Steveats: Mr. Green Tea ice cream (and The Profit)

Debuting a new, semi-regular feature! I tryout questionable food items so that you don’t have to in… Steveats. (Note: Title developed in about 10 seconds of brainstorming.)

Today, it’s a double label entry, and it’s also a double serving of Steveats this week! A couple weeks ago, I tried out Mr. Green Tea’s black sesame ice cream, which I first saw featured on an episode of CNBC’s The Profit with Marcus Lemonis. This happens to be one of my favorite reality TV shows, since it’s one of the semi-realistic ones in the style of Hotel Impossible and the UK version of Kitchen Nightmares (before it got really weird and Americanized).

First, about the show – Lemonis goes into a business, looks at its books and what not, and decides whether he wants to invest some of his own money into an ownership stake. It’s a little less drama-filled than the usual reality TV show stuff, which makes it seem a bit more authentic to me. He also isn’t afraid to just pull out of a deal, as about half the shows end up with him not investing. If you have Hulu, you can watch the show online, otherwise, it’s on CNBC and their “On Demand” service, also available online.

One of the earlier shows was on Mr. Green Tea ice cream, which confusingly, is not ice cream made from green tea. That’s just their most prominent flavor. They do specialize in bizarre flavors though, like the one I tried, black sesame. Other pints on their website: chai latte, red bean, ginger, and fortune cookie (which has chunks of the stuff).

While the flavor offerings and combinations are seemingly odd, my black sesame ice cream was pretty tasty! The consistency was REALLY smooth, and it tasted far lighter than traditional premium ice creams like Ben & Jerry’s. On the flipside though, I ate almost the whole pint in a sitting and it felt like I ate almost nothing, even though it was a normal amount of calories for ice cream.

I got my pint from Stop & Shop for around $4, and at that price, I’d much rather have Ben & Jerry’s, or Talenti’s peanut butter and chocolate gelato. Mmm… Still, if you’re looking for a fancy or unique ice cream, Mr. Green Tea is definitely worth it as an occasional treat.

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