Banana Cheesecake Genmaicha

Not that I had my doubts or anything … but this is seriously yummy.

The flavors meld together perfectly … I’ve never had a banana cheesecake, but, if I did, this is what I’d think it would taste like: sweet, creamy, banana-y, tangy deliciousness. The toasty, nutty flavor of the genmaicha works very well with the cheesecake notes … playing to the buttery crust notes quite nicely.

Really yum. My full-length review of this tea will publish in a few days on the SororiTea Sisters blog: http://sororiteasisters.com

Thanks to Jackie T for this tea.

This was actually tea that I acquired for my boyfriend who loves banana teas. He chose to brew it today, though, and as a tea lover how can I turn down a sample of free tea?

If you love banana flavor, this is a very good tea. The banana flavor is definitely strong in this. Someone once compared it to “Banana Runts” and I think that’s a pretty spot-on comparison. It does have sort of an artificial/candy taste to it. The flavor does work surprisingly well with the genmaicha, I’m actually quite impressed. I don’t taste the cheesecake flavor much when hot, but as it cools that creamy flavor comes through.

If you’re not a banana fan this tea won’t necessarily turn you into one, but it’s very interesting indeed.

I just got mine today! It’s a big day for tea, wheee! I always miss out on the marshmallow genmaicha so I thought I would check this out instead.

So the aroma of this is very strong in the bag. I steeped it for around 3 minutes and it is pretty good. I am getting a lot of nuttiness from the genmaicha and the green tea IS slightly bitter but I think I may have oversteeped mine as well. If you’re a fan of bananas you need to check this one out. The banana flavor is very strong and yes, I am getting a bit of cheesecake, how does Frank do it, I have no idea! It’s almost a little too much for me but I think I’ll try steeping it for less time next and see what happens. The flavors are more prominent as the cup cools. No rating for now.

I used 1 tablespoon for 375 ml of water.

The banana flavour tastes only very mildly artificial. The genmaicha flavour is very well balanced with the banana. Genmaicha has a sweet roasted flavour. I don’t feel that the two flavours compliment each other the best.

As the tea cools, I’m feeling like the flavours are melding together. I’m getting a banana-rice crispies taste. The banana is fading a bit into the background.

I’m not getting a very strong cheesecake flavour but there is a tang and heaviness in the flavour.

As the tea cools further I’m detecting a distinct creaminess.

Thank you to Indigobloom for sharing this with me!

Thanks Indigobloom!

This is an interesting blend. I really love the banana and cheesecake but the genmaicha is a little funny. I still enjoy it quite a bit….I’ve never had banana tea….and man I love me some banana!

For some reason I was able to keep myself from opening this up until a few days ago. I finally just really needed to try it.

I have been just really wanting banana flavored teas for some reason. Did I mention I’m not a big fan of actual bananas? I don’t get it.

So this definitely has banana. And on some sips, it tastes very strange, like it just doesn’t work to have banana, cheesecake, and genmaicha all together. But then the very next sip tastes marvelous.

It might be even better iced with just a touch of sweetened condensed milk, I think. I will have to try that. I’m not sure if it was the tea hot or the genmaicha that just makes it seem odd at times, but overall it’s a pretty awesome blend.

This is the second time I’ve tried this. The first time, I found it to be just ok. Intense on the banana and lacking in cheesecake. and… a really odd nausea that was totally unexpected.
Now, this time around I am enjoying the cuppa much more. Mind you I’m using premium water given to me by a friend who has this wicked filtration system that he imported from somewhere overseas (Germany? I think). He uses it for his saltwater fish tank, because the Toronto water is heavily chlorinated and fluoridated. I’m in the suburbs so it’s not so bad. Even still, water makes a huge difference! Wow.
The Genmaicha and banana notes mix exceptionally well here, with a distinct banana/cheesecake aftertaste. I suspect that if I added sugar, the cheese part would pop out more as well.
Unfortunately, I’m still getting that nauseous effect. I’ll give it one more try in a week or two, otherwise this lovely blend will have to find a new home. Too bad, I was growing to really like this :/

My Lupicia order is supposed to show up today – and I’m hoping it does so I can have some tea before I go to jiu jitsu, but instead this tea shows up in my mailbox. Usually my 52Teas orders come on Saturdays. Oh well, all mine!

DRY: smells strongly like banana, almost banana liquor like. I got some huge whole slices of banana, which I smashed up and tried to mix into my bag of tea evenly.

STEEPED: Banana! And graham crust smell, nice!

TASTE: Strong green tea and banana. Banana is leaning on that flavor I had for medicine I had as a kid (no bad memories with it though). Nice rice toastyness from the genmaicha. Bit of a weird bitter finish, maybe medicinal. Strong banana aftertaste that is pretty nice.

Sweetened, this tea performs better – bananay with a cheesecake finish showing up. The genmaicha is a nice match, but still has a weird taste. As it cools, it is getting creamy tasting, which is nice. Overall, I like this tea sweetened.

COMMENTS:
Maybe I over steeped or over leafed this as it was pretty strong and weird tastes – but theres lots of elements I like in this tea, such as the good banana aftertaste and the genmaicha pairing. With that said, I’m a little mixed on this tea whether I like it or not. But I think I will need to try it again, fudging with the steep times.

In other news, I finish NaNoWriMo! Woot Woot!

Well, after the unfortunate unpleasantness of the Browncoat Genmaicha, I’m not really looking forward to trying this one, especially as I seem to recall someone mentioning that it made them feel nauseated… :/

Luckily, the smell of this one is… better. Like strong, artificial banana. Like amoxicillin. I don’t mind artificial banana sometimes, though I prefer real banana (like in DavidsTea’s Banana Oolong). Either way, I’m smelling banana and toasty rice. Smells like a pretty decent combo. Fingers crossed!

Ok, well this one’s weird too, but definitely in a more drinkable way. It tastes much like one would expect, based on the aroma. Not super fabulous, but decently drinkable. I think I’ll let it “air out” a bit too, to see if it improves; I think I may have difficulty finishing this off just because I’m not some super fan of artificial banana, but I can see it being tasty when the mood strikes.

I’m the biggest sucker for banana and genmaicha so I simply had to order this, and I’m glad I did! I was one of one weird kids who loved that banana flavoured penicillin and my mother never had to fight me to make me take it. The smell of this tea reminded me of those days. For those who worry about the tea tasting like penicillin, it’s more of a banana flavoured candy kind of taste and the genmaicha softens it out perfectly. I’m not a cheesecake lover (again, I’m weird) but the creaminess in this tea is great.

Steep time: 2 mins. Added agave to bring out the creaminess.
Rating: 90 (banana and genmaicha? Yeah this is the tea of my dreams. Definitely rationing this one!)

I was so excited about this one! The aroma was amazing when I opened the bag. The banana flavor is nice with the genmaicha and there is a lovely hint of cheesecake. I’m happy I jumped on this one! It’s yummy and makes for a nice treat :)

This is really yummy. I did not expect anything less from Frank especially when cheescake flavoring is involved. I am a huge fan of anything with banana flavor so this was a no brainer to purchase. Another one that I will be really sad when it runs out :-(

This tea is Bananas … sorry I couldn’t resist. This is another definite winner from 52teas as I was hooked at first sip. This tea strikes a perfect balance of sweetness with the banana flavoring that is offset by the nutty Genmaicha base. If you are looking for a tea to go bananas for – this is it!

Originally I tried this tea as I always drink tea, hot and plain. It tasted like the banana flavored antibiotics I had as a kid. I was ready to toss the tea, but then, after reading some reviews, I tried it iced with a bit of honey. This tea is much better sweetened and iced.