The Orchard Series is on the wall.This series ends in 39 days, on November 30.
Charleston, South Carolina
Ice Cream Parlor & Soda Fountain. Hand-churned since the first spoon.
Scoops, sundaes, floats, egg creams and phosphates at a marble counter downtown and in Mount Pleasant. Pick five pints and we pack them in dry ice for anywhere in 48 states.
Downtown: Open now, closes at 10 PM
Flavor of the month series · Autumn
Five flavors from the last weeks of the harvest. Every September our kitchen smells like a cider mill. Apples, pears, pecans and the last muscadines come in from farms an hour or two inland, and for three months the wall turns over to the fruit and nuts of the Southern autumn.
This series ends in 39 days, on November 30. The Hearth Series drops December 1.
Flavor of the month series · Winter
Five flavors for short days and long tables. Charleston does not get much of a winter, so we make one. The Hearth Series is what we want after dark in December: cocoa, molasses, chestnuts and the one custard we churn all year.
Flavor of the month series
Both past series stay online, flavors and stories included.
The flavor wall
Hand-churned in small batches every morning. (v) means no animal ingredients; (gf) means a gluten-free recipe with no wheat, barley or rye. Cones and cookie mix-ins are made in the same kitchen, so read the allergen guide before you order with an allergy.
Showing 24 flavors
Best seller
Split vanilla beans steeped overnight in cream, then churned slow. Flecked, floral and the scoop every sundae starts with.
Contains milk. Ships as a pint, $15.
Best seller
Dutch cocoa and melted bittersweet chocolate, dark enough to stand up to a ladle of hot fudge.
Contains milk, soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
Best seller
Toasted benne seed ice cream with shards of our brown-sugar benne wafers, the thin Charleston cookie that shatters when you bite it.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat, sesame. Ships as a pint, $15.
Lowcountry strawberries roasted with a little sugar until jammy, folded into sweet cream with a ribbon of the pan juices.
Contains milk. Ships as a pint, $15.
Best seller
Brown butter ice cream packed with pralines cooked in a copper pot, the pot the shop is named after.
Contains milk, tree nuts. Ships as a pint, $15.
Best seller
Caramel cooked past amber, salted with sea salt from the coast, and thick fudge ribbons poured in by hand.
Contains milk, soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
Cold-brewed coffee with roasted chicory root, bitter and round the way a strong Southern cup is.
Contains milk. Ships as a pint, $15.
Fresh spearmint steeped in cream, so it is pale and grassy instead of green, with thin flakes of dark chocolate.
Contains milk, soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
Ripe banana ice cream with vanilla wafer crumbs and spoonfuls of toasted meringue, like the church supper dish.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Ships as a pint, $15.
Tart lemon curd swirled through sweet cream, with a crumble of graham crackers baked in brown butter.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Ships as a pint, $15.
Best seller
Egg-free brown sugar cookie dough in big chunks, with chocolate chips in the dough and in the cream.
Contains milk, wheat, soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
Fresh-ground roasted peanut butter ice cream with fat ribbons of fudge. Made last on the churning day, then the machine is torn down and washed.
Contains milk, peanuts, soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
Banana and pineapple cake ice cream, a swirl of cream cheese frosting and toasted pecans, the Southern layer cake in a scoop.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat, tree nuts. Scoops only.
Non-dairy frozen dessert
Oat milk, Dutch cocoa and a pinch of sea salt. A non-dairy frozen dessert, dense and dark enough that nobody misses the cream.
Contains soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
Non-dairy frozen dessert
Coconut cream churned with toasted almonds and a little almond extract. A non-dairy frozen dessert that tastes of the oven.
Contains tree nuts. Scoops only.
Sorbet
Thick-skinned Southern muscadine grapes, crushed whole and strained. Purple, musky and a little wild.
None of the nine major allergens in the recipe. Ships as a pint, $15.
