Coffee Ice Cream Taste Test

February 9, 2019 11:28 AM

Remember how I said most of my impulse purchases are seafood? Well the rest of them are ice cream. I'm not a huge dessert person, but I absolutely love ice cream, and I especially love coffee ice cream.

I love it so much that I get super angry at Giant Eagle for having 15 versions of vanilla and barely any coffee.

Turkey Hill Triple Vanilla ice cream — *Vanilla Neapolitan?! Seriously?!*

Now I'm on a mission to find the best coffee ice cream.

This post features Asian soup spoons.

We sampled four different brands: Edy's, Trader Joe's, Haagen-Dazs, and Graeter's. Here they are, ranked from worst to first.

4. Graeter's Vienna Coffee

Graeter's Vienna Coffee Closeup of spoon with Graeter's Vienna Coffee

I don't know why, but I had higher hopes for this brand. Out of the four scoops of ice cream, this was definitely the one with the least flavor. It was also incredibly air-y. My sister said it was more like foam than cream. As of right now at Giant Eagle, a pint costs $5.49 (on sale). I don't think I'll ever buy it again.

3. Edy's Slow Churned Coffee

Edy's Slow Churned Coffee Closeup of spoon with Edy's Slow Churned Coffee

This was the most mainstream of all the ice creams. It was also, by far, the sweetest. This is the brand of ice cream that I've usually gotten, but I wish their coffee had more of a coffee flavor. Good texture though. While I wouldn't go out of my way to get Edy's coffee, if I see a 1.5 quart for $3.50 (on sale), I'll still grab it.

2. Haagen-Dazs Coffee

Haagen-Dazs Coffee Closeup of spoon with Haagen-Dazs Coffee

I've always liked Haagen-Dazs, but rarely bought it because of the price. What I noticed about this scoop was that it had a more subtle flavor, less coffee and more toffee or caramel. It was $3.99 (on sale) for slightly less than a pint. Even though I thought it tasted better than the scoop of Edy's ice cream, I'd probably still buy Edy's over it because of the price.

1. Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast

Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast Closeup of spoon with Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast

The first time I tried Trader Joe's coffee ice cream, I was really surprised at how good it was. It is the most coffee-y coffee ice cream I've ever had, and the texture is amazing. Incredibly creamy. Compared to the other three brands, it absolutely stands out. I mean it even stands out in the picture because of how much darker it is. One quart is $3.99, and it's the only reason I ever go to Trader Joe's.

Taking a scoop out of the Trader Joe's ice cream

I know I ranked them and criticized them, but they're all still coffee ice cream so they're all still delicious. Maybe we'll try some more brands and have another taste test.

Ice cream tub pictures are taken directly from the ice cream manufacturer's websites, since we forgot to actually take pictures of the containers.

Filed under: ice cream taste test extras

Chili with Chocolate Ice Cream

January 29, 2019 5:00 AM

That's right. I saw this Fire and Ice Chili recipe from How Sweet Eats, and I was so intrigued by the fact that she put chocolate ice cream in her chili.

I am chopping up a red onion — *You can't tell in this photo, but I could not stop crying from that onion.*

I actually looked for dark chocolate ice cream in three different grocery stores, but I couldn't find it until I went to Whole Foods. And then I spent a whole $9 (!!!) for a Haagen Dazs-sized thing of Jeni's ice cream, which is ridiculous.

Okay, but I gotta admit, Jeni makes pretty good ice cream.

Dropping a scoop of chocolate into the pot of chili — *Yeah, a scoop of ice cream in a pot of chili is not the most eye-pleasing thing.*

A very full pot of chili — *It was thiiiiis close to overflowing.*

This was a really interesting tasting chili. It was sweeter and less tomato-y than I'm used to, but I liked it. Not sure I'll ever make it again though, mostly because it took two hours, and that ice cream was stupid expensive.