Java Crunch

Cherry Hill Ice Cream1 is in Lunenburg - just past Leominster on rt 2 and about halfway between 2 and 2A. (There's another one in Townsend that might be larger; the Lunenburg one is a barn-shaped building, with Holstein-cow-colored trash cans, leaning in to the "farm" image.) Vast parking, a handful of serving windows under an overhang, and a bunch of picnic tables (some sheltered.) It is on a hillside, but the parking and benches are level with the building.

First Visit

So far this is the only place I've reviewed that has dip cones but that I didn't try them - their soft-serve machines were offline. They do have a lengthy menu with a mix of creative flavors like "Cowabunga Crunch" and "Monster Mash" along with basics like Strawberry, Banana, and Coffee. They also have a separate board with vegan, yogurt, and no-sugar options.

I got Java Crunch, described as "Columbian Coffee" with mixins; on the spectrum of "tastes like coffee" to "tastes like coffee ice cream" it was pleasantly but unusually far over on the "actual coffee" end of the scale. I also tried their "S'mores" which has a "toasted marshmallow flavored ice cream" base, and definitely gets a lot closer to "essence of s'mores" than most shops do, at least for something that doesn't involve fire. (Note about the picture: Cherry Hill and Chelmsford Creamery are the only two places I've been to so far that serve icecream in clear plastic cups - not necessarily great for insulation but very convenient for food photography!)

On a future visit, top priority is to try their dip cones (but if they can't keep their soft-serve machines running, "I want a dip cone" is a distinct craving from "I want ice cream" so I'll probably end up at Dairy Joy instead, just on reliability...) but after that I'll try Monster Mash (vanilla with oreo pieces, M&Ms, malted milk balls, and caramel swirl - basically "all the crunchies") but Chocolate Cookie Monster, Grasshopper, and Cannoli; they also have a Lemon Meringue Pie Ice Cream which sounds "wrong" to me, but I have some friends who may be willing to give it a shot. Definitely a long and creative menu that I'd work through if I was that far west more often.


  1. Just south of and bordering Cherry Hill Farm, which is at least active enough to be have a current price list for grass/hay by-the-bale.