Puebloans looking to cool off are getting a rare chance to try a new ice cream unveiled Friday at McAlister’s Deli which showcases the restaurant’s signature sweet tea beverage.

Ironically, it was an April Fools joke on social media claiming that McAlister’s was going to make an ice cream product that inspired the new ice cream.

“We got such positive feedback and people we so excited, we decided to try it,” said Courtney Bufford, executive chef at McAlister’s Deli. “We teamed up with a great partner in Creamalicious’, an ice-cream maker that has a tradition of turning southern desserts into ice cream products.”

“We felt our tea would be a good place to start. So we used it to make an ice cream base and we folded in lemon swirls and added a little sugar cookie flavor,” Bufford said.

The experiment was tough, she joked, as she got to “eat a ton of ice cream,” as the flavors were tweaked. “I think we landed on a really special combination based on McAlister’s sweet tea — it is an awesome dessert,” Bufford said.

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Although there are already green tea ice creams, Bufford said the sweet tea ice cream, churned with natural black tea, is “truly unique.”

When Bufford spoke with The Chieftain Friday morning, the unveiling of the new ice cream to customers was just hours away.

“All the people in the office and development process gave us fantastic feedback. It’s really exciting and very fun to develop an ice cream and who knows, this could be the starting point of reimagining some of our signature flavors into ice cream,” Bufford said.

The ice cream was unveiled in honor of National Iced Tea Day Friday and helped mark the start of McAlister’s summer tea fest.

“It certainly is a good time for it — it's heating up,” Bufford said.

The chef said she would be anxiously watching social media posts for #sweetteaicecream to see customer feedback.

Located at 1425 U.S. Highway 50 West, the Pueblo McAlister's Deli will carry the limited-time only ice cream while supplies last. It is available by the pint for $7.99 or on the Creamalicious website, shopcreamalicious.com.

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Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: McAlister's unveils new sweet tea ice cream at Pueblo deli