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!
Let’s Go Bananas! Banana-Themed Teas
Tea with bananas? That’s crazy, right? Or maybe it’s just crazy delicious. Let’s take a look at five banana teas I’ve tasted lately.
Grilled Spiced Banana from A Quarter to Tea – Let’s get started with the weirdest banana tea I’ve come across. Not only does this blend feature bananas, but it also uses smokey flavors to convey the “grilled” part of Grilled Banana. Brewed, this tea is shockingly creamy, much more like banana creme brule than any overpowering smoky lapsang souchong. The hint of smoky adds a nice savory note to the sweet banana, like the tasting the sweet-salty shell of fried ice cream. This is a total underdog combination of flavors, and they really come together.
Banana Peach Green from 52Teas – This green tea is smooth and sweet, with some very forward peach flavors on the smell and taste. The creamy, tropical banana comes through on the aftertaste, rich with real-fruit flavors. No banana-candy flavors here. The nuttiness of the tea makes the aftertaste of this blend feel smooth and comforting, like banana bread.
Bananas and Custard from Bluebird Tea – This tea can seem mild at first, with little fragrance in the dry leaf, but when this green tea is brewed at the right temperature, something magical happens. When brewed this tea truly smells and tastes like banana cream pie. It nails the fruity, starchy banana flavor, and the creamy-yet-tart vanilla custard. The gentle nuttiness from the green tea helps keep this centered, but there are plenty of banana-crazy dessert flavors to go around.
Banana Split from A Quarter to Tea – There’s a lot going on in a banana split, there’s vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream, and sauces like marshmallow or pineapple, and the bananas and whipped cream of course. This white tea is sweet with strawberries but creamy with bananas and has a touch of the starchy, real-fruit banana flavor. This blend is sweeter than the others thanks to all the strawberry, but who wouldn’t want to taste an ice-cream-themed tea?
Monkey Chops from Bluebird Tea – Wow, what a name! Monkey Chops has a tart ceylon black tea base with added vanilla flavoring and banana pieces. Even without milk this brew has plenty of creamy notes and smooth banana flavor, strong enough to compete with the bold black tea base. This would be amazing with a splash of milk or a dash of cinnamon sugar.
Love them or hate them, banana teas don’t come along every day so it’s worth getting a little crazy and giving them a try!
Bananas! Black Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
Lots of people have commented on our banana tea blends in the past. We’ve used banana in a few blends inspired by banana pudding, bananas foster and even banana bread, but I thought this week we would really go bananas and just go with an all out banana tea. We’ve blended our Pettaiagala Extra Long Leaf OP black tea from Sri Lanka with real freeze-dried bananas and organic banana flavors, and this, my friends, is bananatacular! It’s bananaramic! It’s enough to leave you humming the Batman theme– “Nana nana nana nana nana nana… Batman!”
Learn more about this tea here.
Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.
Taster’s Review:
While I was sipping this Bananas! Black Tea from 52Teas, I wasn’t thinking of the Batman theme, I was thinking that this sh** is Bananas! B-a-n-a-n-a-s!
And it definitely IS bananas.
And unlike so many of the various banana flavored teas out there, this doesn’t taste overly candied. It doesn’t taste like banana runts (I hate banana runts) and it doesn’t taste like banana (insert any other banana flavored candy here).
What it does taste like is black tea and banana. It’s a little on the sweet side, like a sweeter banana – perhaps one that has been lightly sprinkled with sugar and caramelized under the broiler.
The black tea is really nice here, it’s a rich, robust black tea. Somewhat astringent at the tail, but not too astringent. There are even hints of a slightly bitter intonation. I think that the bitterness and astringency helps this blend because it cuts through some of the sweet notes and makes this more like black tea and banana rather than an artificial banana flavored candy with hints of black tea in the background. The hints of bitter and astringency offer balance to this cup.
I really enjoyed this. I brewed a large pot of it so that I could have some served hot and some iced, and I like it hot and cold. I think that if you’re going to drink it hot, I’d recommend letting the temperature drop to a drinkable temperature. In other words, pour the cup and let it cool for about 4 – 5 minutes before you start sipping. This is long enough to let the temperature drop but it’s still nice and hot. The wait time allows the flavors to develop in the cup and it really gets the bananas going BANANAS!
If you like bananas, this tea will have you singing like a minion.
OYGFIB? (Orange You Glad Frank Is Bananas?) Rooibos Blend from 52Teas
Tisane Information:
Leaf Type: Rooibos
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tisane Description:
Orange you glad Frank is bananas? It’s true, I might be a little crazy. That twinkle in my eyes could very well be the sun shining in through my ears. But hey, my insanity might just be a great gift to the tea-drinking world. Like this week, in which I’ve created this awesome blend of caffeine-free African Rooibos with freeze-dried oranges and bananas and organic flavors. It’s a lip-smacking, tongue-tickling, tangy sweet treat. So again, I’ll ask, orange you glad Frank is bananas? Get yours today.
Learn more about this tisane here.
Taster’s Review:
This OYGFIB? (which translates into Orange You Glad Frank is Bananas?) Rooibos Blend from 52Teas tastes a lot like a smoothie. A warm smoothie, since I’m drinking it hot, but, the flavors of orange and banana together really remind me of a smoothie.
When I poured my first cup of this tisane, I could smell the distinct aroma of the woody rooibos. Since I’m not a big fan of the taste of rooibos, that scent worried me a little bit, but, the first sip changed my mind. This is tasty.
The bright citrus-y notes of orange are what I taste first. It is sweet and tangy, but not too tart. The banana is a little less distinguished. I can taste another fruit in this, but I can’t say that it tastes definitely like banana. When I take a casual sip, it tastes like orange blended with a nondescript, bland fruit that lends a little bit of creaminess to the cup. Not a bad taste … but again, I can’t say that it tastes like banana.
But when I slurp the tisane, then the banana comes through more distinctly. With the aeration of the slurp, I notice a pleasing balance between banana and orange. Sweet, and yes … still a little creamy, and tangy. Fruity!
It’s an enjoyable tisane. Not my favorite from 52Teas, but I like it and I’d happily drink it again.