Pineapple Upside Down Coffee Cake

Okay, this sounds like such a weird combination – pineapple and coffee?

And yet, I really like it ha ha. The base is oolong and honeybush, and they’re quite vague about the oolong, but it’s a dark rolled style and I think it’s roasted? Difficult to say since the coffee adds roastiness too, but I think I’m also tasting that charcoal sort of oolong note. That being said, it’s not overly strong because it’s diluted by the honeybush.

The pineapple here is very sweet and candylike, it reminds me of pineapple gummy bears. And honestly that sounds like it would be bizarre combined with coffee beans, but somehow it works for me. The foundation of this are those toasty notes from oolong and the coffee, plus a gentle woodiness from the honeybush, and then that candy pineapple sort of just sits on top and adds a sweeter, brighter note to it all.

Now, it doesn’t taste at all like pineapple upside down cake or coffee cake, or any kind of cake for that matter. It tastes like a mild and smooth coffee with some additional dimension from those other flavors, and then with a pineapple gummy bear melted in, LOL. Still sounds weird, but tastes good! I think I would like it slightly more if the pineapple were more authentic, but even as it is, it’s quite tasty IMO.

Geek Steep S2E13 – Pokemon: Sword & Shield

This is the tea that I chose to drink while recording – something that was gifted to me by Marika and, I believe, also the first time one of us has drank a tea on the podcast that also had coffee in it!?

It’s a weird tea because it’s a combination of pineapple, coffee, oolong, and rooibos and those are DEFINITELY all things that don’t sound like they should mix. I found it to be both off putting and also immediately captivating. There’s a roasted earthy quality to the coffee/oolong combination but the pineapple is a syrupy sweet soda style of pineapple and that’s… unique when paired.

I don’t think the name is accurate at all, but it kind of tastes like grilled pineapple? And, really, I fucking love grilled pineapple so maybe that’s just much better than it actually tasting like the cake!? It’s certainly a tea I’ll be drinking again outside of the podcast because it’s something I’m gonna need time to wrap my head around.