If there’s one thing better than a bracing coffee first thing in the morning—and I’m not totally convinced there is—it would be an oversized scoop of coffee ice cream in the middle of the afternoon. Consider this your sign from the universe to go ahead and take Friday off work and make yourself a cute little sundae to eat by the A/C unit in your underwear. What else are summers for?
Coffee ice cream works because it leans on a delicate tango of two beloved flavors: sweet cream and roasty coffee. It’s a combo with wide appeal. According to some studies, more than 75% of people add milk or creamer to their coffee. (The remaining 25% need to allow joy into their hearts). Like vanilla, coffee ice cream is impressively versatile, ready to adorn pie or brownies or whatever dessert is on your menu. Unlike vanilla, it has caffeine! Its malty bitterness balances the inherent milky sugariness of the dairy base, for a nuanced, not-too-sweet flavor.
But in a world where the supermarket freezer section is more crowded—and ice cream flavors more fantastical—by the day, store-bought pints have got to stand out. That means a baby-bottom-smooth custard and cold-brew-strong coffee flavor. To find the very best, our discerning staff put 10 popular supermarket brands through a rigorous taste test in the Test Kitchen.
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How we picked the products
We checked on our previous ice cream taste tests—vanilla, mint chocolate chip, and cookies and cream—to acquire similar brands for our coffee ice cream showdown. Next, we read through other taste tests across the internet to make sure we weren’t missing any popular products. After Häagen-Dazs topped an extensive Reddit ranking, for example, we knew it was a must-have in our testing. For consistency, we nixed any coffee ice creams with mix-ins, like chocolate chunks, delicious as they might be. (Editor’s note: Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz—pick me, choose me, love me.)
How we evaluated each coffee ice cream
We scooped each ice cream into anonymized ramekins, and kept them in the freezer until our editors were ready to taste so that they’d stay frozen. We took each ramekin out of the freezer, one by one, for our tasters to try.
Our tasters agreed that texture was a critical factor in differentiating a middling scoop from a great one. A luxe, dense, creamy custard is a must. It should not be icy with noticeable crystals, nor overchurned or too aerated. Grittiness was also on tasters’ radar.
When it came to flavor, the team was at odds: Some preferred a forceful espresso jolt (cue senior visuals editor Megan Paetzhold, who believes an espresso a day keeps the doctor away), while others wanted a milkier expression (like associate visuals editor Marc Williams, who’d like his scoops to lean more sweet than bitter). To please everyone, we named a best-of for both categories.
For the espresso fiend: Trader Joe’s Coffee Bean Blast
Trader Joe’s stood out in our mint chocolate chip ice cream taste test, and placed well in our vanilla ice cream taste test too. This year, Trader Joe’s is back to defend its crown.
