Kona Coffee Ice Cream Float - Kope lani

Place: Kope Lani
Location: Kona, Big Island, HI
Website: http://www.kopelani.com/
Recommended by: danae
Summary: I LOVE coffee, but I'm kind of a wussy coffee drinker. I pretty much only drink coffee in the form of lattes and mochas, because I like sweet, sweet, creamy coffees. Dessert, basically. Also, caffeine is just bad for me, for several reasons, so I'm just not supposed to drink coffee. Even decaf sometimes does me in. So I try not to drink coffee often, but sometimes I just can't resist, since I love the flavor of really good coffee so much! When we were at the Big Island, I really wanted to try some Kona coffee, to see if it was worth the hype. And, well, it totally was. We went to like, 3 different locations looking for Kona coffee, and dude, apparently, people only drink coffee here in the mornings or something? It was about 3 pm, and everywhere we went was closed. Finally we found Kope Lani which was open all day... and better yet, they served a coffee ice cream float, which is 2 shots of kona espresso plus a scoop of whatever flavor of Big Island Ice Cream you want. I forget the actual name of the ice cream we chose, but it was kona coffee ice cream with cinnamon brittle. And O. M. G. It was SO GOOD. The ice cream basically fulfilled the cream and sugar requirement of the coffee, but also just really emphasized the glorious flavor of the kona coffee. And, since it was a warm day, it was nice to have the hot espresso countered with the cold ice cream. The only thing I would say negatively is that the ice cream melts too quickly (which, i guess is to be expected). Maybe if I ever go back here, I'd ask for an extra scoop of ice cream. Oh yeah, and it's kind of expensive... though, I don't think it's unreasonable. I think it was about $5, and if you think about it, a latte would be about $3 anyway, and a scoop of ice cream about $2. Anyway, it was so good that we ordered another one, that was exactly the same... and I totally ODed on caffeine and felt sick the rest of the day. But I think it was worth it.

Ice Cream - Kilauea Video Ice Cream and Candy

Place: Kilauea Video Ice Cream and Candy
Location: Kauai, Hawaii
Website: http://www.yelp.com/biz/kilauea-video-ice-cream-and-candy-kilauea
Recommended by: danae
Summary: This is my #1 ice cream place. EVER. And I've had a loooot of ice cream. So creamy, thick, and really interesting flavors! I think my favorite here is the Banana Cream Pie, but everything i'd had here has been great. The most interesting one I've had is definitely the peanut butter and guava jam flavor - which really tastes just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! The ice cream here is Tropical Dreams Ice Cream, and the only place to get it is here in Kauai, the Big Island, and randomly, Utah. However, we went to 3 places on the Big Island, and all of them had like, 8 flavors, whereas this Kauai location had about 25. Flavors rotate though, which is both a good and a bad thing, since there's tons of them, but your favorite might not always be available! We were told that the woman who makes this ice cream grows nearly all of her own ingredients on her farm on the Big Island, so she uses really fantastic ingredients, and she tries to make a lot of locally influenced flavors with ingredients such as macadamia nuts, coconut, and Kona coffee. Jason's favorite is the mint. It's unlike any other mint chip flavor we've ever had(and believe me, we've tried a LOT), since it uses real mint leaves... which you can sometimes see remnants of in the ice cream!

My best ice cream runner-up is Bi-Rite Creamery in San Francisco, CA. Similarly creamy, and with a fantastically thick texture. My only complaint is that I wish there were more fruit flavors to choose from. I almost always get honey lavender. From there, I will alternate my second flavor among roasted banana, coffee toffee, ricanelas, or salted caramel. Sometimes I long for the risky, interesting flavors of other Bay Area ice creameries such as Humphry Slocombe or Ici, but to me, their ice cream just doesn't have the same, luxurious texture as Bi-Rite. (Though Ici's cones are the best! That little nugget of chocolate at the bottom of the cone makes me happy every time.) Oh and Bi-Rite's ice cream cakes are awesome too... I highly recommend the meringue frosting! Not as sweet as regular frosting, and the lightly torched top is just so pretty.