Tag: Ice cream

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Culture Food & Drink

New ice cream shop has the scoop on exciting flavors

Emily Harpster’s SugarBear offers unique flavors and hand-scooped cones at its new shop on East High Street. You can also find the ice cream at local markets including Foods of All Nations and MarieBette. Find out more at sugarbearcville.com. Photos: Tristan Williams.

By Ella Powell

arts@c-ville.com

Emily Harpster launched SugarBear, an artisanal ice cream brand that prizes local ingredients and collaboration, in 2022, hoping to honor “food, small business, and community.” She takes a lot of pride in making each pint from scratch, but where does she find inspiration? 

For Harpster, it’s simple: Most of her flavors evolve from personal experience. Take Wild Woman Whiskey, a nod to spiked eggnog that was inspired by a friend’s heartbreak. 

Perfectly creamy and smooth, Wild Woman Whiskey has subtle hints of nutmeg that make it taste like spiked eggnog. But unlike the hotly contested Christmas beverage, here SugarBear’s use of whiskey and holiday spice creates a rich flavor that’s not overpowering, but strong enough to mend a wounded heart. 

The Call Me Old Fashioned, a take on the classic cocktail, features Elijah Craig bourbon and sour Morello cherries. Infused with bitters, the ice cream is sweet and refreshing with a hint of orange in every bite. The cherry topping adds a sour punch, keeping the dessert versatile and edgy. If you like the cocktail, you’ll enjoy the flavor profile of this unique treat.

SugarBear’s traditional flavors are equally worth a lick. Emperor of Ice Cream, a nod to poet Wallace Stevens, who wrote a piece by the same name, is a chocolate pint reminiscent of a rich brownie. 

“I was trying to think what the Emperor of Ice Cream should be, and I knew it had to be chocolate,” says Harpster. 

Mint Chocolate Chunk, made with coconut oil, has a smooth texture with a glossy mouthfeel. The strong kick of mint is not for the weak, but those committed to a refreshing blast contrasted by nibs of dark chocolate are in for an elevated summertime treat.

The East High Street store’s fruity flavors—Blueberry Sunshine and Passionfruit included—are perfect for summer. Blueberry Sunshine contains blueberry coulis from local Eastwood Farm & Vineyards and lemon zest swirled into sweet cream. Though the tangy lemon hits the palate first, the flavor quickly transforms to sweetness. Meanwhile, Passionfruit includes real fruit puree as its central ingredient, and its balance of subtle tartness against a heightened sugary taste makes it, as Harpster says, “most popular with the kiddos.”

SugarBear’s menu is vibrantly handwritten and features a rotation of local collaborations and seasonal specials that pique curiosity. A row of picnic tables in the back allows customers to relax like it’s their own backyard, while velcro ax-throwing and jumbo Connect Four await groups of family and friends who are in for a sweet time. 

Categories
Culture

Sweet dreams

Chocolate cone from Chaps’. Photo: Eze Amos.

By Alana Bittner, Brielle Entzminger, Will Ham, Ben Hitchcock, and Susan Sorensen

It’s been one heck of a sweltering summer. The best way to beat
the heat? Ice cream, gelato, popsicles…you name it. Lucky for us,
Charlottesville’s got more than its share of frozen delicacies. 

 Chaps

It’s hard to be grumpy when your hand’s wrapped around a housemade waffle cone topped with a scoop (or two!) of Chaps’ chocolate ice cream. Go ahead and try. We’ll be over here waiting, carefully licking around our cone to prevent a single drip of velvety goodness from falling on the sidewalk. While chocolate is our long-time go-to at the Downtown Mall mainstay, there isn’t a dull flavor on Chaps’ menu—from birthday cake to black raspberry to pistachio, you’ll find more than two dozen choices to pick from. Owner Tony LaBua, who opened the shop in 1985 and says he has ice cream for breakfast every morning, swears by his daily cup of the Four Cs: chocolate, cherries, and chocolate chip. We’ll eat to that!

 Moo Thru

Photo: Eze Amos.

Widely known for its original red barn store on James Madison Highway, Moo Thru made a creamy foray into town earlier this year, opening a new store inside Dairy Market. The popular shop offers more than a dozen classic and unique flavors, crafted with fresh milk from the Smith family’s Remington, Virginia, Holstein cows. We went with a classic flavor, cookies-n-cream, in a huge waffle cone, of course. The rich and creamy vanilla pairs perfectly with gobs of chocolaty cookie crumbles that are mixed in. And nothing could have complemented the ice cream better than that sweet, crunchy cone!

