French Toast

ugh – so behind on my tasting notes!

I had this yesterday prepped at the parameters I normally use for Frank’s black teas. It was slightly better this time – I think because I added some milk and that brought out the eggy bready notes. I need to get up the courage to use maple syrup instead of sugar and I think that will get it the rest of the way….and I bet it will be at least as good as Pancake Breakfast then!

First cup of the morning, from my freshly opened sachet from the 12 Teas of Christmas box. I finished off my full pouch not so long ago, so I can safely say that this is as good as I remember it. Maybe slightly better. Today I got a slightly toasty, bready note that I’m not sure I’ve picked up previously. It sits beautifully alongside the cinnamon, and puts me in mind of actual French toast. I think this one might always be a winner with me. It’s just spectacular.

First off, thank god I am alone in my home because I am pretty sure I look like a psycho. I literally cannot stop smiling as I go through all the surprise teas MissB sent my way. There are so many ones I have been DYING to try! It is like she knows…I think she might be inside my head :P. Anyways, THANK YOU SO MUCH MISSB!!! I don’t think I will ever be able to thank you enough for your generosity.

On to this tea…

This has been in my sample box for a few weeks now and today when I opened it up to send some to Josie Jade, I decided to give it a try myself. The smell of the dry leaf was wonderfully cinnamon and maple. The taste is very similar. It is like having a thick slice of French Toast (that got a good dash of cinnamon in the batter) with maple syrup. Frank really does know how to blend a delicious breakfast tea.

Actually, I worried this would be the exact same as Pancake Breakfast but it is quite different. This has less maple and the mouthfeel is not as thick. Plus the cinnamon really sets the two apart. As much as I love Pancake Breakfast, I think this is a tea I could drink more often as it still captures the breakfast taste without being as dense (which of course is part of the charm of Pancake Breakfast but hard to drink everyday).

Oh and for anyone wondering, I used 2 tsps for 16 oz of water and brewed the tea for two minutes in water that was slightly below boiling. Came out quite well!

OK, here’s my – man Dex are you ever strange – thought for the day.

I don’t understand most peoples thoughts on French Toast. I don’t get the powered sugar, syrup, heaven forbid whipped cream toppings on French toast. French toast – in my world is eggs and bread (yeah I know beat in a little milk it makes it “fluffier”). If you were eating scrambled eggs and toast (bread and eggs) would you cover it in sugar and syrup? If you were eating poached eggs on toast….? So why when you dip bread in eggs and fry does it suddenly become a dessert? I will never understand this. In my world French Toast is savory to be eaten with bacon and ketchup – thank you very much.

Having said all that, this is not French Toast tea (at least not in my world) this is pancake tea. It’s really subtle on the maple, really heavy on the sweet, and just a hint of cakey. I don’t really like it, those aren’t my favorite flavors, but is ok. Will play with the rest of the sample – am thinking of adding hazelnut. Thanks ifjuly for the sample.

ETA: 1 1/2tsp French Toast, 1/2 tsp Adagio Hazelnut, 16 oz water, wait 3 minutes, pour into travel mug, add 1/2 tsp splenda and a splash of milk. All is right in my world….

Thanks Cavocorax!

Is it just me, or does the spicing of this tea taste an awful lot like Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake?? (It’s not just me.) In fact, I could probably have been convinced that they were the same tea. I don’t have any CPC left to compare, though.

Anyhow, basically, this is a nice spiced blend – a lot more spicy than I usually make my French toast, not that I do it often. I’m not really tasting any eggy/breadiness, just spices. And I do like this spicing. Just a little disappointed that it doesn’t taste more unique.

So, points for deliciousness, but minus points for not being different (or really to me, tasting like French toast). Also – 2 min infusion = no astringency, so if you have problems with that, I’d recommend it.

ETA: I happened to chill the second infusion of this one, and omg, I got major frosting flavours with it. Literally like a frosted cinnamon roll. It was delicious.

Latte mode with dark agave syrup!

Very delicious! Buttery, lightly cinnamon, quite mapley! Though, I needed to add more leaf and syrup. I was too tired this morning to figure out what was going on, and unsure why I decided to tackle making a tea latte.

Last night was exhausting. Jiujitsu was insanely stuffy and my husband lost a front tooth eating beef jerky. Luckily, it was a temp crown, but he looks scary!

Day 5 of the 52 teas 12 days of Christmas.

I have had a whole package of this one before. It is not too bad. I think in comparison to the pancake breakfast, the pancake breakfast if better. But this one is still quite a good blend.

I brought this to work today. I normally add some rock sugar to this when drinking it at home but forgot to bring some to work today. I have some maple candies at work so I thought I would try adding one of those to the tea to see if it would add some sweet maple syrup taste. It did not dissolve very good and left a melted sticky mess on the bottom of my cup, but it did add some sweetness.

Today this tea tastes quite bread-y and egg-y. There is a sweetness from the maple candy. There is definitely a cinnamon and icing sugar taste. I have never had that egg taste before so I am wondering if the maple candy brought that out. This is still good, even if the flavour profile is a bit different today.

Someone texted me around 1pm about switching shifts at work tomorrow so now I don’t have to open 5 days in a row! I think maybe people felt bad for me. I really was scheduled for 3 in a row but took on two more to help people out so they could go visit family.

Also it just got randomly cold here, like I had to wear a hoodie to work (and should have yesterday) and just now when I went outside again. I took a nap in a fuzzy blanket and didn’t get all sweaty. It’s crazy. So now I can have tea to warm myself up early!

I’ve been wanting to give this one another shot and I finally did. A lower temperature REALLY helped out here. I heated my water to 190 and steeped for 3 minutes. It was supposed to be 2 1/2 but I got distracted, but 3 has worked perfectly.

I mostly taste maple syrup, cinnamon, and butter. I know I was missing butter last time. Not really getting too much toast still but I definitely like it how it is! If this one hasn’t worked for you, try a lower temp!

Oh man. I was so excited for this tea and it’s finally here! I added some honey to this and now that I’m sipping on it… I should have put a touch of maple syrup in it instead. It’s definitely French toast. It’s sweet and the cinnamon is present but not overpowering. It’s a nice touch. It even has a rich buttery flavor at the end. The honey I added kind of masks the maple syrup flavor. Well I learned my lesson and next time I’ll add syrup. Now I’m craving the real thing D:

full blown panic mode right now over wedding planning… just had a long conversation with my parents and now i may need to plan more than i thought i would, but for the right reasons..but now i’m like WHAT! only a year and a half! ZOMG! AAAAAH!

had a cup of this…which let me tell you, isn’t nearly as nice if it gets cold lol