It is a sunny day on the weekend. You have no plans and want to be outside in the fresh air, and if you have kids, take them somewhere they can have fun. You have a lot of options for that, especially in Ibaraki. But let me tell you about one of those options and how it has delicious coffee and Okinawan ice cream.
Suigo Park
This option is called Kasumigaura Suigo Park and it is located in Tsuchiura city. I have talked about this park before on Ibaraki Eats. I mainly talked about the lovely illumination show the park has during winter. During the spring season, Suigo Park has a lovely tulip festival. There are lines of tulips in front of the iconic windmill of Suigo Park. It is quite a sight and I think you will enjoy it.
The park has fields for playing sports, a huge playground for kids, a camp ground, a small bath house, an amazing view of Lake Kasumigaura, and finally delicious coffee and ice cream.
Blue Seal Ice Cream Truck
I feel a bit embarrassed because I don't remember the name of this ice cream truck. So I will just call it the Blue Seal Ice Cream Truck. All the food trucks are located in front of the windmill in Suigo Park. They are next to the small Kasumigaura wildlife building.
This truck sells Blue Seal ice cream which I have also talked about before on Ibaraki Eats. Blue Seal ice cream is the ice cream pride and joy of Okinawa. It is delicious, refreshing, and a most try.
The Menu
The menu of the Blue Seal ice cream truck is in both English and Japanese! The only item on the menu that is not in English is the ice cream on the middle left. That is the tiramisu flavor.
Blue Seal Ice Cream
The Ibaraki Eats Duo chose a double the last time we visited. My wife chose the beni-imo flavor, which is a purple sweet potato. I chose the blue wave flavor. The blue wave favor was more of a sorbet really. I wasn't into the blue wave, but the beni-imo was heavenly. So flavorful and creamy, I can see why many Japanese people love this sweet potato.
Agepan
The Blue Seal truck also sells agepan. What is agepan, you might be asking. I am about to give a very American answer so I apologize to the rest of the English speaking world. Have any of my American readers had an Elephant Ear at a carnival? Yeah, it is that but in bread form. It is fried bread with a ton of sugar on it. It was messy, but amazing. When I bit into this agepan, it took me back to the days I used to have elephant ears (fried dough) with sugar at the county fair. Those were good times.
Cafe Coffee Room
What would go great with ice cream and the nice scenery surrounding the windmill area? A delicious cup of coffee of course. The coffee to get at Suigo Park is Cafe Coffee Room. Coffee Room is a small brown coffee truck that is parked next to the Blue Seal ice cream truck. The Coffee Room is usually playing some nice jazzy music to get that cafe atmosphere going in the park.
The Menu
The menu is a cool wooden post hanging on the roof of the coffee car. The right side of the menu is all the coffee and the left side are teas and other drinks. Some of the coffee includes: hot and ice hazel nut coffee, American coffee, cafe ole, strawberry cafe ole, and more.
The other drinks include: ice and hot matcha cream tea, premium hot chocolate, chamomile tea, Earl Grey tea, and more.
Uisona Ice Coffee
That day, I decided to try a coffee I had never heard of before. In Katakana it seems to be called Uisona iced coffee, but when I try to translate it, it seems to be called Wisona iced coffee. Sounds European, I really don't know. If anyone can explain what the name of this coffee is, I will greatly appreciate it.
What I can tell you is that I loved that delicious iced coffee. This coffee isn't for coffee drinkers who prefer strong coffee. It has sugar and a lot of cream, A LOT. Just look at the picture. It was a very tasty coffee. The mix of that amazing cream with that sweet coffee was a great sugar rush. My wife and I really enjoyed this coffee. With the agepan and Uisona coffee, we were both on a huge sugar rush, and crashed an hour later.
Golden Week is coming up so why not do something fun outside. Take the family to Suigo Park where they can enjoy great scenery and delicious ice cream. Don't forget the amazing cup of coffee you could get while checking out the beautiful tulips. Who knows, you might see me there, enjoying Okinawan ice cream in one hand and delicious coffee in the other.
Enjoy!
If you want more information on Cafe Coffee Room, check out their Instagram page:
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