy place. They'd run downstairs in their PJs, ravenous for a night cap. "In a new city, as we started our new life together, Salt & Straw became our third wheel," Derek says. "It completes us." The couple still remembers the first flavors they ever tried: Green Fennel & Maple and Carrot Cake Batter & Pralined Hazelnuts (both part of our August Farmers Market series). "I looked at Derek and said 'This is our ice cream shop'", Anh says. So, when deciding how and where to propose, Derek was confident he had to pop the question in the place that had essentially become their second living room. But he didn't want any ordinary engagement. Derek put on his flavor wizard cap and started brainstorming ideas on his office whiteboard of potential ingredients and ideas that helped tell the story of his relationship. "I left a lot of good ones on the cutting room floor," he says, but once he nailed down his top three, he got in touch with us seeing if we could help make his dream a reality. Naturally, we couldn't refuse. As a play on his now-fiancé's name, Salt & Straw designed an "The Anh-gagement Series" menu, which greeted Anh when she arrived to the Capitol Hill shop, listing three custom flavors (which our R&D team made special for the couple!): Coffee Met Bagel (the two met on the popular dating app), Peanut Butter Mango Smear (a nod to their love of rock climbing), and Soy Will You Marry Me (Derek claims he's never met anyone who loves soy milk as much as he does). "I have never been more caught off guard in my entire life," Anh says. "It was the sweetest surprise."