Sweet Melody is making our favorite ice cream in Miami at the moment. They have a little ventanita out in West Kendall with a rotating selection of delicious and creative flavors. In the past, they’ve served baklava ice cream made with rosewater and mascarpone cheese. Their guava and cream cheese flavor is outstanding. And they’re always trying new things with flavors based on horoscopes or characters from The Office (like Creed’s Peach Cobbler). You can trust that any given trip here is going to result in some of the best ice cream you’ve ever had.

Frice is just fantastic. They used to only sell wholesale to restaurants, but they finally got their own scoop shop inside The Citadel in Little Haiti - and this is great news. The flavors here are creative and delicious. Options change frequently, but the ones we’ve had (like guava chocolate chip and mamey with cookie butter) all made us do an unconscious little ice cream dance.

In Miami, there’s a Cuban version of almost anything and Hialeah’s Tio Colo is making Cuba’s answer to the ice cream sandwich. And their bocaditos de helado are as good as any ice cream sandwich we’ve ever come across. They put a perfect rectangle of ice cream between two slices of sugar-dusted white bread. The bread-to-ice-cream ratio is perfect, and it won’t fall apart while you try to eat it. Order at least two.

Wynwood’s Dasher & Crank is one of those shops where you’ll want to order everything - there isn’t a flavor that doesn’t sound (and taste) delicious here. Personally, we struggle to not order the Salty Beach (coconut ice cream, sea salt, and graham cracker) every time, but we occasionally break our streak for the ube flavor. We’ve seen them try everything from salmon and cream cheese to watermelon goat cheese ice cream here, and somehow they pull it all off.

Peel is a little truck that parks outside Elev8tion Fitness on Saturdays and Sundays from about 9am-4pm. Their soft serve is made with coconut and banana - and not just any bananas either. They use rescued bananas from local produce shops that would otherwise go to waste. You can order it plain or with toppings like peanut butter, strawberry, or pineapple. It’s refreshing, light, and doesn’t give you an intense sugar high like some of these other scoops. It’s worth trying regardless if you’ve just worked out or woke up.

Azucar is a classic, both for architecture and ice cream. Their giant ice cream cone sculpture is one of our favorite landmarks on Calle Ocho, but the ice cream here is equally as impressive. They do a lot of Cuban-inspired flavors, like their most famous one, the Abuela Maria - with Maria cookies, guava, and cream cheese. Other flavors include cafe con leche and Oreo, sweet plantain, and dulce de leche. They also have a huge painting of Celia Cruz and benches made out of guayaberas. Never change, Azucar.

Taiyaki’s stall inside 1-800-Lucky is currently open and serving their fish cones, which not only look adorable but taste great. We would happily eat those soft, warm, fish-shaped waffle cones by themselves, but they are obviously better when filled with soft serve. Flavors include matcha and black sesame, pineapple, and vanilla. You can take it to-go or eat it on 1-800-Lucky’s patio.

Zak The Baker has a soft-serve machine now, and they’re using it to make babka soft-serve custard. They’re offering it in a cone, or in a sundae version with walnuts, powdered sugar, and chocolate syrup in a waffle cone. It’s very good and available at their weekly falafel pop-up dinner from 5-9pm every Sun-Thu. Someone really should have given them a soft-serve machine sooner.

Frieze is a solid neighborhood scoop shop on Lincoln Road. Don’t expect anything too innovative or adventurous here, just some classic flavors that satisfy any ice cream cravings you may be experiencing. They’re currently serving takeout from their shop, so pay them a visit if you’re looking for dessert in South Beach.