We tried Tyra Banks’ ‘revolutionary’ hot ice-cream, and colour us confused
According to its creator, it’s neither a latte, a hot chocolate or melted ice-cream. So what is it? Reviewers were divided
I’m at Smize and Dream, the ice-cream shop founded by supermodel, Harvard alumna and entrepreneur Tyra Banks. There is a steady stream of customers for a weekday afternoon in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. I’m here for the Hot Mama, which Banks debuted in September, and claims is the world’s first hot ice-cream.
According to its creator, the new dessert is neither a latte nor a hot chocolate and certainly not melted ice-cream. But if it’s none of these, then what is it?
“Liquid, warm, soothing, yummy, silky,” Banks wrote on Smize and Dream’s Instagram. Its enigmatic description has seen people sharing their hottest takes on social media, with some videoviews in the hundreds of thousands.
In store, the music is pumping and the golden interior feels cosy. According to the Smize and Dream website, staff here aren’t just staff, they’re performers. While there are no choreographed numbers, they are cheery, offering me lots of samples. One of them asks the group in front of me if they’re going to “TikTok this”. There’s an awkward laugh, but they do take a video.
Outside, I ask customers who’ve ordered a serve of the hot ice-cream to tell me how it tastes. “Wet toast,” they say. Their description haunts me.
I order the hot ice-cream in a flavour called Tyra’s Favorite. Its description says it has “salted caramel butter and butter-roasted pecans in a rich salted sweet cream”. A generous lashing of whipped cream and caramel sauce sits on top of what appears to be milky liquid. Its appearance reminds me of the 2016freakshake trend. The cup is warm, but it’s not as hot as I was expecting from its name.
At the office, colleagues gather to admire the treat. There is a cautious optimism in the air. “I think it’s completely melted, but it’s supposed to be completely melted, right?” says one editor.
As soon as we sink our spoons in, Hot Mama collapses in on herself. A “reverse-volcano”, observes a colleague. Volcanoes, as you might recall, are almost always hot. This drink – or dessert – is neither hot nor cold by the time we taste it.
Underneath the whipped cream, its consistency is somewhere between milk and melted ice-cream.
We attempt to drink it through the straw. There are scrunched faces of displeasure. The ease in which it runs up the straw is the first unsettling sensation. “It’s just so thin,” says a colleague. But then comes the taste, with its intense sweetness hitting tasters at full force. “It’s quite confronting,” says one colleague of the lukewarm temperature.
Flavour-wise, it reminded some of the malty drink Ovaltine, and the custardy crème anglaise, with a pleasant salty sweetness.
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Most enjoyed the pillowy topping, while a great many more were not thrilled with the drink’s consistency, which was “a lot more watery than expected”. “Thicker than a flat white, thinner than a milkshake,” says one colleague.
When I share that it costs $12.50, there’s uproar. “You can just buy your own cup of ice-cream and melt it yourself!” exclaims one colleague. But isn’t this the somewhat unfair criticism people level at modern art – that they could have painted it themselves? “It’s revolutionary,” says one colleague. “Because before no one would think that this was something people should sell.”
So were we all rooting for Hot Mama? In a way we were. Regardless of its confusing temperature, what’s not to like about ice-cream? But ultimately it didn’t live up to its name – it simply wasn’t hot. It was lukewarm at best, like a forgotten cup of tea.
Guardian Australia reached out to Smize and Dream to seek answers. A spokesperson wrote back, asking to be quoted in full:
Miss Isabella,
Some fall for HOT MAMA at first sip. Others need a second date. Not everyone’s gonna get it… but those who do? Oh, they REALLY do.
We’re running out of cups. We’re running out of Hot Mama. People aren’t just trying her. They’re coming back for seconds. And thirds.
Is she here to please every palate on day one? #No. She’s here to shake things up. And trust… the best flavours haven’t even strutted out yet.
OK Miss Isabella, fill in your snarky line right here. We’ve provided space for you: [insert Queen Isabella’s shade here]”
Speaking on a panel about brand power at SXSW Sydney on 16 October, Banks said: “Different is better than better.”
I don’t know what that means. And I still don’t know what hot ice-cream is.
