Summer is the perfect time to sit back, relax and just take it easy. What better way than with a great big ice cream cone? Back when you were a kid, it was easy. All you had to do was wait for the ice cream truck to drive down your street, ask your parents for money and then chase the ice cream man down until he stopped.

Nowadays, however, the ice cream man doesn't make regular appearances driving up and down the Ave. So it's up to UW students to satisfy their ice cream cravings themselves. For those who want to take their taste buds on an adventure, here are four must-try locations.

Teahouse Kuan Yin (TKY) in Wallingford is the perfect place to go if you want to try somewhere different but don't want to venture too far out of the U-District. After 17 years, still in its original location, it is the oldest Asian teahouse in Seattle. TKY offers customers a selection of ice cream, gelato and sorbet. Some of the flavors offered are strawberry, chocolate, lemon-ginger, lime-ginger and matcha. The store also offers vegan gelato for customers with non-dairy preferences.

New owner Marcus Gramps said all of the flavors are either infused with tea, such as green tea, or meant to complement tea, such as lemon-ginger. He said that make the green tea and lemon-ginger ice cream and the lime-ginger sorbets right in the teahouse. More new flavors will be coming soon, and Gramps said they will have up to nine flavors at a time available for customers.

Although Gramps is just getting started at TKY, he said he already sees green tea as probably the most popular flavor.

"It's because people are curious," he said. "And they are in a teahouse."

Tea enthusiasts, or "tea geeks," as he calls them, as well as neighbors and students from both the UW and nearby Bastyr University, make up most of TKY's clientele, although the tea house does get a lot of moviegoers from the Guild 45th Theater down the street.

Besides tea and frozen treats, this family-owned teahouse also offers live music by local musicians Friday and Saturday nights.

Despite its name and its purple and gold paint, Husky Deli in West Seattle is in no way connected to the UW. The name refers to the first ice cream cone made in the store, dubbed the "husky," which was sold to Seattle Public Schools in the 1930s.

Husky Deli has been in West Seattle for 75 years, changing locations only once in 1969. Owner Jack Miller is in the third generation of Husky Deli owners since his grandfather opened it back in 1932.

The ice cream served is made on the premises, and Miller said they only use the "best stuff" in it.

"If it's banana, we use only fresh bananas," he said. "If it's strawberry, we use only fresh strawberries."

In the summer, their fresh fruit flavors are made with fruit from the local farmers' market. Miller buys what farmers from Eastern Washington aren't able to sell at the market. This is beneficial for both parties because he is able to purchase the fruit at a lower price, and the farmers don't have to carry the extra fruit back east.

During the holidays, flavors such as Swiss chocolate orange and raspberry decadence become more popular, but Miller said Oreo is by far the most popular flavor year round because "kids love it," and kids are a big part of their business.

Husky Deli carries about 45 flavors; the store also makes special ice creams such as beer, ginger, espresso and tiramisu ice creams for local restaurants. Besides cones and milkshakes, it also offers half gallons, pints and quarts of their ice cream.

Vivian's Pride Gourmet Ice Cream, located inside Theno's Dairy in Redmond, has been around since 1986, though the dairy started up in 1944. Owner Doug Bloor took over last year for his parents, who ran the shop for 15 years.

Besides ice cream, Vivian's has Italian ice, nonfat yogurt and sorbet. What makes its ice cream special is that everything is made right there in the dairy.

"We make it the old-fashioned way, or the 'slow way,' " Bloor said. To make the ice cream, he said, they use a vat pasteurizer and a batch freezer that freezes up to 10 gallons at a time.

Vivian's offers more than 60 flavors, though they only serve 24 at a time. Like most ice cream shops, the most popular flavors depend on the time of year. In the summer, Bloor said, their cantaloupe ice cream, which they begin offering in July, is very popular. Their biggest seller in October is pumpkin ice cream, and during the holidays eggnog and cranberry-walnut are a hit. Bloor said that there are a few flavors that are popular throughout the year: strawberry cheesecake, midnight (a dark chocolate ice cream) and black raspberry swirl.

Because Vivian's is located on the outskirts of Redmond, most of its customers are families from the surrounding housing developments, Bloor said.

Cones, cups, milkshakes and sundaes are available, but there are quarts and half-gallons of Vivian's Pride as well if customers want to take the decadent dessert home. For 11 years, Gelatiamo has been on the corner of 3rd and Union in downtown Seattle, offering its customers authentic Italian gelato. Owner Maria Coassin is from Maniago, Italy, and studied with a master gelato chef in Italy for two years to make and develop gelato recipes.

Something else that makes this gelato unique is the tight quality control system.

"[Maria] and I have our eyes and hands involved every day in the gelato-making process, ensuring that what we produce is consistently good," store manager Skyler Engberg said.

As a result, Engberg always gathers customers, ranging from local Italians and worldwide tourists to downtown professionals and families, who tell him that his gelato is "just as good or better" than the gelato they had in Italy.

In the summer, Gelatiamo has more sorbet varieties.

Some of its seasonal flavors include passion fruit, cantaloupe melon and peach. Their most popular flavors depend on the time of year, Engberg said. They make more sorbets in the summer and creamy, rich flavors in the winter. In the fall, they serve their famous pumpkin pie gelato; Engberg said Gelatiamo was the first to introduc it to Seattle. During Christmas time, they make a sweet Italian bread called Panettone.

Besides serving gelato and sorbetto by the scoop or cone, Gelatiamo also offers it in the form of spaghetti gelato, sundaes, chocolate-dipped gelato cones and gelato cakes. To finish off a day's worth of sweet cravings, Gelatiamo also has a variety of Northern Italian pastries and espresso.