Icheon Premium Rice Ice Cream and Latte Drinks 'Popular'... Effect of Increasing Rice Consumption

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Emart24's rice-related products have been gaining popularity, with the consumption of premium rice from the Icheon region reaching 10 tons last year.

On the 9th, Emart24 introduced the cup-type Icheon Rice Ice Cream following the best-selling Icheon Rice Cone. To celebrate the launch, a 1+1 promotion will be held until the end of January.

This Icheon Rice Cup Ice Cream is a product reflecting customer feedback. Emart24 responded to customer requests for more rice ice cream by removing the chocolate mix portion at the bottom of the Icheon Rice Cone and offering the Icheon Rice Cup Ice Cream, allowing customers to fully enjoy the rice ice cream flavor.

The Icheon Rice Cup features twice the amount of rice grains and milk fat compared to the existing Icheon Rice Cone, enhancing the unique chewy texture of the rice grains and maximizing the savory and smooth taste. It is designed as a 280ml cup product, which is a generous portion for one person and suitable for two. The Icheon Rice Cup (280ml, 2,500 KRW) is about 19% cheaper per ml compared to the Icheon Rice Cone (150ml, 1,600 KRW).

The popularity of the Icheon Rice Cone led to the development of the Icheon Rice Cup. Launched in May last year, the Icheon Rice Cone is a cone ice cream made using rice, a specialty product of the Icheon region. By using rice, a rare ingredient in ice cream, it offers a unique texture and flavor. Additionally, differentiation by including the well-known Icheon rice has received positive responses from customers. Since its release in May last year, over 2 million units have been sold, maintaining the number one position in the ice cream category.

The Icheon Rice Latte, released for the winter season, is also receiving a good response. The Icheon Rice Latte ranked third in the single-cup tea category immediately after its release in May. It is unusual for a rice latte product to rank in the single-cup tea category, where mixed coffee and hot chocolate products consistently dominate the top sales.

Considering that each Icheon Rice Cone ice cream contains 5g of steamed rice and the Icheon Rice Latte cup also contains 5g, the amount of Icheon rice consumed by Emart24 through these products over seven months last year reached 10 tons, demonstrating the great popularity of rice-based products.

The delighted Emart24 ice cream buyer said, “We actively reflected customer feedback on the Icheon Rice Cone and focused on upgrading the ice cream flavor by increasing the rice grains and milk fat content in a cup type that can be enjoyed at home.” He added, “Since the popular Icheon Rice Cone is now offered as a cup ice cream with steady year-round sales, we expect a great response from customers.”

Meanwhile, by appropriately steaming and finely grinding the rice and conducting over 40 experiments to blend it well with the ice cream, the unique chewy texture of the rice in the Icheon Rice Ice Cream was successfully realized.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.