Move over, Ben & Jerry’s; there’s a new (and dare I say, tastier) ice cream shop in town.
Named one of the “Best Ice Cream Shops In America” nine times by four food magazines, DC-based Ice Cream Jubilee has opened its first Virginia location in Reston Town Center. Since its grand opening in August 2024, the business has grown in popularity with Restonians looking for a sweet treat.
The ice cream offerings include classics like chocolate chocolate and fresh minty chip, but it also boasts unique and exotic flavors like caramel stroop waffle, mint chocolate brownie, and banana bourbon caramel. They also churn out soft-serves with plenty of fun toppings.
The shop occasionally offers seasonal flavors, the most recent being Asian-inspired ice creams like Mango Sticky Rice, Thai Iced Tea, Red Bean Almond Cookie, and Strawberry Matcha Latte for Lunar New Year.
Despite the freezing temperatures outside, my mom and I couldn’t resist a trip to the ice cream shop to try out their seasonal New Year flavors. Upon entering the cute storefront, we were greeted by a welcoming Manager, Art, who offered as many samples as we wished.
After much consideration, I got a freshly-made waffle cone loaded with two scoops of banana bourbon caramel and mint chocolate brownie, and my mom got two heaping scoops of red bean almond cookie and coffee toffee.
Each scoop packed an intensely flavorful punch. A fan-favorite, the creamy banana bourbon caramel tasted of rich caramel that mixed perfectly with the hint of bourbon that elevated the banana flavor.
I also enjoyed the bottom scoop and grande finale of my cone, mint chocolate brownie. Loaded with generous brownie bites, the chocolate and brownie flavors were at the forefront with a pleasant aftertaste of mint.
Coffee toffee was unlike any other coffee ice cream I had tasted. The perfect pairing of flavors were balanced equally with neither overpowering one another. It contained the right amount of sweetness whilst honoring the slight bitterness of coffee.
Last but not least, Ice Cream Jubilee was incredibly successful in honoring two traditional Lunar New Year ingredients in their red bean almond cookie flavor. The shop did not skimp out on the ingredients in the title; I was excited to find generous pieces of almond cookie dough and red bean in every spoonful.
According to Ice Cream Jubilee Manager, Art, their high standard of no artificial flavorings or extracts, whole and natural ingredients, and weekly-churned ice creams is what sets them apart from other frozen treat stops.
“I’m not scared to feed our ice creams to my kids, because there’s no chemicals or ingredients that you can’t spell or pronounce,” he said.
Not only do the employees of Ice Cream Jubilee serve up delicious scoops, they also pride themselves on fundraising with the community and donating 1% of their sales to local youth sports teams, non-profits, schools, and other groups in need.
“We’re so happy to support these groups in our community,” Art said.
Art explained how the ice cream shop’s traffic is slow in the wintertime, but he’s excited to welcome in more customers when the weather gets warmer.
Personally, if I could get my hands on an Ice Cream Jubilee scoop whenever I wanted, in rain, snow, or sunshine, every day would be an ice cream day.
