Tea•rrific! Ice Cream of Norwalk: To-tea-lly Redefining Ice Cream in NY and CT

Ahhh, om nom nom nom (photos by Paul Johnson)

A local artisan ice cream maker, Tea•riffic! Ice Cream, recently took home some major awards at the 2013 CT Specialty Food Association‘s Product Awards Competition.  They took home first place for their Chunky London Mist and Masala Chai flavors, took second for their Ginger Matcha, and placed third with London Mist.  The judges (food writers, chefs, and local media personalities) evaluated food based on taste, flavor, texture, aroma, appearance, and color.  So, to get recognized for all of these qualities was great, but it’s also more impressive when you consider that there were over 30 different products in various categories in the competition.

But, these aren’t the only awards that Norwalk based Tea•riffic! have won.    They were also named Best New Product in the “Edibles Category” at the 2012 World Tea Expo East in Philly.  Trying to understand why they have been recognized for great ice cream isn’t very difficult, though.  It all began with Mario Leite (co-owner with his wife) wanting to put out ice cream using his two favorite teas:  Thai Iced Tea and Earl Grey.  From the start of production in October 2012, he saw the importance of using local ingredients whenever possible (Connecticut doesn’t exactly have too many exotic spices and teas that grow here).  In addition, he believes that the more simple the ingredients, the better.  No need for preservatives or other added junk.  Keep it real, keep it pure, keep it yummy.