 La Flor Michoacana 

Photo: Eze Amos.

Leaning over the store-length cooler in La Flor Michoacana is like leaning over the glass counter at a jewelry store. The array of popsicles below the plastic is every bit as beautiful as fine rings and gems—delicate slices of strawberries, kiwis, mangoes, and more are suspended in each of the colorful popsicles. And just wait until you taste them! The Cherry Avenue spot has dairy and non-dairy options, with flavors ranging from tres leches cake to mango/chili. (Our favorite? Classic strawberry, tangy and fresh and decadent.) To complete the outing, take your popsicle of choice across the street and savor it while you watch the basketball players jostle on the Tonsler Park courts. 

 Splendora’s Gelato

Photo: Andrea Hubbell.

Like so much of what happened in 2020, it came as a shock when Splendora’s Gelato closed its Downtown Mall shop. The closure wasn’t a direct result of COVID—it had been in the plans for a while. But buying a cup of owner PK Ross’ inspired offerings (lookin’ at you, miso cherry!) was an essential part of the downtown experience. If Splendora’s was gone, anything could change. Thankfully, the shop reopened at Stonefield. Step inside, and you’re greeted with raspberry-colored walls, trays and trays of gelato, and, of course, that iconic Splendora’s sign with the multicolored circles. Try a scoop of crisp lemon sorbet, smooth strawberry sorbet, or indulgent chocolate gelato. Talk about a happy return.

Chandler’s Ice Cream 

Photo: Eze Amos.

Soft serve occasionally gets a bad rap, but some days it hits the spot like nothing else. After an afternoon walking along the Rivanna Trail, there’s nothing better than Chandler’s generous smalls and immoderate larges to make you appreciate good ol’ chocolate and vanilla—or, if you’ve worked up a real appetite, try a massive sundae, dripping with chocolate sauce. The Chandler’s stand is located slightly out of the way in the parking lot of Tractor Supply on Long Street, but its worth the detour. Delicious ice cream with colorful sprinkles streaming down the side is a perfect exclamation point for blissful summer days. Just remember to bring cash—and get a cup to catch the drips off your frozen spire!

Timberlake’s Drug Store 

Photo: Eze Amos.

There’s an undeniable charm to back-of-the-drugstore diners like Timberlake’s. It’s a homey slice of old American culture that has largely disappeared in most parts of the country. But while private drugstores have been replaced by national chains, locals still know the best remaining places to get cheap eats and homespun milkshakes. The shop’s warm atmosphere will make you feel welcome, and the creamy milkshakes will take you back to the good old days, filling in the cracks perfectly after you scarf down one of the drugstore counter’s famous sandwiches. 

Categories
Culture

Frozen gem

Sophie Tran started YourChurn as a hobby, but making pints of ice cream has earned the UVA student some cold hard cash. Photo: John Robinson.

Until her winter break, Sophie Tran’s culinary expertise—as least as it pertained to ice cream—went about as far as binge-watching dessert rounds of “Chopped” competitions. But when she was gifted a Cuisinart ice cream maker for Christmas, her casual interest turned into an unexpected side hustle: YourChurn, a custom ice cream business.

“I told myself I just wanted to do something extra this semester because I am taking less than my normal amount of credits,” says Tran, a pre-med student at UVA. “That said, I never imagined this little business magnifying to the size it did.”

Tran says to keep up with demand, she’s up at random hours or churning in the middle of classes to maximize how much ice cream she can make, given that the freezer bowl needs time to re-freeze between batches. She’s currently able to make two to three pints of one flavor every six hours. 

And speaking of flavors, here’s how her menu works: Customers can choose from 10 base flavors, and add up to 13 mix-in made-from-scratch toppings (brownies, cookie dough, and raspberry preserves, for starters). But plan ahead: Turnaround time is currently one to two days, depending on what’s available. 

“It takes more time to make these toppings from scratch, but I think it brings more character to my business,” Tran says. “And nothing is more therapeutic than balling up little chunks of cookie dough while learning about magnetic flux through an enclosed surface.”

After you place your order (through @yourchurn on Instagram), be sure to give it a name for a truly customized pint.