New Orleans Ice Cream Coffees: Coffee & Chicory and Cafe au Lait & Beignets
Lizzy and I are both on spring break this week, and I'm currently visiting her in Iowa City to help her eat some of the ice cream New Orleans Ice Cream Co. generously sent. Over the past couple days we've been on a coffee kick and tried both coffee flavors in the lineup: Coffee & Chicory and Cafe au Lait & Beignets.
Coffee & Chicory is
A uniquely N'awlins twist as fresh cold brewed coffee & chicory jolts this delicious blend of ice cream.
Cafe au Lait & Beignets is
The famous taste of the Old New Orleans French Market, with cold brewed coffee & the toasty flavor of scalded milk, loaded with real beignet pieces & finished with a sugary swirl.
Madeline's take: There is definitely room in the New Orleans line for both of these coffee flavors; the two base flavors are totally different. First let's talk about Coffee & Chicory. I've never had chicory alone, but I've had a coffee and chicory mix, and this ice cream is pretty accurate. It's a more complex flavor than just straight-up coffee; a bit deeper, a bit woodier, with a hint of spice. If you didn't know it was a chicory flavor or have never had chicory flavor you might miss the notes and just think it was a really good coffee ice cream. And that's it. Nothing more to say here. It was a well-executed, simple coffee and chicory flavor.
Cafe au Lait & Beignets had more going on mix-ins wise. Although I didn't think the base of coffee and chicory was particularly dark at the time I ate it, it was definitely dark compared to the base of Cafe au Lait & Beignets. The base here reminded me of a sweetened iced latte. Perfectly cool. Perfectly sweet. Perfectly thick and creamy. The sugary swirl reminded be of cinnamon bun icing, but with a slightly thicker consistency. The beignets added a needed not-so-sweet element to this flavor. Some of the early chunks were hard and a bit crunchy, but as the ice cream melted and permeated the beignet chunks, they transformed into thick, chewy, bready fried dough delights.
I would definitely try both of these ice creams again.
Lizzy's take: I have not ever had anything with chicory in it, but when I tried the coffee & chicory ice cream, I could taste a difference between that and a plain coffee ice cream. The chicory enhanced all of the dark elements of the coffee flavor. It also added, as Madeline described, a woody flavor. The two flavors were perfect together and so complex. This ice cream needed nothing else!
The Cafe au Lait & Beignets was going for something completely different than the coffee and chicory. The base was much sweeter, but definitely still tasted like good coffee. I would even say you could kind of tell they were going for cold brewed coffee. There weren't a ton of bitter elements. I don't know, however, if I could tell the milk was scalded, but there was definitely a sugary milky flavor to the base.
The beignets were quite dense and chewy and super fried tasting, yum. However, some of them were almost so dense they were hard and not as tasty. Lastly, the sugary swirl was great. I thought the sugary swirl in the Sam's Choice Coffee and Donuts was way too sugary and and I didn't like that it was liquidy and and syrupy. This swirl was not overpowering; I would even say there could have been more swirl!
Overall, both great flavors from New Orleans and more to love for coffee ice cream fans!
Cafe au Lait & Beignets had more going on mix-ins wise. Although I didn't think the base of coffee and chicory was particularly dark at the time I ate it, it was definitely dark compared to the base of Cafe au Lait & Beignets. The base here reminded me of a sweetened iced latte. Perfectly cool. Perfectly sweet. Perfectly thick and creamy. The sugary swirl reminded be of cinnamon bun icing, but with a slightly thicker consistency. The beignets added a needed not-so-sweet element to this flavor. Some of the early chunks were hard and a bit crunchy, but as the ice cream melted and permeated the beignet chunks, they transformed into thick, chewy, bready fried dough delights.
I would definitely try both of these ice creams again.
Lizzy's take: I have not ever had anything with chicory in it, but when I tried the coffee & chicory ice cream, I could taste a difference between that and a plain coffee ice cream. The chicory enhanced all of the dark elements of the coffee flavor. It also added, as Madeline described, a woody flavor. The two flavors were perfect together and so complex. This ice cream needed nothing else!
The Cafe au Lait & Beignets was going for something completely different than the coffee and chicory. The base was much sweeter, but definitely still tasted like good coffee. I would even say you could kind of tell they were going for cold brewed coffee. There weren't a ton of bitter elements. I don't know, however, if I could tell the milk was scalded, but there was definitely a sugary milky flavor to the base.
The beignets were quite dense and chewy and super fried tasting, yum. However, some of them were almost so dense they were hard and not as tasty. Lastly, the sugary swirl was great. I thought the sugary swirl in the Sam's Choice Coffee and Donuts was way too sugary and and I didn't like that it was liquidy and and syrupy. This swirl was not overpowering; I would even say there could have been more swirl!
Overall, both great flavors from New Orleans and more to love for coffee ice cream fans!
Nutrition Facts and Ingredients for Coffee & Chicory
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