Banana Pudding Black Tea

Yay my 52Teas order arrived!

This tea was the one I was the most excited about and it did not disappoint. The banana flavour is clear, but not overly fake. The coconut adds a creaminess, but I think I may prefer it without coconut. I’m not completely decided on that. The black base is not overwhelming the other flavours and everything is balanced really well together.

The second steep is still tasty. All the flavours are slightly diminished and I think I’m getting more coconut than banana overall.

The weather has caused a school-closure bookend… an unexpected four-day weekend, which is much better now that we have power! I did what grading I could, and have some online things I can do today, but I have been feeling a little stir-crazy. For some reason, this odd mix just sounded like the right way to go.

Teaware: 16oz travel mug
Measured dry: 2tsp
Temperature: Boiling
Steeping Time: 3min
Additives 4tsp raw sugar

Dry, this blend smells like those giant spherical suckers you can sometimes find in the checkout area of a craft store. That banana smell/flavor that’s so intensely sweet, creamy, and artificial that you wouldn’t even call it banana if the wrapper didn’t label it so.

That aroma follows through into the flavor as well, and each sip is like licking one of those suckers… with a bit of a coconut chaser. I’m having a difficult time picking out the tea at all, although there is some slight astringency to let me know it’s there.

Well, I felt like an odd tea this morning, and this definitely qualifies!

As much as I am not really a fan of banana in tea, this was pretty good. Thanks to KallieBoo! for this sample! The coconut was fairly strong as well, which is great for me because I love coconut! It is also fairly creamy. I don’t think I would purchase it, but it is enjoyable
Boiling for 3.5 minutes
Rating 86

This is another 52 Teas winner in my book that I have yet to pay homage to. Normally, I don’t go for banana teas. I hate fake banana taste, and I want my banana to have something special with it. I love that this tea combines the creamy, vanilla flavor that I love to pair latte making with a delicious, fresh banana flavor. And there is a hint of coconut in there which takes it from great to outstanding. When Frank announced this tea I knew I had to pick some up, and I hope he will continue making delicious, creamy, fruity blends for me to enjoy each morning.

In fact, I think I have finally come up with a great tea idea that may have never been done before to submit as an idea for a future 52teas. Pavlova tea! Pavlova is a delicious meringue dessert with whipping cream and fresh fruit on it that I like to enjoy in the spring/summer. We usually put strawberries and kiwi on it, but I picture this tea being light like whipping cream, smooth and creamy with meringue, and fruity with tropical flavours like they use in Australia for this delicious dessert. What does everyone think? If others like this idea I will submit it on the site :)

Mmmm this smells pretty good. Coconut is more of the dominant flavor in this one. Sadly, banana comes second. It’s nice and sweet. It’s also smooth and creamy. I like it but I just wish there was more banana.

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to meeeeeeeee……

A cup of delicious banana pudding tea. I’ve had my eye on this blend for ages but I always either miss it or am too broke to justify a purchase when it gets reblended. So I’m glad I finally got the chance to try it out.

The dry leaf smells a lot like banana cream pie while the flavour of the brewed tea is smooth and creamy and slightly sweet. It’s not too heavy on the banana and there are hints of coconut lurking in the background just to make things interesting.

I hope Frank does what he’s done in years past an have all the teas in the sampler available for purchase after Christmas, because this is one I’ll definitely pick up.

Fresh pouch. First off, I have to say I like both the scent and taste of this one a lot more than I did the pouch from last year’s 12 Teas of Christmas box. There’s more banana, for a start, and it’s less sickly smelling and cloying to taste. I think that’s partly because the coconut is less prominent — I like coconut, but too much can be a bad thing. To my taste, this is better balanced.

I like banana, and I like it paired with coconut as here, so this is pretty spot on for me. It’s sweet, comforting, and tastes primarily of banana but with a strong hint of coconut. Adding milk helps to give it a puddingy taste, although how a thin liquid can be pudding-like is still a mystery to me. It somehow just IS. A great dessert tea!

I’m finishing up the last of this leaf in hopes of figuring out why so many love this tea. My first cup of this was disappointing, but this time I’ve added milk to see if I can bring out more of the pudding flavor.

Sipping… well, I seem to be picking up on a stronger banana note than last time. There is a rather ugly coconut flavor that finishes up the sip. It’s rather sour and spicy. Yeah.. not very much pudding here. To me, this is more of a banana and coconut tea.. but I am looking for something creamy and much more like pudding. Oh well, at least I tried it again.

Thanks to Indigobloom for this sample tea… it’s a rainy dreary day we are having but that’s good because California really needs the rain. It’s been a really long few days of me sitting around by myself on pain meds. so bored of it already. I never thought I’d be excited about the thought of being at the office.
;-)

I like banana teas and I really liked the bananas foster that 52T had put out a while ago. I’m not sure if I steeped this long enough because both the base and the banana flavor seem kind of thin and light. I do get the banana and something I would regard as a creamy sweetness so I added a bit of soymilk to that to see what would happen.

So far I’m not thrilled by this but I do have a bit left in my sample to try steeping it longer.

I had this one this morning with breakfast and Oh MAN! If this isn’t banana pudding then I don’t know what is. I am so glad this one was reblended as well and glad I purchased it with my LOVELY Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish. The dry leaf smell was perfection of a combination of sweetness and “banana-y-ness”. Loving this 52teas blend! I would love to try to make a frapp out of this one. :)