15.0% ice cream spoon

You may remember the limited edition “ice cream shovels” produced last year to solve the problem of too-hard-to-eat frozen treats found at convenience stores. Well now there’s another spoon that’s specially engineered to use the heat from your hands to get you closer to the perfect scoop. An item that’s this well-thought-out is going to have a hefty price tag, but you’ll probably be surprised at just how expensive this ice cream spoon actually is.

Specialty spoon company, 15.0%, devotes its efforts to producing items designed to make your ice cream eating experience more enjoyable. The company’s name is also all about the frozen treat, giving a nod to the Japanese government requirement for ice cream to contain at least 15 percent milk solids.

The first three products (shown above) are numbered 1, 2, and 3 and have cute ice cream flavor nicknames: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry (but don’t worry, you can eat chocolate ice cream with the vanilla spoon). Each one is sold separately and comes in a cute package:

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Each spoon is made of aluminum, a metal of high thermal conductivity, which causes the heat from your fingers on the handle of the spoon to transfer to the other end, helping to melt your ice cream for the perfect bite. It’s a unique solution to the age-old problem of rock-hard frozen treats, but it’ll cost you! A single spoon sells for 3,240 yen (US$31)! It’s a bit expensive considering you can buy an entire tub of ice cream for less than a third of that price.

15.0% also makes other products that are just as ingenious but no less expensive. Here’s the rest of the company’s entire line-up:

No.04 caramel – ice cream cup – 3,240 yen ($31)

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At first glance, these ceramic ice cream cones don’t look very special, but peering at a cross section of one reveals something out of the ordinary:

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As you can see, the cones are designed to keep the ice cream away from your hand, saving you from getting chilly fingers and preventing the ice cream from prematurely melting.

No.05 mocha – ice cream scoop – 5,400 ($51.75)

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It’s a bit much for an oversized spoon, but we suppose some ice cream fanatics are willing to part with their cash for an easily scooped dessert.

No.06 sesame – ice cream strap – 1,944 yen ($18.63)

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At first glance we couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with this product, the sixth of the series, but taking a look at the following diagram cleared things up:

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That’s right, it’s an on-the-go ice cream spoon! For those times when you’re away from home and an ordinary plastic spoon or flat wooden stick just won’t do.

No.07 parfait – ice cream spoon – 3,240 yen ($31)

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This one’s for the ladies! A slimmer, sleeker spoon that’s marketed as being perfect for the slender hand of a woman who loves her ice cream.

We’re not entirely convinced that any of 15.0%’s products are worth the price, but that doesn’t mean we don’t hope to get one as a birthday present. With all those delicious ice cream flavors in Japan, we’d get a lot of mileage out of a specialty aluminum ice cream spoon!

Images: 15.0%
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