Haagen Dazs Mint Chip

Mint Chip is a staple of most ice cream brands but Haagen Dazs is one of the best. While many mint chip ice creams are a fluorescent green color, Haagen Dazs specifically points out that its rendition retains its natural white hue.
Name
This is the typical name for the flavor; nothing witty or whimsical, just straightforward mint with chocolate chip shavings.
Availability
Being a very common flavor, Mint Chip is available year-round in scoop shops and in take-home pints from markets. The ice cream keeps very well in the freezer and is slow to thaw.
Flavor
High Notes
There are only two flavors in Mint Chip and the mint is certainly the high note here. The mint is fantastic: crisp, light, and fast. It really plays on the coldness of the ice cream to leave the palate with a sense of cleanliness and refreshment like a breath of chilly air. What I like about this mint as opposed to other varieties is that Haagen Dazs maintains the natural tenets of a strong mint flavor. It does not taste artificial like toothpaste or gum the way most mint ice creams come out, but it still maintains a soft boldness. The flavor has such a pure and even sweetness to it that it really fills up the mouth with flavor, yet it doesn't become overbearing. It is a very clean flavor and although it can be tasted well after the spoonful is swallowed, it remains unbelievably light.
Low Notes
The chocolate chip flakes provide the perfect counter to the light sweetness of the cool mint flavor. While the sweetness of the mint gives a nice armoa to the flavor, the chocolate is able to be the stronger flavor while not overpowering the delicate mintiness. What I like the most about this chocolate is the uniqueness of its flavor as its own ingredient. This chocolate isn't quite milk chocolate but it isn't dark or bittersweet chocolate either. This is the mistake a lot of other Mint Chip ice creams run into: disgustingly sweet chocolate. Haagen Dazs really does a great job of creating a chocolate that blends perfectly with the mint.
Texture
The mint ice cream is a bit icy and sometimes begins melting before I could bite into the chocolate chips. Overall, the chocolate chip pieces were plentiful, well-distributed, and cut into small rectangles.
Concluding Comments
The beauty of the flavor is the way that the mint hits hard at first and then lingers in the background as the semi-sweet chocolate flakes take center stage. This is one of the best Haagen Dazs ice creams I have ever had and one of the best renditions of Mint Chip as well. Its clean, simple sweetness is a thing of beauty that few other brands have perfected.