Last week I reviewed another tea from Voce Fruit Tea, their Lemon Ginger. I was instantly impressed with how delicious, fresh, natural, and amazing the tea. Today I wanted to try their banana offering. I’m sort of a banana freak and am always on the search for a banana flavored tea. You find them here and there but typically the banana flavor comes off light or chemical tasting. After having the Voce Fruit Tea’s Lemon Ginger, I knew that this banana flavor was going to be on point since they do not use anything but dried fruit in their blends.
For this blend I brewed the tea with freshly boiled water and allowed the tea to steep for 7 minutes and just left the tea bag in the mug while I enjoyed the brew. I did this with the Lemon Ginger offering and the tea just seemed to get better and better the longer the tea brewed and the Goldenberry Banana Cinnamon is no different.
First off you are greeted with fresh notes of banana and cinnamon. And that is exactly what you get in taste as well. The banana flavor reminds me of a quality dried banana chip instead of a fresh banana. Regardless, the banana flavor is delicious and doesn’t have that artificial feel like I’ve had in the past. The cinnamon adds its own charm playing well with the banana flavor. For the goldenberry piece, I can’t really say I taste much berry like flavor. I am getting a sweetness here and there that I can’t identify so I’m wondering if that is the goldenberry. The description of this tea indicated the tea should taste like banana bread and I have to say, they are pretty close to nailing that flavor profile.
Over all, this tea is downright delicious. After having a few cuppas of this hot, I’m excited to try this as a cold brew like I did with the Lemon Ginger. I was able to drink off of one serving of the Lemon Ginger for almost tea days- brewed both hot and cold and I have a feeling this serving of Goldenberry Banana Cinnamon will be the same.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Fruit
Where to Buy: Voce Fruit Tea
Description
You might not be familiar with goldenberries, but they are widely considered to be a superfruit, with a bright flavor that is similar to apricots. Our blend of organic goldenberries, organic bananas, and organic cinnamon is an unexpected treat that is reminiscent of warm banana bread, right out of the oven. It has a smooth and subtle flavor that goes down nice and easy.
Ingredients: organic dried bananas, organic dried, goldenberries, organic cinnamon chips. Packaged in the same facility as peanuts, tree nuts, soy, and milk products.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
52Teas’ the 12 Teas of Christmas – Day 6- Spoilers!
Day 6!
It’s not Christmas morning yet but today’s tea is a great blend to have at breakfast: Banana Pancakes Black Tea. Put your nose in the bag, and you’ll see that the tea smells like your favorite diner or breakfast restaurant, with plenty of maple syrup flavor and a whiff of sliced banana.
Brewed, there is a pleasant starchiness in the black tea that suits the natural starchiness of the banana and adds to the pancake feeling. The maple and banana flavor combination reminds me of banana nut muffins or banana bread. This is a fun, sweet blend on its own but it would also go great with a few mulling spices for a banana chai, or with some coconut milk or nut milk for an almost banana nut cereal taste.
I’m always a fan if banana teas, so I was more than happy to go bananas over this brew!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
52teas
Description:
I don’t think it’s any big secret that I love banana teas. So when I go a couple of months without releasing a banana tea – I really start to miss them. And it seems like it’s been quite some time since I’ve done a pancake tea (actually, I haven’t done a pancake tea since the famous Pancake Breakfast tea which I reblended back in January of last year.) So, I’m thinking – why not bring these two flavors together in one tea?
I started with a fantastic blend of black teas from China: an Assamica from the JingMai Mountains, a Fujian Black and a Yunnan Gold. Then I added some bananas along with pancake and maple essence. But don’t worry, it’s vegan and gluten free – and depending upon how you serve it, its also sugar- and fat-free!
Take a sip on this and experience a stack of banana-filled pancakes dripping with maple syrup! Yummy!
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Let’s Go Bananas Again! Recent Tastings of Banana Teas
Check out my first Let’s Go Bananas tea posting.
It’s no secret I love the flavor of bananas. I like the taste in pastries, candy, breakfast, the fruit itself, and of course, the taste of bananas in tea! Here is another round of tasty banana inspired teas I’ve tried lately
Banana Split from The Necessiteas
Leaf type: red rooibos
This red rooibos blend has all three essential components of a banana split, with pieces of strawberries, bananas, and carob bean (“chocolate”). The strong red rooibos compliments the sweet and tart fruit pieces in the blend. The chocolate is an undertone, taking a backseat to the driving banana and strawberry flavor combination. The blend benefits from sweetener and milk to make it feel more like a dessert and bring out more of the bananas.
