Much like mint, grapefruit, and bourbon, coffee is a grown-up flavor. It’s bitter but also fragrant and earthy. Coffee works best as a flavor when it’s tamed and balanced, and perhaps no vehicle is better suited for that strong, bold coffee flavor than ice cream.
For this taste test, we looked for good quality ice cream, a bold, natural coffee flavor, and a reasonable price point. Harmony is the word that comes to mind when I think of coffee ice cream. I’d like a buttery, rich ice cream injected with big coffee flavor. The two should work together to create a wholly unique taste. These seven did just that.
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- Ben & Jerry’s Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz!
As far as straight-up coffee ice cream goes, this one does everything right. The coffee flavor here is as strong as it needs to be without being too overpowering, delivering a delightfully aromatic, nutty, earthy, slightly bitter flavor that permeates every spoonful. Ben & Jerry’s uses a higher percentage of butterfat than their competitors. That fattiness and creaminess does well at taming the bold coffee taste with rich, luscious, and high-quality ice cream. This is the most balanced ice cream on the list—and the big chunks of fudge are delightful too.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Albertsons
- Tillamook Coffee Almond Fudge
Tillamook is reliably smooth and rich, and offers a consistent 13.5% butterfat in all of their ice creams. It’s why their products rank near the top of our ice cream lists so often. It dissolves in your mouth, allowing you to savor each decadent spoonful. The coffee flavor here is pronounced without overdoing it, and the almonds and fudge add some nice additional texture and flavor. This is a premium ice cream with great coffee flavor. Can’t miss.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Albertsons
- Helados Mexico Mexican Coffee with Chocolate Pieces
Helados Mexico’s Mexican Coffee is an excellent ice cream that offers a powerful coffee flavor. The sweetness is turned down and the coffee is turned all the way up. The flavor is unique and stands out among the rest for that reason. The chunks of chocolate are really nice here, too. Helados Mexico rocks. Nothing else on this list tastes like it.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde /Instacart
- Ben & Jerry’s Coffee Toffee Bar Crunch
Staff writer Jordan Myrick and I really loved this one, and based on personal preference, we’d probably rank it number one. Toffee is just such a great flavor, especially in ice cream. It adds more butteriness, salt, and fat. The caramelized flavor adds a whole new dimension to the coffee ice cream, and it’s better for it. It’s really salty, buttery, smooth, and luscious. If I had to choose between this ice cream and your futures, I’d send several of you directly to jail.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Walmart
- Trader Joe’s Coffee Bean Blast Ice Cream
Thick, rich, and creamy, this Trader Joe’s product offers a high quality ice cream with adequate butterfat and a low amount of overrun (overrun is the amount of air whipped into ice cream and too much of it can make the ice cream lose its creaminess). The coffee flavor here is big time, too. It tastes slightly grainy, in a good way, and the ice cream is speckled with bits of French Roast Colombian coffee. It’s not quite as buttery as the other ice creams, but you really can’t go wrong with this one.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Trader Joe’s
- Häagen-Dazs Coffee Ice Cream
Like Ben & Jerry’s, Häagen-Dazs ice cream has a high butterfat content and is made with quality ingredients and minimal preservatives. This ice cream has only five ingredients, and it tastes simply luxurious. It’s magnificent—creamy, buttery, and opulent in a way only premium ice cream can be. I would consider adding your own toppings to this one. Ben & Jerry’s really becomes incredible with the use of toffee, and I think Häagen-Dazs makes such a simple yet immaculate quality ice cream that it begs you to innovate with toppings at home, too.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Target
- Great Value Coffee Ice Cream
There’s nothing wrong with a budget buy. I mean, this pint of ice cream costs $1.47. That’s insane! Sure, it’s cheaply made ice cream with less-than-stellar coffee flavor, but I think it works just fine. Buying a few of these and stashing them in your freezer so you have them around in the event of an ice cream emergency is a great idea. We gave this a 7/10, but keep in mind that we factor in price. It’s the biggest selling point with Great Value.
Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Walmart
Best of The Best
Best Creamy
Best Coffee Flavor
Best Flavor
Best Coffee Bits
Best Premium
Best Budget
Other products we tried: Edy’s Coffee Ice Cream, Favorite Day Mocha Cold Brew Ice cream, McConnell’s Turkish Coffee Ice Cream, Signature Select Java Chip Ice Cream, Breyer’s Coffee Ice Cream, Alden’s Organic Coffee Chip Ice Cream, Whole Foods 365 Coffee Ice Cream, Alden’s Organic Coffee Chip Ice Cream
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