Oakland Bites: Inconceivably delicious

That’s the tag line for Three Twins organic ice cream, and it pretty much hits the mark. With flavors like Madagascar Vanilla, Strawberry Je Ne Sais Quoi (the quoi being a splash of balsamic vinegar) and Peanut Butter Cookie Confetti Crunch, each taste is a bit of an adventure and even classic flavors like Mint Confetti (your typical mint chip) taste way better than their grocery store counterparts. Yesterday at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market, the parents of two of the three twins were manning the booth and passing out samples of the new Milk and Honey flavor. Though it sounds pretty vanilla, my friend and I were both wowed by the depth of the flavor. It was so good it made me wonder why they don’t put honey in all ice cream.

We skipped cones in favor of their ice cream sandwiches, which come in two cookie flavors, yesterday’s being ginger or graham. I went with the ginger cookie with Mocha Difference ice cream, and the bite of the ginger was perfectly balanced by the ice cream. The sandwiches are huge, big enough that when they hand them to you, you don’t think anyone could possibly finish them, but believe me, you’ll polish it off and then wonder where it went.

Three Twins was founded in the Bay Area by — you guessed it — three twins. A twin and his girlfriend, who is also a twin, were living together when his twin brother came home from the Peace Corps after an assignment cut short. (Confused? Two twin brothers, one twin girlfriend). To save money, the three lived together, and then built their ice cream business together, focusing on organic ice cream and sustainability. Yesterday, the incredulous parents of the twin boys told me that despite all the twinniness, the now-married couple has had two single babies.

You can find their ice cream at their two store locations in San Rafael or Napa, or on Tuesdays and Saturdays at the Berkeley Farmers’ Market. You can also pick up a pint of the ice cream at the Berkeley Bowl.