Banana Bread Herbal Dessert Tea

Sip down! (is it a sip down if it is only a sample that can make 2 cups?)

This was my evening cup tonight. For the past several weeks my evening cup has been either peppermint tea or my Good Earth Sweet and Spicy tea. Those are both good teas that I enjoy, and the fact that they are bagged makes them convenient, but that can get a bit boring. As part of my spring cleaning I started to go through my tea drawer. Holy moly, how could I have forgotten all these lovely little samples?

This will not be a re-order, but I did enjoy it. Even with my lack of a sense of smell I got bready notes from this. As the tea cooled, it became sweeter and I got a little banana. I wonder if this one would be good iced? Anyway, as I said, I won’t be ordering any of this but I would be happy to drink it again.

This is the same tea as Adagio’s honeybush banana nut, which I’ve enjoyed in the past. I’m having it with milk, and the flavor really comes through as banana bread. It’s just the right quality of banana, and the flavoring brings it together perfectly. The only bad part is that the base tea can get a bit peppery, which doesn’t fit well with the rest. Otherwise, this is a pretty great tea.

sample from VariaTEA. this one wasn’t bad. it was more sweet than banana bread but overall not a bad tea

Sara sent me a sampler of this along with an Art of Tea order we split. Since she hates banana, this was not a surprise.

Mmm, I taste the banana, cinnamon, and apple, with a hint of chestnut at the end of the sip. Like biting into banana bread! Now I’m craving actual banana bread.

Advent Day 17

Oooooooooooo, this smells good! The first few sips I took seemed really light on the flavor but it seemed to develop a bit over time. It smells very much like banana bread. The sip is lighter than the finish and a little more bready. The banana flavor really comes out in the finish and lingers with a nuttiness appearing at the end of the sip. I can imagine cream or sugar changing this and bringing the banana out earlier. I do like that this is an herbal option, but I’d love to see these flavors on a bready malty black base too.

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 17

Another banana bread honeybush? And the ingredients are suspiciously similar to the Adagio version I had a couple of days ago. Hmm…

Tastes very similar too. Although I think I remember liking the other one more. This is a little lighter overall, but it has a nice banana flavor. I do get a bit of cakey-ness at the end of the sip, but there’s also a little peppery hint from the honeybush that I don’t love.

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CI3UsUyAU_Z/)

Plum Deluxe Advent Calendar – Day 17

I’m finished exams and with that means I have more time for advents so I decided to incorporate the Plum Deluxe one that arrived super late. I also had fun opening the earlier days that I missed. One thing I noticed, however, is plum deluxe likes to mix bases a lot. I think this one is both black tea and honeybush (I could be wrong so don’t quote me) and I just don’t see the appeal. At least these are both steeped at the same temperature usually but I just don’t love the combination.

Here I think the honeybush base is contributing flavor so maybe it was added for that purpose. There is a lot of the honey quality from the honeybush base. But this is banana and honestly it’s pretty close to banana bread. However, there is something about this that keeps it from being truly banana bread.

Thanks so much for the samples, Plum Deluxe!  I really wanted to try this – I heard great things about it.  Featuring a honeybush base with chocolate, cinnamon, apple with banana and chestnut flavors.  The base seems more to me like rooibos here.  The flavor isn’t what I expect!  I’m mainly tasting hints of banana and cocoa – but the cocoa could really be chestnut…  I can’t say I really know what chestnut tastes like.  I’m glad the apple isn’t more noticeable… that would be odd in a “banana bread” tea anyway. Overall, this just isn’t as special as I wished. The flavor is too light and thin and the apple might be contributing a lightness to it… if I hear “bread” I think starchy, strong, heavy.  This tea is not that.  The banana seems almost like a candy.  As a banana tea, it’s good enough!  Maybe a name change would make this tea more understandable to me.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 14 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 6 minute steep

I’ve never had banana in a tea before, and I was a bit hesitant because I couldn’t quite imagine it. Additionally, I don’t much care for bananas anyway! But this stuff is like crack, I swear! It is truly banana bread in a cup, but with slightly green bananas so it doesn’t taste overly sweet. I went through my entire package of this stuff in 24 hours. Oops. And on top of that, it’s caffeine free (maybe a touch from the cocoa nibs, I suppose). Most caffeine free teas lack a bit in the flavor department to me, but not this one!