What’s The Big Deal With Austin’s New Steel City Pops?

I have this thing for ice cream…

I’m not exaggerating when I say that (almost) not a day goes by that I don’t eat it. I think it’s linked to my childhood in Dallas, when my dad would have a minimum of 5 tubs of Bluebell in our outdoor freezer at any one time. (Staples: homemade vanilla, chocolate chip cookie dough, cookie ‘n cream, and then a couple extra flavors, just for good measure. Moo-llennium Crunch was always my favorite.)

You’ve probably heard about Austin’s newest popsicle shop, Steel City Pops. I tried my first Steel City Pop for the first time about 5 years ago in Fort Worth. My sister lives there, and while I was visiting her she recommended we stop by for a popsicle. “A popsicle??” I asked. It seemed a little childish and boring.

Ha! Little did I know…these aren’t your average pops! 

So, what’s the big deal with Steel City Pops opening in Austin?

They’re deeeelicious little bites of heaven, that’s all! Haha… But really, I think they’re so popular because they folks who run Steel City Pops are kind, genuine people who make really great products! And after eating them up in Dallas and Fort Worth, I can now finally enjoy them in Austin!

Steel City Pops is a friendly, family-owned company that started in Birmingham, AL. They’re all about locally-sourced, organic, all-natural ingredients. So even though you’re enjoying a delicious dessert, you’re not filling your body with corn syrup or red dye no. 2. Praises.

These desserts are cute, instagram-able, super tasty, and provide thousands of different flavor combinations. And the flavors rotate with the seasons, so you’ll never get bored!

Walk into the new Austin store, and you’ll be faced with a MASSIVE selection of creamy and fruity pops. Picking a flavor is the hardest part! (I tried 13 flavors, and I still had trouble choosing….)

From there, you’ll get to Drip, Dredge, Drizzle, and Dust your pop with a selection of toppings. There are over 14,000 different possible flavor combinations! That’s not an exaggeration – do the math. 😉

A few (a-a-a-mazing) facts about Steel City Pops:

• Made from fresh, all-natural ingredients, and often organic
• They only use raw, organic cane sugar
• No artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives 
• Locally harvested ingredients when possible
• Every pop is gluten-free
• Every pop is vegetarian, and there are plenty of vegan options, too
• EVERYTHING IS AWESOME AND TASTES AMAZING (<- most importantly)

I went back into the kitchen for a behind-the-scenes peek, and this was almost as much fun as eating a popsicle. Friends, rest assured that the team at Austin’s Steel City Pops is putting the upmost care into making the most delicious, fresh, healthy popsicles they can.

(Psst: sit at the counter by the side window, and you can see behind-the-scenes too! Steel City Pops doesn’t hide anything….you can see exactly how their pops are made at the store.

When I visited a couple weeks ago, the summer flavors were starting to roll out and the fall flavors were on their way in. This means the kitchen smelled like all the yummy autumn flavors like toasted marshmallow, maple bacon bourbon, pumpkin, and carrot cake. Hello, October!

They put this location right by UT campus, which was a smart move. College students flock to this place for a cool treat on a hot Texas day. But it’s also good for little kids, adults, friend dates, visitors, and anyone who wants to indulge in a treat without going overboard (the fruity pops are about 100 calories, and the creamy pops are about 189 calories….pretty good for a 4 oz. serving!)

Oh, and there’s one more thing that puts Steel City Pops on my “favorites” list: they bottle and sell their own water, Provid Water. 100% of the profits go to NeverThirst, a non-profit organization provides clean water to third world and underdeveloped nations. Know that when you’re buying a bottle of water at Steel City Pops, you’re helping to build wells in India and Uganda. So cool!

This place is absolutely going on my next round up of favorite Austin ice cream shops. (You can check out my most recent one here!) Haha, also…I’m writing this blog post at 5 am and thinking, “is it too early for a popsicle?” 😉

Have a wonderful Wednesday, friends!

Kelsey

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