SnackPackers weighed in on top ice cream flavors the other day. So, tell me, was it Ben or was it Jerry who slept with each and every one of you to secure such egregious results? Here’s the real deal, one scoop at a time.

1. Baskin Robbins Mint Chocolate Chip. It’s a classic. Kids like it. Adults like it. The chips aren’t too honkin’ (see Breyer’s version), nor too small. The mint not too minty. A perfect summer afternoon is mint chocolate chip on a sugar cone, the cone tip bitten off so it’s a race against the drips. (Full disclosure: I worked at BR in high school and I still feel it’s every child’s inalienable right to a new scoop when Scoop One has seen pavement.)

2. Starbucks Java Chip. I would have said the roundhouse punchiness of the espresso flavor, but they stopped making it. My guess is that consumers complained about the black flecks that frequently caused dental disgrace.

3. Cherry Garcia. Where is Cherry Garcia, you B&J-loving Packers? Only their No. 1 selling flavor, for a good reason.

4. Ciao Bella Blood Orange Sorbet. Alright, not technically an ice cream, but it’s about as sophisticated a dessert as there is. Garnish with impudent little cookie.

5. Blue Bell Peppermint, the kind with the pale pink color and the little zaps of crunchy candy. Ends a meal on a fresh-breath note, like Scope only less bracing.

6. Dairy Queen vanilla soft serve, with the hard, waxy chocolate carapace.

7. Haagen Dazs Toasted Coconut Sesame Brittle. It's outrageous. Anyone else enjoying the new line of super-premium-if-you-have-to-ask-you-can't-afford-it Haagen Dazs? This one is very coconutty, with a salty/nutty sesame seed swirl that adds textural interest. 

8. Carvel vanilla and chocolate blend, especially when fashioned into Fudgie the Whale, which, at Christmastime, can be turned around to become a Santa cake.

9. Let's hear one for the home team. Maggie Moo's Chocolate Better Batter, with goofy chocolate mix-ins if you must (Reese's cups will do). It's rich, it's chocolatey, guaranteed to cause lower g.i. tract distress if eaten in reckless abundance.

10. I'd like to include San Francisco's Mitchells on this list (their peach), but maybe that's too regional. Instead I'll opt for Double Rainbow (also California, but wider purchase) Green Tea. Very soothing, very peace-love-dove.