Izzy's - Dessa's Night Drive

Dessa's Night Drive - Cold Brew Coffee Ice Cream with Chocolate Covered Espresso Chips, Toffee Crunch and a Hint of Cardamom

Today's flavor is a special flavor from the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream which was created for this year's Minnesota State Fair.  This flavor is called Dessa's Night Drive after the indie hip hop artist Dessa.  It is a coffee-based ice cream with chocolate and toffee mix-ins with a bit of Cardamom.  This is the second Izzy's flavor named after Dessa -- the first being Dessa's Existential Crunch.     There is a cool blogpost about the new Dessa's Night Drive flavor here.  When I was at the State Fair a couple of weeks ago, I checked out a scoop of the new flavor and liked it.  Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to see it pop up in the Saint Paul scoop shop rotation already so I ran down and had them hand-pack a pint.

Removing the lid, there is quite a bit to see.  The base is a light beige color which is not unexpected for a coffee base.  I also see two different types of mix-ins.  Some large oddly-shaped chocolate chunks and some smaller caramel-colored toffee pieces.  Digging in, I immediately taste the cardamom mixed into the coffee base.  This is more than a hint of cardamom!  The blend is very interesting and unique.  I really like it.  The chocolate chunks provide quite a bit of coffee flavor.  I don't notice that there are espresso beans inside these chunks but they're still quite tasty.  The toffee pieces do not stand out as much as the chocolate but they add to the mix as well.  Both go quite well with the coffee-cardamom base.

This is a fun and very unique pint of ice cream from Izzy's.  It's all about the base here -- an eclectic mixture of cold brew coffee and cardamom.  It is quite a bit different from the standard coffee base so you might want to try a sample first to see if it is up your alley but I enjoyed it very much.  Cardamom always spikes my curiosity as it is not a spice that I grew up with and I really liked how it contributed to the mix here.  The chocolate and toffee mix-ins added to the fun as well.  Enjoy.