We Tried Tillamook’s Espresso Chip Ice Cream (And It’s Our New Favorite)

Tillamook truly makes some of our favorite ice creams available on the market. They are über creamy, balanced, and typically have an excellent flavor execution. So, whenever we hear word of a new flavor coming to their product portfolio, we are eager to get our hands on it and try it for ourselves.

Videos by Sporked

Luckily for us, in celebration of National Coffee Day Tillamook brought back a returning flavor, Espresso Chip, that we’ve not tried before for a limited-time release. Once we got our hands on it, we knew we would have to tell our dear readers what the rundown is on this flavor, and whether or not you need to rush out and get it in order to celebrate on September 29. Here are official thoughts.

Our Official Sporked Review

Pros — For starters this ice cream is, as all Tillamook ice creams generally are, genuinely one of the creamiest ice creams currently available on the American market. It is luscious in a way that competes with even the most expensive, highest-brow ice creams. You can taste the actual dairy in it, and, as a brand, I don’t think Tillamook could be executing their ice cream creams to any higher of a level, especially when you consider that a quart and a half of their ice cream is under $10.

The flavor itself of this ice cream base is also one of the best espresso/coffee flavors we’ve had in a long time. It is rich with espresso flavor in a way that completely cuts across your palate, and there is no question about what flavor this is. Plus, the addition of the dark chocolate espresso bean chips adds not only nice textural element with its crispy, crunchy nature, but it adds an extra depth of espresso flavor when you do happen upon a little chunk of espresso bean.

There was also a degree of balance this espresso ice cream has that I don’t think we typically get from coffee flavored sweets. Of course, there’s an inherent depth of flavor from the bitter complexity of espresso, but it has a good amount of salt in it too. Add in a pop of dark chocolate, and you really begin to understand the importance of salt in tasting the full breadth of what ice creams can taste like. It’s impressive beyond words.

Cons — To us, this is a faultless ice cream. The only negative thing we could possibly say about this ice cream is that if you don’t like coffee, then you should absolutely stay far away from this flavor. In every component of this ice cream there is a burst of espresso flavor that is inescapable. For coffee lovers, it couldn’t be more appealing. But if you were hoping this would have a more mild coffee flavor, than you’d be surely disappointed.