Coconut French Toast with Cardamom Maple Syrup

I might have had too high expectations for this seeing that coconut and cardamom are two of my favourite things. I didn’t get enough of either for my liking. Just a hint of cardamom and some mild coconut sweetness which was easily hidden once milk was added. Typing out tea notes on a phone is brutal, evidently.

But! As much as I loved DAVIDs Cardamom French Toast for the flavouring, that one was too sweet for me after a while, while this one has the perfect amount of sweetness.

I’ll probably be disappearing from reading tasting notes now that everyone’s exciting advent calendar notes are finished. I have to majorly buckle down on reading the books for the Tournament of Books: https://themorningnews.org/article/the-2019-tournament-of-books-shortlist-and-judges (There is my obligatory mention of the Tournament for the year.)
Since I’m on the theme of advents and this is a note for 52Teas: I must say… 52Teas made a KILLER advent calendar this year that featured many of the teas that I really wanted reblended, or even suggested. Sadly, I didn’t buy an advent this year. The only way the advent could have been better was if PEACHY KEEN were included.
Gratefully received this from Ost’s sale. Thank you! I was a bit worried about this older coconut blend, BUT there has been talk of Anne’s coconut blends staying fresher than the usual coconut blend and I was very happy to find that here! I pinched open the cardamom pod that went into my infuser… I had never seen the inside of cardamom before and there are many little dark seeds within the green pod. I will definitely crush what I find in my teas from now on, I’m sure it can’t hurt the flavor, if you want more cardamom. But this blend is still dreamy for the age of the blend – definite lovely creamy coconut notes, noticeable cardamom and hints of sweetness from that ‘syrup’ all on a lovely black base (just wish the description would mention the black teas used). A great balance of flavors. I’m not sure I’d be a fan of actual coconut french toast but I AM a fan of this blend.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 12 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 minute steep

Holiday Tea-son! This was the first tea in 52Tea’s 12 Days of Tea last year. I didn’t get the 12 Days of Tea last year, but bought several of the limited overstock teas from the shop after the fact (but not all of them). To be honest, I’m a little glad I didn’t get the full set, because there were two banana blends included, and banana is pretty much the one flavor I simply can’t do. I did order the 12 Days of Tea this year, and if there are likewise that many banana teas again, I’m going to be pretty disappointed. I wasn’t going to, based on the abundance of the nanner from last year, buuuuuuut… Foggy Coconut (pretty much one of my favorite teas ever) was in the poll this year to get into the 12 Days of Tea, and I’m absolutely desperate to get more of it. If Foggy Coconut didn’t score enough votes and a bunch of banana blends made it in, I’m going to be double-upset. Just going to have to hope for some holiday luck on that one, I guess…

Anyway, onto this tea. I’m not exactly a french toast person, but I’m not particularly worried about that; the scent from the packet is amazing! There is a sort of sugary-sweet spiciness, and lovely cardamom and coconut aroma. This tea is near a year old now, but no hint of bad coconut here — I think it was on a tea-sipper review recently it was mentioned that 52Teas seemed to have magic coconut, and I’d have to agree. I have had so many teas I’ve had to throw away due to rancid coconut in as little as 4-6 months, while my 52Tea blends with coconut always have the most amazing tasting coconut, even after a bit of age.

The brewed tea is a coppery hue, and I’m really getting coconut and sweet maple/molasses aroma with a hint of spice wafting from the cup. This is a really nice flavor! That coconut that always tastes so flavorful and fresh in 52Tea’s blends is really lovely here, tasting slightly juicy/citrusy, and there is a very heavy cardamom spice note which fills out during the sip, but isn’t left creating unpleasant heat after the sip for a spice-weanie like myself. The base is quite smooth but there is some mild astringency after the sip; mostly I’m getting some citrus notes left on my tongue. The maple I was picking up in the aroma becomes a bit more subtle once the cardamom spice hits in the sip, though it looks like according to Anne’s blog notes some sugar should bring that out more. I typically drink my tea unsweetened, so I may try that on a subsequent cuppa. I do enjoy my maple. I also would like to try this as a coconut milk latte as well. All in all, an excellent blend!

This one just seemed like a great idea when I saw that it was available. I love coconut, cardamom, and the taste of French toast. I’m middle-of-the-road about maple.

So this time I dumped the entire tester envelope into my Breville. When it was finally ready, it smelled divine. Funny, I love coconut but I didn’t get much coconut flavor in this one. I got the French toast for sure, and some cardamom. It was tasty, but it just seemed weak for me again. Even the black tea wasn’t very strong. Maybe I’m just not used to such subtleTEAS? (Womp womp womp…)

I’m going to continue playing with the proportions of tea leaf to water, because all the 52 Teas testers I ordered smell divine and I want them to taste that way, too.

THIS SMELLS SO GOOD. It has that amazing bready quality like real french toast and a little syrup. The taste is weaker than the smell though. The coconut is in there but not overwhelming, and that hit of cardamom…(which – in the pods? out of the pods? what’s the consensus?). I only have a little tester bag and I think I used too much this time :( but it’s so delicious I can’t be that mad at it. I need more….soon….
I’m not usually one for black teas unless they’re smack-your-mama sort of chais, but wowzers. Unfortunately I’m drinking this at work, otherwise I’d add a little soy milk. Mmmmm.

