The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is proudly Californian (in South California born and raised!) and it has a comfortable space in Singaporeans’ hearts. It’s a taste of LA in Singapore – well, kind of. The local menu differs from its native Californian one, with special country-specific drinks and food. From my research, the ice blended drink I opted for is available internationally.

While it isn’t my most favorite flavor in the world, I most certainly enjoy a decadent slice of black forest cake. The last time I ordered an ice blended drink from the Coffee Bean felt like many lifetimes ago (yes, it’s been that long!), so I made my way to the nearest Coffee Bean outlet to grab a cup of that awesome-sounding black forest ice blended coffee.

From my online sleuthing on how the cake first came about, I learnt that black forest cake actually originates from a German dessert called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Black forest cake comprises of chocolate sponge cake, whipped cream and cherry filling. Its trademark appearance is a delicious coat of whipped cream frosting, chocolate shavings and maraschino cherries.

The ice blended coffee’s appearance is somewhat reminiscent to a regular chocolate or mocha ice blended drink. From first impressions, there weren’t any hints of black forest apart from the cherry on the cloud of whipped cream – which is actually spot-on with emulating the cake’s appearance! It also reminds me of Rudolph’s nose 🙂

I was expecting it to taste like Cherry Ripe – a famous Aussie chocolate bar, a cherry and coconut filling coated in dark chocolate – minus the coconut. And again, the flavors were different from what I thought they would be.

Bits from the chocolate-coated coffee beans added a crunchy touch to the ice blended drink. The ice blended concoction itself tasted like a combination of chocolate and coffee. To top it off, the maraschino cherries’ flavor is prominent too. I opted for the whipped cream because a black forest cake without whipped cream is unimaginable! It didn’t taste like the cake itself, however, their spin on the classic cake was fun to try.

Although the black forest ice blended coffee didn’t taste like what I’d imagined it to be, I had a good time experiencing it for the first time.