A cup of coffee chip at Gray's Ice Cream.

After last fall’s botched attempt to try Gray’s Ice Cream, I decided to give it another try this spring. Their Bristol location officially opened for the season on May 8, and I arrived the next day despite the cold and windy weather. I had to sit in my car waiting for them to open for the day, since apparently they don’t expect people to want ice cream before noon.

I tried their chocolate, which was quite tasty — more of a light malt chocolate than a rich dark flavor. But I ultimately opted for their coffee chip since the coffee is their specialty, along with a scoop of regular chocolate chip for comparison. The woman working there told me they had just brought in the batch of coffee chip that day, and you could tell — the texture was perfectly soft and creamy. I guess ice cream is more like bagels than I thought — the fresher, the better. The chocolate chip was fine, but nothing special. Overall, it’s no Handel’s, but it’s a much shorter drive to Bristol than Ohio, and that’s not to be overlooked.

Gray’s Ice Cream
16 East Road
Tiverton, RI 02878

259 Thames Street
Bristol, RI 02809

www.graysicecream.com