Allow me to begin this review with an excerpt from an article entitled Sweet Spoonfuls that appeared in the August 2012 publication of Our State magazine. Blake Miller writes, "There's something about sweet tea on a summer day. The way the glass sweats and water drips down onto your hand. The way the subtle tea flavor cuts through the sugary sweetness and makes it refreshing. The way it complements just about everything you crave during the summer -- burgers straight off the grill, low-country boils, sticky barbecue ribs, corn on the cob. There's just something about sweet tea that makes you feel Southern when you sip it, as if you were meant to sit on a deep front porch, swaying in a rocking chair with a glass. Now imagine that flavor, that feeling, of sweet tea tastefully rolled into ice cream."
Reading the description above, I'm a bit skeptical. I love sweet tea as much as the next person, but I have no idea how you'd incorporate that taste into ice cream. I'm a little relieved to see they've taken their vanilla base and infused it with sweet tea instead of trying to create a completely separate base. After falling in love with the chunks of red velvet cake in Scarlett Red Velvet, I'm looking forward to trying the tea cake pieces in this pint.
Popping off the top releases the familiar aroma of black tea leaves. The color borders on being grey. Scooping out my first bite, I have no idea what to expect. The most complex base of any Front Porch flavors I've had, the initial taste comes from their quality vanilla ice cream, but ends with subtle hints of tea and lemon. A little heavy on the lemon for my taste, the overall taste rivaled that of Nestea, not of the overly-sugared Southern sweet tea I'm accustomed to.
It doesn't take long before I run into the chunks of tea cake. As I excavated my first piece, I discover they're the same size as the bits in Scarlett Red Velvet, but unfortunately, lack the same denseness. Possessing a slightly softer texture and subtle hints of tea, the cake is a great addition to the sweet tea vanilla ice cream. The moist squares were about the only complimentary mix-in that would have worked with this particular base.
Front Porch knew their sweet tea vanilla base was one of a kind, but they also knew, with the addition of a cake mix-in, that it could be unforgettable. As dubious as I had been that I would actually enjoy this flavor, this was a nice change of pace. Using unique ingredients and a little imagination, Front Porch produced a unique flavor that can only be found from them.
Where I Found It: Ingles Markets
