5 Discontinued Häagen-Dazs Flavors That Deserve A Revival

Nothing disappoints more than finding a new favorite ice cream flavor, only to see it disappear from shelves forever. Among the luxury ice cream category, Häagen-Dazs is well known for its creativity — regularly introducing new limited edition lines and concepts with different ingredients, flavors, and texture combinations. Unfortunately, to keep creating and innovating, some of these flavors have to disappear to make room for new ones. 

While many Häagen-Dazs flavors are still on store shelves, many other intriguing ones were discontinued along with their corresponding lines. From gelato to Trio, Artisan, and Spirit lines, certain flavors from the Brooklyn-based company managed to catch the attention of fans who were eventually heartbroken to see them go. Below are a few limited edition Häagen-Dazs flavors that deserve a revival. 

"Does anyone remember this greatness???? Is there anywhere to purchase this 10+ years later," asked a comment on Reddit regarding Häagen-Dazs's Blueberry Crumble flavor. "If this is real I'll have 37 of them. Tomorrow," said another commenter. Yes, it was a real flavor that delighted blueberry fans when it debuted in 2011. It featured creamy blueberry ice cream, dotted with bits of cobbler crumble topping. To the dismay of its fans, this limited edition flavor disappeared from shelves just a year later in 2012.

Currently, the only blueberry flavor that Häagen-Dazs is making is the Summer Blueberry & Lemon sorbet, made with blueberries from the Pacific Northwest. It's a fresh and lovely flavor which would make a perfect palate cleanser, but it's just not the same as the creamy goodness of the Blueberry Crumble pint. It will require a bit of extra effort, but if you're really missing this creation, you could make or buy one of these classic blueberry desserts and top it with Häagen-Dazs's timeless Vanilla Bean flavor.

In 2015, Häagen-Dazs collaborated with five culinary artisans from across the U.S. to craft unique flavors for a limited time Artisan Collection line. Rich and chocolatey brigadeiros are a popular Brazilian treat made from sweetened condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder. Think of them as a sort of truffle, but with a softer, richer consistency. Häagen-Dazs's Tres Leches Brigadeiro resulted from a collaboration with My Sweet Brigadeiro — a Brooklyn-based business led by Brazilian native Paula Barbosa — in an attempt to recreate the taste and consistency in ice cream form. 

Tres Leches Brigadeiro turned out like a deconstructed Happy Couple brigadeiro. Known as "casadinho" in Portuguese, this special treat comprises half of a traditional chocolate brigadeiro and half of a white brigadeiro, made the same way but without the cocoa powder. These two brigadeiro styles were swirled into tres leches ice cream — another legendary Latin American treat — for the ultimate decadent pint. As with other limited edition lines, Häagen-Dazs retired this and the other five Artisan flavors by 2017.

Häagen-Dazs debuted its Spirits line in 2019, featuring five fabulously boozy flavors: Bourbon Vanilla Bean Truffle, Rum Tres Leche, Irish Cream Brownie, Stout Chocolate Pretzel Crunch, and Amaretto Black Cherry Almond Toffee. The latter had two additional features that made it a more inclusive option: it was fully non-dairy and vegan. 

"It tastes absolutely AMAZEBALLS!" said an Instagram comment, while another described it as "amaretto sour ice cream," although it lacked the lemony component required for the proper taste of an Amaretto sour cocktail. While the Amaretto flavor was strong, the actual alcohol content was below 0.5% ABV, so it was negligible, but fans of the pint confirmed they enjoyed it even further by pouring a shot of Amaretto over the top.

But how did Häagen-Dazs manage to make the Amaretto-infused ice cream so creamy without dairy? The trick was a rich almond butter as the base, instead of plain almond milk. The sweet and tangy black cherry jam and almond toffee pieces certainly helped to create something very special too. All these attributes combined make a good case for bringing back this yummy boozy treat. 

Inspired by global travels, Häagen-Dazs's Destination series ran from 2016 to 2018, replacing the Artisan series. It included intriguing flavors like Toasted Sesame Brittle, Mexican Chocolate, Toasted Coconut Caramel, and this one: the Vanilla, Tangerine, and Shortbread. Häagen-Dazs designed it to invoke the flavors of sweets traditionally served in the UK with a cup of tea. 

This flavor included a collaboration with a small-batch artisan, Chicago's Rare Bird Preserves, who crafted the sweet-tart tangerine curd swirled through the creamy vanilla ice cream. To complete the "British teatime" vibe, bits of buttery shortbread added a crunchy textural interest. One fan described it as "a lovely flavor," and another called it "very refreshing, very different." 

Alas, like all of Häagen-Dazs's special edition flavors, it went extinct after a short period, but the flavor combination certainly deserves a comeback in one way or another. At the moment, Häagen-Dazs is not producing any citrus-flavored ice creams — even its once-beloved Limoncello gelato has retired.

The Trio Crispy Layers line, available in stores from 2017 to 2022, comprised seven different combinations of two ice cream flavors layered with thin sheets of chocolate. But one special offering captured attention upon its release in 2020: Ruby Cacao Crackle Pistachio Sweet Cream. It featured crispy ruby chocolate sheets that divided layers of pistachio and sweet cream ice cream.

At the time, ruby cacao, also known as ruby chocolate, was still somewhat of a novelty, thanks to its unique reddish-pink hue and berry flavor. It was a great pairing for the silky sweet cream and the nuttiness of pistachio, and the color combination made for an attractive dessert. Some customers found the ruby cacao interesting — similar to white chocolate with berry undertones coming through. There was disagreement in the actual ice cream, with some complaining that the pistachio flavor dominated and others saying it was too faint.

But as is the case with all Häagen-Dazs limited edition lines, the Trio line eventually disappeared from shops. It probably didn't help that the fascination with ruby chocolate faded once its novelty wore off. But now that pistachio is having its moment in the sun thanks to Dubai chocolate, this flavor would be a great way to bring ruby chocolate back to public attention.