This has been on my radar to try for a while, and last night, it finally happened.  As we are huge fans of milk tea with boba in my household, I simply could not wait to see what this would taste like in ice cream form.  And friends, I’m here to confirm that it was very good.

While technically not ice cream because this item is fully vegan (more on that in a minute), this frozen dessert was creamy, dreamy, and not the least bit icy.  A TJ’s employee gave me a hot tip to leave it out on the counter for a few minutes to allow it to soften a little bit before consuming, which really did make a difference as it is frozen quite hard straight from the freezer.  With the proper tempering, the ice cream was easy to scoop out of the pint.  It almost had the texture of a sorbet or a sherbet, but there was definitely enough creaminess in the ice cream to make it feel luxurious and satisfying.

The flavor delivers so well on a brown sugar boba drink – I absolutely love it.  The tea flavor really comes through nicely, and the coconut milk balances everything out to offer creaminess without an overpowering coconut flavor.  The brown sugar swirl throughout is very tasty, providing very pleasant brown sugar/molasses notes without being overly sweet.  There are plenty of tapioca pearls throughout, enough to get one (sometimes two!) in every spoonful.  I was originally concerned about the texture of the frozen tapioca pearls becoming too hard and unpleasant to eat, but surprisingly, they retain their chew very nicely, especially after they warm up in your mouth a little bit (they are a little cold if you bite down on one that’s still frozen).  All in all, the flavor is really balanced, the amount of swirl and tapioca pearls felt generous, and it really delivered on the experience of a boba milk tea in ice cream form.

As I mentioned above, this ice cream is fully vegan, so it’s technically a frozen dessert (not ice cream), but who cares about the semantics?  I am always skeptical about plant-based or vegan ice creams (I’ve tried a lot of bad ones!), but this one was really quite enjoyable, especially after warming up on the counter for a few minutes.  The texture is smooth and creamy thanks to the help of the coconut milk, high sugar content, and quite a few stabilizers (which I’m totally fine with, but I know others are less-so!), and the flavor really packs a punch.  This is a vegan ice cream that I will definitely be buying again, which is not something I say often in the vegan/plant-based ice cream space!

This ice cream is in the mid-range for calories as far as ice cream goes – not super low calorie or enough to consider this particularly “healthy”, but also not Haagen Dazs level either.  This ice cream comes in at 240 calories for 2/3 cup serving (about 650 calories for the whole pint).  This ice cream is also high in sugar (lending to it’s smooth consistency) and contains some fat as well, so this item is definitely a treat and not an everyday snack.

So, with all of that being said, I really did like this ice cream and I do plan to enjoy it throughout the summer.  The fine folks at TJ’s also have a coffee flavored version as well, which I’m also looking forward to trying soon!  For full disclosure, I do work in the ice cream industry but I have no affiliation with this product (although I wish I did, it’s that good!).  This review was not sponsored by Trader Joe’s in any way, I bought the product with my own money and just wanted to share my thoughts as a fan!

More info on this product from the Trader Joe’s website is linked here if you want to learn more before you buy!