Sorbet
Black tea brewed strong, sweetened the porch way and sharpened with fresh lemon. A half-and-half in a cup.
None of the nine major allergens in the recipe. Scoops only.
Sherbet
Blackberries and tangy buttermilk, lighter than ice cream and creamier than sorbet. A soda fountain classic.
Contains milk. Scoops only.
Seasonal
Stewed rhubarb and strawberries with clusters of oat and brown sugar crisp. On the wall in spring.
Contains milk, wheat. Scoops only.
Seasonal
South Carolina peaches baked with cinnamon and folded in with pieces of buttery cobbler crust. On the wall all summer.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Scoops only.
Seasonal
Honey-butter cornbread crumbs and a jammy blueberry swirl. Summer only, while the berries are local.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Scoops only.
Seasonal
Roasted sweet potato, nutmeg and brown sugar, with flakes of pie crust. On the wall from October through the holidays.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Scoops only.
Seasonal
Pink peppermint ice cream full of crushed hard candy that goes chewy overnight. December through February.
Contains milk. Scoops only.
This month
Hunks of cinnamon-sugar cider donut, a cider caramel ribbon and brown butter ice cream.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Ships as a pint, $15.
This month
Pears roasted soft in their skins, fresh ginger and a little black pepper. Warm without any heat.
Contains milk. Ships as a pint, $15.
This month
Tangy local goat cheese ice cream with a jam of the last muscadines of the year.
Contains milk. Ships as a pint, $15.
This month
Sorghum syrup instead of corn syrup, chunks of pecan pie and its crust, folded in still warm.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat, tree nuts. Ships as a pint, $15.
Sorbet · This month
Wild persimmons picked soft, a single clove and a squeeze of orange. Orange, honeyed and gone by December.
None of the nine major allergens in the recipe. Ships as a pint, $15.
This month
Cocoa ice cream made like a mug of hot chocolate, with marshmallows torched until they blister.
Contains milk, soy. Ships as a pint, $15.
This month
Blackstrap molasses ice cream with soft gingerbread cake and crystallized ginger.
Contains milk, eggs, wheat. Ships as a pint, $15.
Frozen custard · This month
Our one custard of the year, rich with egg yolks and nutmeg, and without the bourbon so the whole family can have it.
Contains milk, eggs. Ships as a pint, $15.
Sorbet · This month
Winter satsumas from Gulf Coast groves, juiced with a little of the peel. Bright as a stocking orange.
None of the nine major allergens in the recipe. Ships as a pint, $15.
This month
Roasted chestnut ice cream sweetened with dark honey, with candied benne seed brittle.
Contains milk, tree nuts, sesame. Ships as a pint, $15.
No flavor on the wall matches that search.
Sundae & soda builder
Pick a base, a size and your flavors and watch the price add up. Nothing is charged here: show the finished screen at the counter. Prices are before South Carolina sales tax.
The fountain menu
Our story
The Copper Spoon started with one copper kettle for pralines and an old soda counter we refused to rip out. We still churn every batch in the morning, a few gallons at a time, with cream from Carolina dairies and fruit from farms we can drive to.
Our ice cream is Philadelphia-style: milk, cream and sugar with no eggs in the base, so the flavor in the scoop is the fruit, the nut or the chocolate, not custard. The fountain side makes egg creams, phosphates and floats the way a 1915 soda jerk would recognize, with syrups cooked here.
33
flavors in the recipe book, about two dozen on the wall at a time
14
stools at the downtown marble soda counter
Pints shipped nationwide
Every pint is $15. A box ships with at least 5 pints, packed in dry ice, Monday to Thursday. Add a sixth for $10, and shipping is free over $99.
This month's series ships too: see every pint.
The box builder needs JavaScript. You can also order pints by phone, Monday to Thursday.
0 of 5 pints: pick 5 to ship
A box needs at least 5 pints so it stays frozen for two days.
Add a 6th pint for $10. You'd normally pay $15.