Delicious start to the day. I’ll be sad when this sample is gone.

I found a happy surprise packet of this as I shopped in my stash. YAY!

One thing I truly enjoy about this blend is the many flavour things going on in the mix: cardamom, coconut, maple, spice, pastry. All of which I like. The point here is that sometimes all the flavours appear in a cup. At other times, depending on the mix in the spoon of leaf, one or two flavours dominate. To me, this variability is an asset, but I realize others may have a different take on things.

I fondly remember moving through my last packet of this in which all the coconut bits had collected at the bottom, so the final few cups were just coconut glorious.

This cup is all cinnamon/cardamom/maple glorious.

So delighted to have discovered loveliness that I had thought was gone for good.

I love every word in the title of this tea. This one was a no-brainer.

I’ve tried so many coconut teas over the years, but 52Teas’ are always the best. So creamy and real. A tiny bit of coconut oil always ends up floating on top of the brew. I’m not sure I’ve seen that anywhere else.

However, coconut is not the dominant flavor of this tea. Even with the generous, thick coconut shavings mixed in. The sweet maple leads this tea, followed by cardamom. I was a little afraid that the cardamon would be too much, especially with the whole pods, but it isn’t. It simply compliments the syrupy goodness. I also think I taste cinnamon and a bit of creamy caramel. This is absolutely delicious. I’m really tempted to go back and buy the Large size before it gets away.

Thank you VariaTEA (if i forget on these posts, just know that i appreciate all your fun samples – it’s great having you as a tea friend!)

I love cardamom….can’t get enough of it. One of my favourite smoothies is a blueberry cardamom smoothie. What i find that i’m less a fan of is maple flavouring. In 90% of the time i’d much rather just add a drop of maple syrup to my cup. This one tastes heavily like maple and coconut….cardamom is sort of at the back of the cup. it’s smooth, no bitterness here. I’m much more of a fan of Anne’s black base than frank’s so that always makes me happy. glad to try this, but don’t need this as a permanent tea.

Rant about life

So yesterday and today were a bit of a shitshow for me. I went in early to work yesterday to spread some holiday cheer (aka put presents on the desks of the coworkers I am actually friends with) only to get to my desk and realize I had to push everything aside because the lawyer who works on our team but is based in our U.S. office can’t do his job properly. He had to write a lengthy letter on behalf of our client and it took him over a week only us, as our boss put it, a “big bag of nothing”. So it fell onto my lap since apparently I can do this shit better than an actual licensed attorney but I had only the day to do it because the client has been asking for it and today/tomorrow are holiday days for me. I got it done but that meant staying late to complete it.

I finally left my office around 1.5/2 hrs late which was fine except on the way home I managed to get in a car accident. The person I dealt with was very nice and thankfully no one was hurt (save for my sore back). However when I got home I was tired and angry and sore so I went straight to my room and told my family I wasn’t hungry. My mom didn’t take that well and got pissed off, yelled, stormed around and closed herself off in her room. I went to bed at 9 pm.

Today I woke up and pretended like my mom didn’t throw a temper tantrum last night and that seemed to force her to get over it. We then took my car to get an estimate (about $5000 worth of damage because I drive a mini) and off to the collision reporting center we went. We got there around 3:30 and were told we had a 4-5 hour wait ahead of us. We sat down and they called #4, we were #73. So we waited and waited and waited and then some lady starts bragging to the guy behind us that she had #97 but went to the counter when they called a number which people weren’t responding to and they let her jump the line. She then said that she told them to take the guy behind us (#82) next. That didn’t sit well with my mother who went to the window the next time they called a number people weren’t responding to and complained. So at around 6:30, in an effort to keep my mom from causing an uproar, they took down our report and we left.

Unfortunately we still had to return my car to the auto body shop to be repaired so we did that and then went to buy alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. Then dinner. And now, finally…tea. And not just any tea…the first tea of 52 Teas’ 12 Days of Christmas Teas!

Actual review of the tea

I was excited to see this was included since it is not one I grabbed for myself. As much as I enjoy these breakfast inspired teas, I find I need to be in the right kind of mood for them so I don’t drink them often. That, combined with the fact that the DAVIDsTEA version of this is much more accessible for me as a Canadian, meant I wasn’t as tempted to grab this when it was released even though it did pique my interest.

Sipping on it now, it is definitely a nice tea. Less eggy than the DAVIDsTEA version but more maple-y, which I think is better. There is also a definite bread note which works with the maple to sell “French toast”. Cardamom is also contributing a great deal of flavour here which sits nicely against the sweeter maple. One thing I do find I’m missing in the taste is the coconut which is weird since there is a lot of coconut in the dry leaf. I eat something that is buttery which could be from the coconut but I just wish the actual taste of coconut was more distinct. That’s just me though. All in all, I’m really glad I got the chance to try this one and am glad I have some to play around with.