Papabubble

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This venue is closed.

If Lower East Side candy emporium Economy Candy is the choice of nostalgic traditionalists, Barcelona-based candy boutique Papabubble caters to progressive sugar lovers. A bastion of haute confections, this spare shop resembles a laboratory, with gleaming silver countertops, beakers of flavored syrup lining shelves, and gloved shopkeepers skillfully dicing long, translucent tubes of candy into bite-size nibs. You’ll find no candy bars or gummies here—the closest you’ll come to chocolate is hard chocolate-filled candies. Shop specialties hang in colorful rows on the wall and are piled in generous sampler trays. The giftable sweets are prettily decorated with intricate, minute images of fruits, bicycles, hearts, or the name of your favorite borough. Flavors range from the usual mainstays (cherry, lime, orange) to the more unique (chili mango, chocolate-filled coffee), but every piece is based on just a few simple ingredients: sugar, water, glucose, coloring, and customized flavoring. For shoppers seeking more substantial sugar high, swirled lollipops, twisted rings, and quirky shapes are also available. — Lauren Murrow