The Best Chocolate Ice Cream We've Had Is A Luscious, Creamy Treat From A Little-Known Brand

Unless you're from Oregon, you may not have heard of our favorite chocolate ice cream. If you are a chocolate fiend, then you need to pay attention! In a recent Daily Meal taste test of 8 different store bought chocolate ice cream brands — ranked on both texture and flavor — our favorite was the relatively unknown Umpqua Ice Cream based out of Southern Oregon.

We compared it to the 3rd place Tillamook chocolate ice cream in terms of its mousse-like texture, but with the creaminess and flavor taken to an even greater place. Our reviewer went on to say that "this chocolate ice cream has a richness and a complexity that goes above and beyond the other brands that I've tasted."

Our reviewer had never had Umpqua before, so just who is this ice cream whiz? Started in 1931 by Ormond Feldkamp and Herb Sullivan, it originally was a small ice house next to the railroad tracks where they sold ice cream and other dairy products to passengers going through Roseburg, OR by train. It stayed in the Feldkamp family until 2020 when it was sold to another family owned dairy, Producers Dairy, based out of Fresno, CA. Umpqua's chocolate and vanilla ice creams have both won multiple awards throughout the years.

For an ice cream that has been around this long with as many awards as it has, it's surprisingly hard to find. There's a reason it's not in our ranking of 21 top ice cream brands: Unless you live in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, or Northern California, you won't be able to find it in your local grocery store. But if you do live in its distribution area here's some more great news, of our top three chocolate ice creams, Umpqua is the least expensive!

It's well known to those in Oregon, though. Many who grew up driving along I-5 for a summer road trip have fond memories of stopping at the K&R Drive Inn in Rice Hill, near Roseburg, for a burger and an Umpqua ice cream scoop or sundae. Over the years this one little burger and ice cream shop spread the word of Umpqua Ice Cream to everyone up and down the west coast. If you stop in, make sure you also try Umpqua's Lemon Bar flavor which was 2024's ice cream grand champion at the World Dairy Expo Championship. So next time you drive up I-5 through Oregon, prepare yourself with some healthy snacks when you stop at a mini-mart to make sure you'll be ready for a burger and fries with an Umpqua Ice Cream Sundae for dessert, and thank us later!