Mochi Green Tea Halo Top Ice Cream Review
Straight up, I am a pretty big fan of green tea. However, I don’t think I have ever had green tea iced cream, so this Mochi Green Tea Halo Top flavor will be an entirely new experience for me.
I am extremely excited to try this flavor because I am very curious how Halo Top could pull off the flavor of green tea in an ice cream. The ingredients lists “mochi dough” as one of the ingredients, which sounds like an interesting touch to an already interesting ice cream flavor.
As I open the pint, I am welcomed by a neon yellow color. I don’t spot any mochi dough pieces right off the bat, however after moving my spoon around searching, I instantly spot one. I take that first bite and I am very surprised. It tastes nothing like green tea to me. Absolutely nothing. It tastes incredibly perfumey if that makes sense. A floral lavender taste has a strong presence, which leads to a slight taste of honey afterwards. A very floral, bold, and sweet lavender taste is the best way to describe it.
You may thing this is a bad thing, however it’s actually pretty enjoyable. The pieces of mochi dough are add a wonderful twist to this ice cream. They are soft and chewy and also taste a bit floral. The texture of this ice cream is very smooth and melts in your mouth pretty fast, so these mochi dough pieces help add to the texture.
I’m still quite disappointed though. I totally bought this ice cream hoping it would taste like green tea. Although the end result is very enjoyable, I still am pretty bummed about it. The chunks of mochi dough balance the floral flavor pretty well but I’m still pretty pissed off. I’m gonna just go cry in a corner for the rest of the day because Halo Top tricked me.
I think a better name for this flavor would have been “Floral Lavender” and made it purple instead of yellow. We should probably make a Change.org petition to put some pressure on Halo Top. Don’t buy this if you are expecting a green tea flavor, but DO buy this if you love lavender/floral tasting things.
HEARTBREAKING UPDATE: It has been an hour since I ate this ice cream and my mouth tastes like I just ate a bouquet of flowers. It’s a strange aftertaste. Extremely floral aftertaste. Now to stuff my face with Oreos until this aftertaste goes away. #HaloTopTrickedMe
Rating
Summary
Tastes nothing like green tea. Very floral and lavender taste to it. The aftertaste lingers and makes you feel like you ate a bouquet of flowers. Ughhh!
You’re SUPER generous giving it 2.9, I have NO idea how you got through the whole pint… I had one bite and almost spit it out, I thought I was eating my grandmas perfume! And the after taste – yeah, HORRID!
Yeah it was absolutely wayyy too floral. I don’t know why they decided to go this route. They should’ve just named this flavor lavender instead – it makes so much more sense. Thanks for the feedback, Derek!
when I opened it I thought I was crazy cause I said wow this smells like perfume. I tasted it and yes, Perfume. but I gave it a chance and ended up liking it mostly because of the mochi helping with the texture. My breath smells like flowers which is better than normal breath after eating something lol. It grew on me and looking forward to another pint when I buy Halo again. I guess I like unusual stuff sometimes instead of the same old boring stuff and with the reduced calories that is a plus. You stating lavender makes sense and yes I agree. There are many lavender desserts so this is not far fetched and I agree they need to change the name. There is no trace of green tea in this pint.
I’m glad you agree here! It totally should’ve been named lavender. We would’ve 100% known what to expect then!
…And changing the color to lavender would be a beautiful idea!
By the way, I let my dog have the empty container which he thinks he is getting something, he just licks the inside and he loved it and his breath is wonderful now lol
Lol yes! At least our breath smells like flowers! 😛 I should eat some before any family event so I can show up smelling like flowers haha.
I wish i had read your review before i put it in my mouth. I am allergic to lavender. Horrible experience!
Oh no! That definitely doesn’t sound like a pleasant experience!
If you are looking for green tea ice cream Haagen-dazs has made it for years. I get it from Walmart. It is significantly less sweet and less floral. For anyone who really really loved the floral aspect, Chowards makes violet mints and gum (available from Amazon and certain convenience stores in Howard County, Maryland).
When I first tasted this mochi green tea Halo Top I actually thought I might have hit my spoon with lavender Lysol spray and replaced the spoon with a freshly washed one. I am glad for this review because it means I am not crazy (in this instance) and have not likely poisoned myself (happy bonus)! I may end up eating this Halo Top flavor by the half cup in the future as opposed to eating the full pint because I am starting to feel like I ate some potpourri instead of ice cream. At least it is better than the Halo Top Cinnamon Roll (I found the little uncooked balls of cinnamon roll dough almost inedible) or Cookies and Cream (really sour IMHO). Overall I did enjoy the ice cream and the 4 mochi pieces I found but this is unlikely to be my go-to flavor in the future.
Haagen-Dazs’ green tea ice cream is the best I’ve found in American markets, and Asian markets have a variety of brands to try from, including green tea mochi (the kind with ice cream inside the mochi rather than Halo Top’s inversion) I too am team #HaloTopTrickedMe after trying this flavor. I think if I remember right, there’s not even green tea in the ingredients, and the color is especially unnatural.
This is 100% lavender, but it surprised me that it’s not a flavor as off putting as I would have expected something floral to be. I won’t be buying it again, but I’d like to try your Chowards’ mints recommendation.
Totally agree. This tasted like potpourri and every kind of soap scent known to man. Not sure why they decided that mochi tastes like soap. I expected much more, but blech! Better to stick with restaurants to get green tea ice cream. And maybe add in your own mochi.
I believe this is one of those cases where by green tea they mean jasmine green tea. While still a legitimate form of green tea, I get why people are put off when you come in expecting a neutral flavor. Personally I love the stuff anyway. Right up there with Oatmeal Cookie.