Happy Cow Creamery and Tea, Dogpatch, SF

Working in Mission Bay, Happy Cow Creamery has been on my radar since I first walked by and saw their “Coming Soon” sign several months ago. A rolled ice cream and boba tea store would be a welcome addition to the Dogpatch, and since I had never had rolled ice cream before, I was particularly excited. Happy Cow is now in their soft opening stage, tinkering with recipes and flavor combinations. Owners Jojo and Cindy have been in the rolled ice cream biz for a while now, with their other store Let’s Roll located in the Sunset neighborhood of SF. I stopped by the Happy Cow shop one afternoon to sample their flavors and see what the rolled ice cream hype was all about. The storefront is sleek and modern, with three stations where the ice cream is made fresh to order. The current pricing is $6.50 for a bowl of rolled ice cream with three toppings (although this may change during their Grand opening, scheduled for April). It may sound expensive relative to the typical $4-5 you’d pay for a scoop in SF, but the amount of ice cream is very generous, and the toppings are all high quality.

There are seven base flavors, but because the ice cream is made to order, you can add certain fresh ingredients into your ice cream base. The Cookies & Cream for example, is made by crushing an Oreo into their vanilla base. I had a bowl of Oreo Coffee ice cream and watched in anticipation as the Oreo was crushed into fine bits and mixed into the rich coffee base. For toppings, I chose whipped cream, strawberries, and boba. The boba was a great addition to the ice cream, and goes especially well with the coffee or any of their tea ice creams. Because of how the ice cream is made, it’s much thicker and denser than American churned ice creams. This helps the ice cream come through with strong, bold flavors. It also prevents the ice cream from melting at the same rate that I’m used to. I got to enjoy my bowl of delicious ice cream and take my time with it, without worrying about it melting away. I especially appreciated the freshness of the Oreo in the ice cream. Because it’s crushed into the base, the Oreo gave the ice cream a nice crunch, as opposed to other Cookies & Cream styles, where the Oreos get soft sitting in the ice cream base for too long.

I liked my first rolled ice cream experience so much that I came back with some friends to try more flavors! I sampled the Thai Iced Tea, which tasted exactly like its namesake, with rich flavors and condensed milk added directly into the rolled ice cream! It went excellently with boba toppings, with strong flavors, but was also remarkably refreshing. I also tried a Blueberry Oreo rolled ice cream. While the blueberry flavor was there, it wasn’t as strong as some of the other flavors I tried. This is probably because the Oreo overpowered it, so I would recommend the blueberry as a stand-alone ice cream, without anything mixed into it. I also sampled the mango, which was one of the strongest (and best!) mango ice creams I’ve had. And I got to taste the standard Milk Tea, which was good, but very light in flavor. It would probably be best as a base for other mix-ins and toppings. Of all the flavors I tried, the Oolong tea was probably my favorite. It had a bold taste and was incredibly creamy. As you can probably tell, I am a huge fan of Happy Cow Creamery. I would highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Mission Bay or Dogpatch. And once the new Warriors Stadium opens up next year, I think Happy Cow would be an excellent pre or post-game snack for any Golden State fan.