I Finally Got My Hands On The Trader Joe's Cold Brew Boba Ice Cream That's Gone Low-Key Viral
I had to go to multiple Trader Joe's locations to find it, and when I finally did, the cashier told me it had been flying off shelves.
Ohhh, Trader Joe's. This magical market never ceases to amaze me. They're constantly churning out creative new products — from Air Fryer favorites to genius frozen foods — that I just can't wait to try.
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Recently, one of their newest products picked up a ton of a buzz when it was announced: Cold Brew Boba Ice Cream!
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I'd never seen the combo of all three in one product before, but the way TJ's described it, I knew it was something I wanted to try. From their Instagram announcement:
"We use coconut milk to create the non-dairy base, to which we add authentic coffee flavor, using real, cold-brewed coffee. Then, we crown this coconut and coldbrew concoction with “pearls” made from tapioca starch — for a chewy contrast to the cool creamy dessert."
After the announcement, I basically stalked several Trader Joe's in NYC waiting for it to hit the shelves. And then finally... I found it.
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I pretty much jumped for joy when I spotted it, and I bought two pints because I figured it would sell out quickly. (And I was right. When I went to check-out, the crew member actually told me I was lucky to get my hands on this stuff because it's been flying off the shelves.)
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With my cold brew boba tea ice cream in hand, it was time to dig in. This dessert is made with coconut milk, so it's actually dairy-free.
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If you're curious: Each pint contains three servings. Each serving has 230 calories and 9g fat. (For the sake of comparison, a pint of Coffee Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz Ben & Jerry's is 350 calories and 21g of fat per serving.) One pint costs $4.
If you're not familiar with boba, they're the little tapioca balls you often find in bubble tea. And to be totally transparent in the name of of taste-testing, it's not my favorite thing in the world. I find the chewy texture sort of off-putting in a drink. But I know others (like my husband, pictured below drinking bubble tea as an afternoon snack) very rightfully love it. So I wanted to keep an open mind and still try it!
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I also absolutely love cold brew, so my hopes were high.
At first glance, this stuff basically looks like coffee ice cream. There isn't much evidence of the tapioca balls at the surface. When you take a scoop though, you can see a few of them — they almost look like chocolate chips.
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Now, how did it taste?? The taste is definitely *very* coffee-forward, so if you like coffee in any form, you'll probably like this flavor. There's also not that much boba. In bubble tea, the boba-to-tea ratio is higher, but here the little tapioca balls are pretty sparse. In fact, you probably won't even get boba with every bite.
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That being said, if you're a fan of boba, you'll know it's in there. Each tapioca ball is pretty small and doesn't have a noticeable flavor on its own — but it has a chewy texture that's hard to miss. If we're talking ice cream mix-ins, it's similar to gummy bears.
My husband (the boba-lover) was obsessed with this stuff. He raved about the texture ("wow, cold boba is amazing") and couldn't stop eating it.
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So TL;DR: If you like boba, cold brew, and ice cream, you will absolutely love this dessert. And if you're like me (aka not necessarily a boba fanatic)... you might still enjoy it! The tapioca balls are much more subtle here than they are in bubble tea, and the coffee flavor is really good.
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The "non-dairy frozen dessert", as it officially calls itself, isn't quite as rich or decadent as standard milk-based ice cream. It's also a bit less creamy than some other non-dairy ice creams, for example, if you've ever tried Trader Joe's strawberry oat milk frozen dessert. But it's definitely tasty, refreshing, and feels like a treat.
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