UK business The Ice Co has unveiled the Super Cube - an ice cube three times larger than normal that it claims melts more slowly.

The Yorkshire-based business said it had been inspired to develop the product - which rolls out to Tesco stores in September - after seeing giant ice cubes used in bars in Spain.

“We started to investigate and found these cubes fit with bar trends over here, where a single giant cube is frequently carved from a block of ice to give a fantastic aesthetic appeal to a cocktail,” said Paul Doughty, MD at The Ice Co, which was named Exporter of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards this month.

The Super Cube would reduce the temperature of a drink more swiftly than a standard cube, he claimed, but would dilute a drink less as it melted up to five times more slowly.

Sold in a 1kg bag, the Super Cube joins The Ice Co line-up, which already includes standard cubes, crushed ice, premium spring water cubes and Ice & Slice - packs of frozen fruit slices and ice cubes launched last year.

“We believe the launch of our Super Cubes will further help to grow the ice category,” added Doughty.

The launch of Super Cubes comes just months after The Grocer ran a spoof story for April Fools’ Day describing the launch of giant £100 hand-carved premium ice spheres.

“It was funny timing,” said Doughty. “Our Super Cube product was almost ready to launch, and some of the points made in the story about the interest in new ice development rang true.”