Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Honeybush
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
One of the things I always love doing with our flavored teas is creating combinations that might be really messy or not look as pretty as something attempted in a real dessert. Case in point, this week’s tea. Caramel apples are abundant. Everyone knows about caramel apples, but why couldn’t you have a caramel banana? I imagine it might be messy and probably the texture would be odd–chewy, gooey caramel on the outside of a sweet, ripe banana. So maybe it wouldn’t be pretty and maybe the contrast of textures might be a bit odd, but I bet the flavors would be amazing. In fact, I’m so sure of it, that I’ve gone ahead and created a caramel banana flavored tea for this week’s tea. We combined caffeine-free organic honeybush, freeze-dried bananas, marigold petals and organic caramel and banana flavors.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This tisane smells pretty amazing. Caramel Banana? YUM!
And it tastes even better than it smells! Wow! The honeybush adds just the right amount of honeyed, nutty flavor. I love the way the honey notes meld with the caramel flavor. I’ve only had honey caramels a couple of times (here’s one of my favorite honey caramel confections) but those few experiences with honey caramel has left a very memorable impression. And I love the way the sweet, honey-esque notes of the honeybush marry with the luscious caramel tones of this tisane.
I love the idea of a caramel banana. This should be a candy that someone comes up with, like instead of peanut butter cups, how about caramel banana cups. Make like a creamy banana caramel custard with a thick ribbon of gooey caramel on top, and the whole thing is “cupped” in a dark chocolate cup. Or milk chocolate. I’d need to try both to figure out which tastes better. The top of the chocolate cup would be sprinkled in chopped almonds for a little bit of texture and maybe just a little bit of “salty” to go with the sweet. Does that sound amazing or what? I should work in the idea department of a candy company.
But I really like my “job” as a tea reviewer. I love trying new teas and tisanes, and it’s because of genius flavors like this. The banana is sweet and tastes amazing with the flavors of nutty, honey-sweet honeybush and indulgent, creamy caramel. Completely and totally yum!
This is delicious hot and it’s also really good as the tisane cools – it would make a great iced tea. To brew it, I used 195°F water and let it steep for 10 minutes. Remember, with honeybush, you don’t have to worry about it becoming bitter because of oversteeping, because it doesn’t have the tannins that Camellia Sinensis has … so you can steep it longer and get a lot of flavor out of the steep.
A brilliant cuppa!
