By: Jocelyn You and Gigi Hume
Taking you around the top 5 best ice cream places around Orange County- one scoop at a time.
Orange County- land of the excess and the beautiful. And what comes out of that? Beautiful, high-quality, Instagram-worthy ice cream. Here, we make pit stops around some of Orange County’s top ice cream parlors to let you know the 411 on the best of the best.
Tustin
A local favorite, Archie’s Ice Cream is a fun, fit-for-all ice cream parlor located right next to Trader Joe’s on Newport Ave. The establishment itself is instantly eye-catching with its bold colors and comic book letters and the same goes for their ice cream. Their innovative take on classic treats like popsicles dipped in Fruit Loops and Thrifty ice cream sandwiched between chocolate-dipped waffles have branded this stop as the place to go for unique, sweet treats at an even sweeter price as most products fall within the $3-7 range.
12932 Newport Ave #19
Tustin, CA 92780
714.505.5900
IG: @archiesicecream
At this new Tustin location of this famed ice cream parlor, featured by outlets like Popsugar and OC Weekly, people have been lining up for a taste of Afters’ renown, handcrafted ice cream. Either on it’s own or sandwiched between a delectable donut to create a treat known as the Milky Bun, Afters offers a wide variety of unique flavors to choose from that will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.
13662 Newport Ave
Tustin, CA 92780
714.495.9590
IG: @aftersicecream
Located in Tustin’s new Union Market, Churned Creamery is changing the ice cream game in our beloved city. Churned offers croissant ice cream sandwiches, dairy-free sorbets, unique flavors such as black cookie and banana foster pie, take home ice cream in mason jars, and Tahitian waffle cones.
Prices range from $4-8 depending on the order, whether it be scoops, milkshakes, an on-the-go mason jar, a croissant bun, or a Tahitian cone.
2493 Park Ave #21
Tustin, CA 92782
818.489.1311
@churnedcreamery
Irvine
This formerly Ohio-exclusive favorite is now taking over the Irvine ice cream scene whipping up everything from ice cream to their signature frozen custard. Each day they offer the classic chocolate and vanilla combo along with 2-3 flavors of the day that are always changing, always delicious, and, of course, always affordable.
4523 Campus Dr
Irvine, CA 92612
949.387.9955
IG: @stricklands_irvineca
Santa Ana
Puffles galore! With a scoop of uniquely flavored, liquid-nitrogen-made ice cream perched perfectly atop a warm waffle cone. But not just any waffle cone- a cone with little puffs in it (hence the name “puffle”) that are made for tearing off and scooping ice cream into. The flavors change monthly, and a few crowd favorites are Rose H20 (which they shape into a rose!), Earl Grey Lavender, Sea Salted Caramel Crunch, and The Cauldron.
The Puffle goes for $6 a pop while scoops range from $4.50 to $8. It is important to note that each order comes with only one flavor even if multiple scoops are ordered in one.
1421 W MacArthur Blvd
Santa Ana, CA 92704
657.245.3442
IG: @cauldronicecream