Coconut French Toast with Cardamom Maple Syrup

The 12 Teas of Christmas is back, and we’re off to a great start! I’m so happy the first tea is a flavored black tea blend. I’m even happier that the maple isn’t a predominant flavor to my taste buds because I’m just not big on maple-flavored beverages. That said, I really enjoyed this tea. Cardamom isn’t normally a flavor I’m drawn to in teas, but it really compliments the coconut in this particular blend. Again, the gals at 52Teas have really nailed the base of this tea; it’s smooth and mild but it has a nice bit of depth/weight. It’s really quite a tasty tea – sugar and spice and everything nice.

I’m so jazzed that caffeine doesn’t keep me awake! After a very hectic and stressful day, this cuppa was the comforting beverage I needed to help me decompress. The 12 Teas of Christmas could not have started on a better day or in a better way.

It’s the first day of our 12 Teas of Christmas countdown – and this is our first TEA of our 12 Teas of Christmas box.

Rich black tea base, smooth maple and coconut sweetness together with the contrast of the cardamom. So yummy! A really perfect tea to start off the countdown!

This was the 1st Day of Christmas Teas from 52Teas and it is an absolute winner!

First of all, I love cardamom and I adore maple. The leaf is pretty. Black tea with whole cardamom pods and broad strips of coconut that stand out against the darkness of the tea. I am pretty frustrated that I am still sick and can’t smell this one. I bet it is divine. Naturally I can’t taste a lot. I can tell that the tea is mildly sweet, and mildly spicy. Even without a sense of smell this one has a lovely, mellow flavor, with no astringency or bitterness to take away my pleasure.

The 12 Days of Christmas actually BEGIN on December 25. I have my DAVID’s 24 Days of Tea to take me thru Christmas Eve, so really, I should start my 12 Teas of Christmas on Christmas Day. But honestly, I don’t think I can wait that long…

It is hard, but I am going to put this one aside to enjoy more after I get my kenalog shot. That should allow me to smell for a month or so, and then I’ll be drinking tea and inhaling beautiful scents. I can’t wait!

Sipdown! This is actually yesterday’s Hannukah countdown sipdown. The leaf is a year old and it shows. I remember the blend actually tasting like french toast with a heavy dose of maple and a hint of cardamom. A year later, though, it tastes like hot cocoa with maple flavor. YUMMY hot maple cocoa, but definitely not the taste that was originally intended. Alas, another object lesson in the importance of not hoarding (unless it’s pu-erh, but I don’t drink that).

After the fiasco with the similarly-titled David’s Tea, I was glad to find that I found this delightful. Super tasty and pleasant. A little bit of moderation goes a long way. Turns out you don’t have to drown the tea in sugar and cinnamon to get the idea of french toast across. Well done, 52Teas.

You couldn’t possibly dislike this blend (unless you didn’t like coconut). It has all the makings of the perfect dessert tea.

The black base is so smooth and rich. I find it malty, creamy, hints of nuts and butter. It resteeps very well also.

The coconut is super creamy and nutty, no soapy gross flavours at all. I think it might be toasted, because the nutty flavour in this blend must be coming from the coconut or black tea.

Strong sweet maple flavour, not artificial at all, but the perfect strength. As a Canadian, I can certify this maple flavour is delicious and realistic. It also goes very well with all the tasty spices (cinnamon?, very light on the cardamom, I actually would have liked more cardamom, but I think my teaspoon of looseleaf had no cardamom pod in it). The nutty flavour tastes like toasted almonds and toasted walnuts. Maybe I’m imagining the nuts because I associate maple flavoured things with maple walnut icecream, but either way, this blend has it all.

So much cardamom, yum! I don’t get as much bready, bakey flavors in this as I usually do with 52teas pastry and breakfast based teas. But this is still cardamom coconuty goodness and I like it, especially in the morning

The other reblend I sampled today!

Both in aroma and flavour, this tea strongly reminded me of DavidsTea’s Cardamom French Toast. Not that that would be surprising, of course. The primary difference is that this tea is not pre-sweetened – although that’s not to say there isn’t a bit of sweetness to it (presumably the maple syrup). It really was quite tasty – the cardamom is a strong flavour, but isn’t overpowering, the base is solid, and I noticed some custardy elements as well (it clearly wasn’t just a black tea with cardamom). I’m not sure I noticed the coconut in particular, although it was definitely visible in the dry leaf.

Anyhow, I think this is a pretty good alternative to the DT version (although sadly, neither is readily available), and although I didn’t mind the pre-sweetening they did, it’s nice to have the option of leaving it out.

Wow, this is seriously impressive. Maple, coconut, and cardamom are the main scents. I am glad I put a bit of honey in this because it makes it even more breakfasty.

I only discovered this last year how much I love cardamom as a flavor and scent. I need it in more things. I usually loathe coconut in tea, but this flavor is meant to be buttery, so it works.

Ah, coconut french toast with cardamom maple syrup…the breakfast food that I didn’t know I needed until now. With some of the more complex flavoured teas that I’ve tried I’ve noticed that often some of the components are only nominally there, but in this case I truly can taste each of the flavours named in the title. I can taste the breaded flavour of the toast, the sweetness of the maple syrup, nutty coconut and just the right amount of cardamom. The flavour components are well-proportioned as well in the way you would expect to taste them if you were eating the actual food. This is another winner from the new-and-improved 52Teas….now to see if I can’t recreate the actually food item for breakfast…. ;)