4 days ago
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Hot. Ice cream. Two things that should beryllium mutually exclusive, but not for Tyra Banks. After what she claims to beryllium "a twelvemonth of innovation," she recovered a mode to service everyone's favourite acold dainty successful liquid form. But I'm getting up of myself, fto maine backmost up a bit.
Tyra began processing her ice cream company, Smize & Dream, during the pandemic arsenic an homage to her ma and their crystal pick outings each Friday nighttime erstwhile she was a child. It was successful these moments that they'd "laugh, outcry and imagination our biggest, astir outrageous originative dreams." Thus, Smize & Dream was born, launching its archetypal pop-up successful Washington, DC, during the summertime of 2024.
One twelvemonth later, Tyra opened a brick-and-mortar crystal pick store successful Sydney, Australia. With gangly ceilings, golden pillars, and adjacent golden crystal pick cone coozies, the store is meant to invoke "luxury" and "glam."
But things didn't halt there. The gears conscionable kept turning for Tyra, and successful a present viral video from September 2025, she announced a caller product. "I consciousness similar I'm going crazy," she opens, "It's similar I don't sleep. These ideas conscionable support coming successful my head." One of those ideas? Hot crystal cream, which Tyra describes arsenic "silky crystal pick that you tin drink."
She specifies that blistery crystal pick (which she has branded arsenic Hot Mama) isn't a latte, flavored blistery chocolate, melted crystal cream, oregon adjacent crème anglaise (the custard basal utilized to marque accepted crystal cream), but instead, a wholly caller invention she's been processing for "over a year."
Confused? Well, truthful was the full internet. Is it a milkshake? Warm milk? No 1 knew, and, successful interviews, representatives for Smize & Dream were beauteous tight-lipped astir the concept. I accidental the disorder is portion of their full shtick.
As idiosyncratic who, unfortunately, is simply a sucker for chaotic selling and utilized to microwave their crystal pick arsenic a kid (I person delicate teeth...please don't judge), I knew I needed to get my hands connected this. There was conscionable 1 problem: I don't unrecorded successful Australia, and I don't deliberation I could warrant expensing a $2,000 round-trip from New York to my manager. Alas, I fto my blistery crystal pick dreams go.
That was until astir 2 months ago, erstwhile I received 1 of the astir breathtaking emails of my life: Hot crystal pick was coming to NYC for a two-month-long activation, with pop-ups each astir the city. I blocked my calendar, turned disconnected my Slack notifications, and acceptable retired connected a chilly January time to a pop-up astatine Chip City, a fashionable cooky concatenation that decided to alteration its S'mores Cookie into drinkable blistery crystal cream.
I walked into Chip City's West Village determination and spotted the motion and the celebrated Hot Mama cupful successful each her glory, implicit with the 3-D bosom cutout. I besides spotted the price: a whopping $12!!! This was not the microwaved scoop of Breyer's Ice Cream from my childhood.
After acting similar the cookies were what I was determination for, I ordered my blistery crystal pick (and a cookie, due to the fact that conscionable ordering blistery crystal pick astatine a cooky spot felt...weird). Seventeen dollars aboriginal (yes, it was a $5 cookie), I was served my portion successful a tiny eight-ounce cupful topped with whipped pick and cooky crumbles.
Before I left, I enactment connected my ~investigative journalism~ chapeau and asked the Chip City idiosyncratic if she'd tried it. She shrugged and responded, "Yeah, it's good." I asked her if it was conscionable melted crystal cream, and she clarified that it was "not thick, much similar lukewarm milk." Even having been successful the blistery crystal pick beingness for the past 4 months, I wasn't expecting this. I besides wasn't expecting the cupful not to travel with a lid, truthful alternatively of having my portion earthy canine the subway air, I made my mode to a adjacent parkland to sip and cod my thoughts.
And my archetypal sip was...solely whipped cream. Which, to beryllium fair, was delicious. It was airy and sweet, akin to a marshmallow — this is s'mores blistery crystal pick aft all. The cooky crumbles besides added a nice, crunchy texture and sweetness. However, I'm beauteous definite some of these took up a bully one-third of my cup, and I'm present for the blistery crystal cream, not the toppings.
After several sips, I yet got to the existent drink, and erstwhile I archer you my notes are chaotic successful trying to picture this, I'm not kidding. The Chip City idiosyncratic was close — this isn't the texture of melted crystal pick astatine all. More on the lines of a blistery chocolate, but not those heavy European ones. Think bully ol' Swiss Miss.
Because I afloat expected melted crystal pick erstwhile I archetypal heard "hot crystal cream," I thought it would beryllium nauseatingly sweet, but it was really beauteous pleasant (I bash person a saccharine tooth, truthful instrumentality that with a atom of salt). At the extremity of the day, it truly was conscionable sweetened lukewarm beverage with a bully chocolaty, graham cracker flavor.
As the whipped pick melted into the liquid, it did commencement to instrumentality connected the consistency and sweetness of melted crystal cream, for amended oregon worse. And portion I privation I could archer you I finished my small eight-ounce cupful truthful I could afloat picture the taste, it genuinely was conscionable due to the fact that it was good, sweet, and casual to drink. I didn't emotion the escaped pieces of cooky crumbles hanging retired astatine the bottom, though. Maybe this needs a spoon connected the side?
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