The Champaign-Urbana area has an abundance of nice ice cream shops, and with the arrival of Red Bicycle and Oberweis (coming soon) in town, I decided to go on a quest to find the best strawberry ice cream as well as the best ice cream place in town.

According to a 228 student and 15 faculty member survey, Jarling’s Custard Cup was ranked the highest. I went to Red Bicycle the new ice cream place in town, Baskin-Robbins for its $1 Dollar Scoop Saturday’s, Cold Stone Creamery, El Oasis, and Jarling’s due to its popularity. As mentioned before, I got strawberry ice from each shop as a fair base for comparison, and the shops were judged on the following 6 criterias: how quickly the ice cream melts, the ice cream’s texture, the ice cream’s taste, variety of flavors available at that time, prices, and wait time.

Least to Most Melty:

1. Red Bicycle and El Oasis (tie)
2. Baskin-Robbins
3. Cold Stone
4. Jarling’s

Best to Worst Texture:

1. Jarling’s
2. Cold Stone
3. El Oasis
4. Baskin-Robbins
5. Red Bicycle

Most to Least Tasty:

1. El Oasis
2. Cold Stone
3. Jarling’s
4. Baskin-Robbins
5. Red Bicycle

Good to Limited Variety of Flavors:

1. El Oasis
2. Red Bicycle
3. Jarling’s
4. Cold Stone
5. Baskin-Robbins (out of half of flavors)

Cheapest to Priciest:

1. Baskin-Robbins ($1 Scoop Saturday’s)
2. Jarling’s
3. Cold Stone
4. El Oasis
5. Red Bicycle

Shortest to Longest Wait

1. El Oasis
2. Baskin-Robbins
3. Red Bicycle
4. Jarling’s
5. Cold Stone

Here is a rundown of the results:

Cold Stone Creamery

– Longest Wait (no customers but have to catch worker’s attention in room) –

The ice cream is smooth and has a strong strawberry flavor.

Baskin-Robbins                   

*Cheapest Ice Cream*

– Limited Variety (out of half of flavors) –

The ice cream has a reliable grocery store flavor with nice chunks of strawberry.

Jarling’s Custard Cup

*Best Texture*

– Most Melty –

The ice cream is extremely smooth and pink but has a strong artificial strawberry flavor. The ice cream also melts at bullet speed.

Red Bicycle

*Least Melty *

– Worst Texture –

– Least Tasty –

– Most Expensive – 

The flavor of the ice cream is very subtle, tastes natural, and is not very creamy. The ice cream is crunchy but does not melt at all.

El Oasis 🏆 (OVERALL WINNER)

*Least Melty*

*Most Tasty *

*Variety of Flavors*

*Shortest Wait*

The ice cream has a delightful texture with the right amount of crunch and a good strawberry flavor. It also melts very slowly.