When I’m not reaching for my morning coffee, you’ll be sure to catch me sipping my daily cup of tea. Having a cup of tea a day is extremely beneficial to your health due to its many antioxidants, and the boost it provides your immune system to help fight anything that can lead to heart disease, clogged arteries, high cholesterol, and many other life threatening diseases.
It also happens to be one of my favorite drinks, whether it’s served hot with a little bit of honey and lemon slices, or cold with ice and fresh fruit.
Photo by Ana Cvetkovic
When I found out about the company Tea-rrific! Ice Cream, I knew I had to try my favorite drink and dessert combined into one. This brand was started by UConn Alum, Mario Leite in an effort to develop unique tea-infused ice creams to give a modern twist on the classic treat. Tea-rrific! ice creams are hormone-free and are made with fat-free milk, cage-free eggs, and organic sugar. It promises all-natural ingredients with no stabilizers, gums, corn syrup, preservatives, or artificial colors or flavors.
This ice cream brand contains seven flavors, including Chamomile, London Mist, Chunky London Mist, Ginger Matcha, Lavender’s Blueberry, Masala Chai, and Matcha Green Tea. Lucky for you, I tried most of their flavors to give you an idea of how they taste. To get a second opinion, I also made my friend (who absolutely despises tea) give it a try.
1. Matcha Green Tea
Most of you have heard of the new Matcha trend that has been filling Instagram with pictures of hot and iced lattes, Matcha desserts, and even matcha-infused smoothies.
Matcha is essentially a finely ground powder of highly concentrated green tea. One cup of Matcha powder contains the equivalent amount of antioxidants to ten cups of regular green tea. It’s one of the healthiest foods you can put into your body, as it prevents disease, lowers cholesterol and blood sugar, contains vitamin C, is rich in fiber, boosts your metabolism and burns calories, and calms the body.
Tea Fanatic: This flavor is very refreshing and delicious. It tastes like a frozen Matcha latte. I’d give it an 8/10.
Tea Hater: It tastes exactly as if I froze a cup of green tea. I actually like it, and it left a really good aftertaste. I give it a 7/10.
2. Ginger Matcha
This flavor is very similar to Green Tea Matcha, but with a kick of ginger. As you may have heard, ginger is also very beneficial to your body. It helps with nausea, can reduce pain, is anti-inflammatory, improves brain health, and significantly aids in digestion.
Tea Fanatic: My favorite flavor by far. My mom also really enjoys this ice cream. You can definitely taste the ginger, so if you’re not a fan, you may not like it. It kind of has a honey aftertaste. It’s very refreshing, especially on a summer day. 9/10.
Tea Hater: The ginger is pretty over-powering, making it hard to taste the green tea. I do like ginger though, so it tastes okay. 6/10.
3. Chunky London Mist
This flavor is inspired by Earl Grey Tea, which aids in digestion and contains many antioxidants. Even better, Earl Grey Tea is known to be good for your teeth and can fight anxiety and depression. The Chunky London Mist is very similar to the regular London Mist, but it contains semi-sweet Belgian chocolate flakes and buttery roasted pecan chunks.
Tea Fanatic: I honestly had to give this one a taste a couple times to form an opinion. It’s definitely interesting and has a distinct taste. Earl Grey Tea is not my favorite, but it isn’t overpowering in this ice cream. I do enjoy the chunks of chocolate flakes and pecans, and it reminds me of a regular ice cream flavor. 6/10.
Tea Hater: This is my favorite one. The pieces of chocolate are really good. The pecans are also good and don’t overpower the taste of the tea. It isn’t as powerful as the ginger and even though there are a lot of flavors going on, they all mix together very nicely. 8/10.
4. Lavender’s Blueberry
Photo courtesy of cafejohsonia.com
This flavor is made from a blend of lavender and blueberry puree and black tea. It’s supposed to have a floral taste to it. It’s probably one of the healthiest ice creams because of the black tea, lavender, and blueberries.
Tea Fanatic: Uhm no. I don’t know what it is about this one, but I really didn’t enjoy it at all. I expected this to have a floral and fruity taste, but it just did not agree with my taste buds. 4/10
Tea Hater: This was not for me. 3/10.
5. Chamomile
Chamomile is one of my favorite types of tea because of its calming properties. I always love drinking a cup at night because it helps relax your body and gets you ready for bed. It also helps promote healthy skin, which is always a plus.
Tea Fanatic: This ice cream flavor is very simple, which I like. It literally tastes like frozen chamomile, but with a hint of vanilla. It’s very good. I would definitely enjoy replacing my cup of tea with this ice cream at night on a hot day when I’m in the mood for a treat. 8/10
Tea Hater: This one was so strange. It was hard to make out the flavors from it. I would describe it as a watered down version of vanilla ice cream. The flavors didn’t blend that well together. 6/10
Overall, I have to say I really enjoyed most of these flavors. I highly recommend checking them out. If you enjoy tea, or even if you don’t, there’s no better way to enjoy the typical warm drink into a frozen dessert on a hot day.
Sending out a warm thanks to Tea-rrific! Ice Cream for generously sending us these flavors, and giving a shout out to our alum Mario Leite.