Saturday, December 31, 2022

Top Ten New Reviews of 2022


 And just like that, another year ends... am I glad it's ending? honestly? Yes, quite. I felt like 2022 was repeatedly trying to test me. No, I'm not having a mid-life crisis, but I do feel like I am in the mid-life funk where everything is changing and the world kind of wants to test various aspects of what I take for granted. There were some big highs and some sad lows, but this is an ice cream blog, so let's get to it!

Top Ten New Reviews of 2022

As you might suspect, blog traffic has fallen another 20% this year just like it has for the last several years. Not sure why it's consistently around 20%, but it is what it is. Thanks to all of you for still hanging around! 

The good news is that we have a clear winner, which I always appreciate yet. You know what's funny? Dolcezza was last year's #1 new review and that same review is actually this year's #2 overall review (aka including both old and new reviews). Not sure I've seen that before, but it's very cool and I wish Dolcezza continued success in 2023.

Ok, enough stalling, top ten time!

#10  goes to Milk Bar for their Cereal Milk flavor. Their pints debuted in store shelves in 2021 but this is their first appearance on the top ten list.

#9  goes to our old friends Ben & Jerry. If you haven't tried Topped Chocolate Milk & Cookies, I have to ask "Why Not?" Go get it!

#8  marks the first time Hudsonville Ice Cream makes it to the top ten list, but it's not for one of their regular flavors. Nope, this spot is held by their Little Debbie teamup. They have a bunch of different flavors, so I apologize for not trying more of them.

#7  gets taken by another Ben & Jerry's flavor, this time Topped Dirt Cake. Did I enjoy this more than #9? Honestly, I'm not sure, I should retest!

#6  another new entry to the top ten list, this time it's Van Leeuwen Ice Cream! They've made a big splash with their limited edition, Walmart exclusive flavors this year. I've had 13 of their pints this year (plus one more hiding in the chest freezer). In particular, this spot goes to their Campfire S'mores flavor. I didn't love it, but I'm happy to see VL make the cut.

#5  Ok, last spot taken by Ben & Jerry's (last year their top flavor top the #3 spot). This spot goes to Chewy Gooey Cookie and despite having a coconut component, I found this one quite good.

#4  Luigi's (the Italian ice people) managed to sneak in to the list at #4 with their new gelato cups. The funniest part is that this was my first Luigi's review in almost 7 years! The saddest part is that it tasted kind of weird. Oh well!

#3  2021 saw Haagen-Dazs rebranding, which resulted in them not making the top ten, but they are back this year with the fun City Sweets line up. This spot goes to the somewhat tame Black & White Cookie flavor.

#2  with 9% more views, Haagen-Dazs' Summer Berry Cake Pop takes this spot. This flavor was also tame, but in their defense, I never tried the waffle bar version.

and the #1 review is.....

Noosa Frozen Yogurt with a very sizeable lead over the Haagen-Dazs reviews. I think it's part interest and part timing (I believe I was fairly early in posting this review). The sad 2022 side of this is that I've had the other two flavors since like March and just never got around to reviewing them. Whoops.

So that's it! What do you think? What's missing? What would your top five be?


8 comments:

  1. I love all the Dolcezza. Seriously never had a bad flavor. My local Fresh Market carries a good assortment. I love the PB Pretzel one. You should try that one if you have not already. HAPPY NEW YEAR and thanks for all the great reviews.

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  2. That one is definitely on my list to try! Happy New Year!

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  3. Interesting stuff Dubba. I'm sorry to hear traffic keeps falling, but it makes me even more appreciative you keep sharing with all of us. I wonder if it could be because of changes in people finding your reviews due to changes search engines like Google has made.

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  4. the way people have consumed content has changed a lot since 2008 when the blog started, many just want short quick videos these days. The changes include the fact that people don't really bounce around blogs the way they used to. long ago, a link from The Impulsive Buy helped jumpstart the blog's popularity, but that type of blog traffic just doesnt happen anymore.

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    1. Dubba are you interested in shifting to get more views or is it kind of “is what it is” at this point? Honest question.

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  5. Oh, my days of struggling to get more blog views are long gone... I was a lot younger in 2008 when this blog started and like so many other bloggers, I had grand visions of gazillions of visitors and being important in the ice cream industry, but that's not how the world works, at least not very often. The reality is that blogging has been dying slowly for years (despite it's benefits), and those that get lucky in the social media game and few and far between.

    To put it in other terms, the world has changed a lot in 15 years. Now, Instagram has been kinder to me the last few months (after a long covid lull) and my recent post about those silly Walmart fruit spreads has gotten over 200k views. In comparison, the blog had 143k views for the entirety of 2022. It's not exactly motivating when 2 minutes of instagram work overshadows hours and hours of blogging.... but hey, it is what it is!

    None of this means that I want to give it up completely. The blog had two realistic goals when I started. One, push myself to try new flavors. Two, try to get (somewhat) better at writing [and picture taking]. I can continue to work on both of those goals, it's just at a slower pace now.

    Sorry, TMI? I may just repost this comment for the 15th anniversary post :)

    #honestyisthebestpolicy

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    1. I get that. Purely for the love of the ice cream I think you should connect your IG and the blog more. I like reading but it’s easier for me to see you have new stuff to read if you made it known on IG. There is another writer in the space I respect a lot and he does the same and it makes it easier to know when he’s put in a long form written review.

      You gotta let the people know……

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  6. Yeah, I really should. It's one of those things that I want to do, but I sometimes get thrown off by wanting to push something quick to instagram (aka be one of the first to post it) versus taking the time to finish the review first. Basically I need to work on my scheduling!

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