Strawberry Banana Black

Another of my “old” 52 Teas blends. I’m actually pretty sure I’m nearly through the 2oz pouches I have left, which are the really old ones. I’ve maybe four or five or those left to try. After that, I’ll be on the sample pouches which are still “old” 52 Teas but newer (if that makes sense!), and then after that there’ll just be “new” 52 Teas stuff left. Who says I can’t get my cupboard under control within the next decade?

Anyway, I wanted to like this one. Like, really wanted to like it. It’s my second banana tea of the day, but sadly, again, there’s not as much banana as I’d hoped.

I used 1 tsp of leaf for my cup, and gave it 3 minutes in boiling water. As with Bananas Foster, there’s a touch of astringency in the initial sip, but it’s nothing I can’t overlook. The main flavour here is strawberry, and while that’s nice, I was really looking forward to the combination of strawberry and banana. It’s not here, but the strawberry does have a yoghurty, almost smoothie-like vibe to it so that’s something. I added a splash of milk to my cup, and I think it helps with that at least a little. Otherwise, this is just your basis artificial-strawberry tea. Not bad, but not amazing.

When I first had this tea the strawberry and banana flavour was heavy in the cup. It was nicer cold-brewed but still respectable as a hot tea as well. The last cuppa I had as a sipdown was a couple months later and it had developed and astringency that I was not fond of. Farewell old tea.

Second review. I ended up putting milk and honey in this one and it mellowed out the straight black tea flavor and let a bit of the strawberry banana shine through. It was still a mild background flavor but it was nice enough. Enough for a small uptick in rating.

I was a little disappointed with this one. Didn’t taste as I had hoped or expected. Very very plain compared to other Banana teas I’ve had in the past.

This is a tasty tea that reminds me of strawberry banana yogurt with fruit at the bottom, which was always my favorite yogurt flavor. The flavors evoke a sense of sweetness about the tea without actually being sweet. The strawberry is a little candy-like and is equally balanced by the banana and tea. I am enjoying this chilled.

It’s the oddest thing… I always end up sipping a few 52Teas blends right in a row. I’ve done that a few times now! This was from the mystery grabbags that Marzipan, Mandy and I shared. No one wanted this one, so I bought the entire pouch. I didn’t mind.. I love 52Teas banana blends and I have quite a few! Banana might be my favorite flavor from 52Teas just because no one else really attempts or does a very good job with it. Combined with the newer black tea base there are plenty of strawberries and banana pieces! The taste and fragrance is mostly sweet strawberries. I wouldn’t mind more banana flavor… a big piece of banana landed in my infuser too! Not a terrible blend… meets the strawberry craving anyway. A cream flavor could have made it a sundae or smoothie blend… imagine dried ice cream pieces! This blend certainly deserves more than one rating.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min

Backlog:

OK, I just was not excited about this tea to tell you the truth. I’m not big on the flavor combination of strawberry and banana. It seems like it’s “the” flavor combination, because you can find strawberry/banana yogurts and other things, but I just never have gotten into this combination. I prefer the two fruits separate … together … they both seem to lose a bit of the wow factor for me.

And what made it worse for me is that this was released on my birthday week. I wanted a tomato tea. Yes, another tomato tea. Frank has since explained to me why this won’t happen but that doesn’t keep me from wanting another tomato tea.

If nothing else, he could have put a couple of heavy doses of chocolate into this and made Chocolate Strawberry Banana black tea.

But no. Strawberry banana. OK.

Be like that.

I was happily surprised by this tea though. I actually quite enjoyed it. The strawberry is sweet with a little bit of that berry tart, and the banana isn’t quite as strong as the strawberry but it offers a sweet understated flavor and a pleasant creaminess. The black tea seems different from what I remembered the black tea base tasting like, it seems to have lost some of the richness to it, but it’s still an enjoyable base. Smooth and round, not too astringent.

I liked this more than I thought I would. But I would have been happier if it were a tomato tea.