August is the busiest month for Kieran Murphy, but that doesn't mean there isn't time for a little experimentation in the ice-cream lab

I love August. It's our busiest time, and it's a blast. The shops are crammed and pulse to the sound of laughter and giddy conversation. One can hardly scoop ice cream or make coffee fast enough, and the entire staff feed on the buzz and the bustle. For my brother Sean and I, the days are long. There are orders to fill, ice cream to deliver, machines to fix, support for our team, and always care to give our customers.

That's Sean's favourite part, and he's good at it. What I like best, however, is making ice cream. When I pull on my white coat and enter the lab, my spirits lift. The smell of fresh cream and cooking chocolate, the crackle of toasting coconut and honeycomb pieces being broken into manageable chunks, the hum of the pasteuriser, the mixing and cooking, the tasting and tweaking of flavours - these are the things I love. Does this batch need more vanilla? Which bourbon is best suited to mint julep ice cream? Is there a better way to craft our caramel? Surely I'm one of the luckiest people alive.

We make more ice cream in a couple of days in August than in an entire winter month, and JP Houlihan, our production manager, has to plan each minute to keep things running smoothly.

The eggs must be broken before the milk arrives, the custard cooked in time for freezing, and the ingredients prepped and ready for each flavour. There is little room for error, and even a small mix-up can add hours on to the day. Christophe Lotti, our ice-cream maker, stands at the machine pulling ice cream and ensuring each batch tastes as it should. JP likes his ice cream for breakfast; Christophe, however, imbibes it every hour of the work-day.

We try to keep new flavours to a minimum in August, but sometimes we can't help ourselves. When Cian O'Driscoll, our Dingle shop manager, suggested a vanilla ice cream with chocolate-enrobed bits of coffee beans, JP cleared a couple of hours on the schedule and we all pitched in.

Christophe melted chocolate, Cian crushed the coffee beans, JP froze a test batch, and we played with the best combinations of taste and texture until we were satisfied.

Now we wait to see if the ultimate judges, the customers in Murphys Ice Cream, enjoy it as much as we do.

Cian's Chocolate Coffee Crunch

Ingredients:one cup of sugar; five egg yolks;

1 cups of cream;

1 cups of milk; vanilla pod, cut lengthwise; cup espresso beans; cup 70 per cent chocolate (100gm)

What to do:

1 Melt the chocolate in a double boiler; 2 Break the coffee beans into smallish pieces using the bottom of a bowl or a food processor; 3 Mix the crushed beans into the chocolate and spread on a baking tray to harden; 4 Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow; 5 Bring the milk to a simmer; 6 Remove from the heat; 7 Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream; 8 Pour the mixture back into the pan, add the vanilla bean and place over a low heat; 9 Stir until the custard thickens (around 70C); 10 Immediately place in the refrigerator until cool; 11 Remove the vanilla bean; 12 Cut the hardened chocolate into small pieces then use a spatula to separate it from the baking tray. Stir into the custard; 13 Whip the cream and fold into the mix; 14 Freeze using a domestic ice-cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer.

Kieran Murphy is director of Murphys Ice Cream, in Co Kerry