Perles de Antilles Rooibos Blend from Camellia Sinensis distributed by Amoda Tea
Leaf type: green rooibos
This tropical green rooibos blend has pieces of dried banana, pineapple, and coconut. All three fruits are prominent, and no one ingredient takes the lead. Banana and coconut are the sweet components, bringing creaminess and body to the blend. The pineapple adds a much-needed pop of tartness to balance the blend. This tea is the most refreshing as an iced tea, and drinking it iced helps support its summertime tropical vibe.
Banana Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha from 52Teas
Leaf type: green
52Teas has a whole host of delicious flavored genmaicha teas. Being the sucker for banana that I am, this was one of my favorites. The sweet cream of the marshmallow pairs well with the banana, almost like a banana cream pie. The toasty flavors of the puffed rice help this blend from being too sweet, and if keeping with the pie analogy, the rice makes up the crust-like component of the blend. All the warm, roasted flavors of puffed rice and gentle green taste of genmaicha with creamy marshmallow fluff and banana.
I know there are still banana teas out there that I haven’t tried, so I’ll need to fill up my mug and go bananas for banana tea all over again!
Banana Zomba from 52Teas. . . . .
Continuing on with my birthday reviews, I thought I’d finally sit down and write a review on this beauty-Banana Zomba from 52Teas.
It’s no secret. We love our Anne and her masterfully crafted tea creations. Not just because she is one of our co-founders, but because of the quality and passion she brings with each blend she creates. Her and I have had some amazing tea chats regarding tea and you would be hard press to find anybody with more love for the tea community.
I have always loved 52Teas Blackberry Zomba and the tea is a staple in my tea stash. Brewed hot or cold brewed, this tea never disappoints. I’ve served this tea at many a baby and bridal shower -more than any other blend I have and we always run out. So whenever I see Zomba in the tea blend title, I know its going to be a winner. Add in banana chips and flavoring. . . I’m all in.
This tea brewed up at 190F and brewed for 3 minutes yields an amazing rich brew. Fresh crisp green sweet yet vegetal notes combine beautifully with the banana, almost to the point that I might have to say, this tea is heavenly.
Even though this tea has banana flavoring, the real star is the Zomba green tea base that I have grow to adore, love, and gobble. Sweet, rich, silky, with a simple yet long serving flavor.
A perfect tea to cold brew or enjoy a few hot cuppas, this tea has my heart and even though it is sold out and we probably won’t see this blend again, I’m happy to say I was able to enjoy some soul soothing gorgeous cups while I had this tea.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Description
This tea is no longer available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Chocolate Covered Banana from DAVIDs Tea. . .
One of my coworkers ordered Caramel Corn from David’s Tea and accidentally received this instead. (WHOOPS! Seems like somebody over there had a case of the Mondays.) Caffeine of any sort makes her face explode in treacherous boils of acne (she alleges; she’s perfect, so I doubt it). She got a refund. I got the tea.
The ingredients for this tea include “Banana, Blackberry Leaves, Chocolate Chip, Cocoa Bean Shells, Coconut, Currant, Green Yerba Mate, Natural Coconut Flavor, Pineapple.”
Though the tea isn’t currently available, there is a nice blog post about preparing a latté it here.
I didn’t prepare it that way. I can’t even begin to even. That sounds nice, though. If you have a tea on hand that has a similar flavor profile, please try that and report back.
The primary thing I taste in this blend is the cocoa shells, which is like slightly watery hot chocolate from a packet. There’s also a slight inkling of the freeze-dried banana/pineapple, which adds a little bit of a tartness/sassiness to the blend.
Would Elvis approve of this? I’m not sure.
This tea reminds me of one of those tropical-themed parties that happens in the winter. “We’re going to have a boardwalk treat!” the party-owner says, wearing a parrot-head hat and pretending to lean on a plastic, inflatable palm tree. The crowd is wearing leis over their sweaters. They are not sure they can handle the Jimmy Buffett/hula/reggae playlist forever. The basement they are in is not fully heated.
I’m not sure I love this mix, but if anyone ever wants to engage me in a Tea Trade, I will happily send it along!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: DAVIDs Tea
Description
This tea is not currently available but click below for teas that are.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
