Shimada Green Ci-TEA Ice cream

Summer hasn't been so hot here yet. Gunma is known for having the hottest weather and maybe we will get into it starting in August, but so far July has been mild and wet. 

The cooler weather hasn't stopped my craving for ice cream though. And now with a shiny new drug store just down the road from us, I am tempted more than ever to have a little treat. But my very tight pocketbook keeps me from overindulging. However, while I was checking out the supply of sweets the store provides, I came across this lovely thing.

It is a green-tea flavored ice cream cone, but the price was on the heftier side for a cone. At over 300 yen it is twice the price of any of the other cones in the store. The signs around the cone were very boastful about the green tea used from Shimada City in Shizuoka Prefecture. I did a little look online and the logo is a promotional campaign, "Shimada Green Ci-tea," with the colors of the packaging correlating to different shades of tea. I love a good pun so I love the name. 

The packaging also has the logo for the Yokohama University of Pharmacy but I am not really sure why. There is a note under the green tea label about green tea catechin. This may be why the pharmacy university is involved. Catechin is the chemical in green tea that gives it it's antioxidant properties. It is also why green tea is known for good heart health, so maybe by eating this ice cream you are being healthy? If your diet allows the 313 extra calories, I don't see why not.

After trying this pile of green in a waffle cone though, I will be making room in my diet to have another.

Oh, man was it good! The ice cream itself was so soft and creamy. I haven't found any ice cream bought at the store that so closely matches the texture of soft serve as this. Also, the flavor of the tea was so strong, there was no mistaking it as green tea. There have been times where I have gotten green tea and wasn't sure if it was just milk flavored with green food coloring. This was not one of those times. 

The waffle cone was possibly the only disappointing part. If I had been in the mood for a crunchy crisp cone, this would have let me down. 

The cone was actually soft enough to unroll. The taste was still great. It was just sweet enough to compliment the ice cream. I still enjoyed it.  However, if you don't want to be disappointed by the cone, there is the option of this ice cream in a cup. 

So, how did our favorite little taste tester enjoy it?

He stuck to his own ice cream cone saying mine tasted like green. He doesn't like tea in the first place so it seems only fair he is a harsh critic.

This post is supported by Shizuoka Green Tea Guide, one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.