This New Pod Machine Is Basically a Keurig, but for Ice Cream

Starting about a decade ago, every tech company’s elevator pitch was about how they were the “Uber” of their industry — they saw the success and worked to copy it in their sector. In the food and beverage world, that same pattern happened with “pod” style machines. After the success of Keurig and other pod coffee makers, there were pods for everything: tortillas, beer, juice, miso soup, and cocktails. And this week the trend continued with the announcement of a pod machine for making ice cream, per The Verge.

The ColdSnap’s main market is soft-serve ice cream pods — but they also plan to offer frozen yogurt, frozen coffee, frozen smoothies, frozen healthy shakes (whatever that means), and slushies, as well as frozen cocktails. All of them, the company’s motto drives home, are “delightfully frozen.” The shelf-stable, recyclable pods take about a minute to a minute-and-a-half in the machine to turn out the results. 

It seems like a slightly strange invention, given that virtually none of the other pod companies outside of the original coffee ones still seem to be around, and ice cream — unlike a freshly brewed cup of coffee — doesn’t require much effort once you get it home from the store. But at the same time, it is ice cream we’re talking about here — and it would be pretty sweet to have this around right now when we’re all stuck at home. As one Kitchn editor said: “This is the only pod machine I would buy!”

How much this thing machine costs, however, is still unknown — and it’s not available for purchase until the spring. So until then, you can find us making ice cream at home with just the equipment we already have — and possibly with a single ingredient that’s already currently in your home, too.