Pick a sixth flavorShipping, honestly
Ice cream can spend two days in a box of dry ice and no more. So we pack Monday to Wednesday for every state we ship to, and on Thursday only for South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia, which are one day away. Nothing sits in a warehouse over a weekend. Physical addresses only, no P.O. boxes. Orders placed before 11 AM Eastern on a shipping day leave that day.
Order today. Ships Mon, Oct 26. Arrives Tue, Oct 27.
Dates are in Eastern Time and skip carrier holidays. Next-day states: SC, NC, GA.
Our promise
If it doesn't arrive frozen, we send another batch. Just send us a photo.
Full terms in the Refund Policy.
Dry ice safety
Dry ice: don't handle it with bare hands. Leave the box open in a garage and let it evaporate. Keep it away from children and pets, and never put it in a closed container or down a drain.
Two shops
Last orders are taken 15 minutes before closing, so the last scoop is never a rushed one. Both shops close on Thanksgiving Day and December 25.
Downtown, a short walk from Marion Square
Open now, closes at 10 PM
Last orders 15 minutes before close, at 9:45 PM.
Near Shem Creek, with parking out front
Open now, closes at 9 PM
Last orders 15 minutes before close, at 8:45 PM.
Gift cards and party packs
A plastic card in a paper sleeve at either shop, or an e-gift card by email. Good for scoops, sundaes, pints and shipping. Gift cards never expire and never lose value to a fee.
Three quarts of your choice, 24 cups and spoons, hot fudge, caramel and house sprinkles, packed cold for pickup. Serves about 20. Order two days ahead.
What people write
“The egg cream is the real thing, stirred until it foams, and the benne wafer flavor tastes like Charleston.”
“A soda counter that feels restored, not reproduced. Go for the hot fudge, stay for the phosphate.”
“Shipping ice cream is hard. This box arrived frozen solid two days later, with a dry ice warning a child could follow.”
Guest notes
We ordered ahead from the car, walked in and the sundae was on the shelf with our name on it. The kids got to watch the egg creams being stirred at the counter.
I sent a box of six pints to my sister in Ohio. The estimator said Tuesday or Wednesday, it came Tuesday, and it was frozen hard.
My son has a tree nut allergy. The person at the counter pulled up the allergen sheet, explained the shared kitchen honestly and scooped from a fresh tub.
Questions
We ship to 48 states and Washington, DC. Alaska and Hawaii are out, because no carrier can promise two days from Charleston and dry ice lasts about two. Use the shipping estimator above to see your ship and arrival days.
A box of five or more stays frozen for two days with the dry ice we pack around it. Fewer pints thaw faster, and a box that arrives soft helps nobody. A sixth pint is $10 instead of $15.
Send us a photo of the open box within 24 hours of delivery and we reship the same pints free, or refund the pints and shipping. That is the Melt-Free Guarantee, and the full terms are in our Refund Policy.
Monday to Wednesday everywhere we ship, and Thursday as well for South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. Orders placed before 11 AM Eastern on a shipping day leave that day. Nothing ships on carrier holidays.
Our kitchen handles peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, milk, eggs, soy and sesame. We wash the machine between batches and make peanut flavors last, but we cannot guarantee any flavor is free of an allergen. The allergen guide lists every flavor against the nine major allergens.
(v) means the recipe has no animal ingredients. (gf) means a gluten-free recipe with no wheat, barley or rye. Cones and cookie mix-ins are baked in the same kitchen, so with celiac disease, ask for a fresh scoop in a cup.
There is no egg and no cream. An egg cream is chocolate or vanilla syrup, cold milk and seltzer stirred until a white foam rises. A phosphate is syrup, acid phosphate and seltzer: tart, dry and very old-fashioned.
Yes. Build your order, pick a shop and a time, and we will have it ready at the pickup shelf. Last orders are taken 15 minutes before closing.
