Chelsea's Chocolate Banana Rooibos

de-cupboarding :(
delicious chocolaty banana treat after dinner
1000ml, 7 tsp, 212, 7 minutes, 1 tsp german rock sugar

As my last steeped cuppa for the evening, I chose one of my favorites! I ordered a sufficient supply of these recently so I don’t feel the need to hoard them anymore – plus Lori was kind enough to send me some as well – THANKS Lori!

Delicious chocolate and banana – not much more to say than that! This rooibos blend reminds me of Disneyland, when I lived in California, I used to visit Disneyland pretty regularly, and each time I’d visit, I’d indulge in a frozen chocolate covered banana on Main Street!

YUMMY!

Yummy yummy yum!!!

I so love this tea.

Know what? I like having enough of this on hand so that I can drink it whenever I want without worrying that I’ll run out and not have it on a day that I really crave it. Thank you for reblending it Frank. :)

Yum. Yum. Yum.

As I said in my Butter Pecan Post, I am not normally a big fan of bananas. I do like bananas with ice cream (cold stone), I like chocolate covered frozen bananas (but they aren’t really a favorite treat, they are more like a treat that I have when I’m someplace like Disneyland more because its a “tradition” than because it’s my favorite), I like bananas in smoothies and now, I like banana flavored tea… (I have a banana green tea that I haven’t yet tried from Tea Farm, going to have to actually crack that one open and try it soon). But, as for peeling a banana and eating it… well, I’d rather eat just about any other fruit. I like bananas ok… but they aren’t my favorite fruit, not by a long shot.

And, I’m not particularly crazy about rooibos. I don’t DISLIKE rooibos, but, I prefer honeybush (or even green rooibos) to red rooibos. And sometimes I do dislike rooibos if they happen to have been blended in such a way so that the saccharine-y taste comes out. Because that is just icky. I don’t have to drink saccharine sweetened drinks anymore because I don’t live with my stepmother anymore… (cue the little munchkins to sing that song when the house landed on the witch)

I actually probably wouldn’t have tried this tea if it weren’t for Frank’s explanation of how it came to exist in the first place. I felt sorry for Chelsea. So I ordered this tea.

And I LOVED IT. It is my favorite from 52Teas…. well, that I’ve tried thus far.

Chocolate. Bananas. YUM. YUM. YUM.

Enjoying a cup of my favorite Rooibos! I love this blend!

You can read my full-length review of it here:
http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=11408

YUM!

I enjoyed a cup of this with the birthday cookies I made for the birthday party (my daughter requested cookies – her favorite peanut butter blossoms – instead of a cake for her party)… and it is so good with dessert! Then again, it’s good instead of dessert.

Still my favorite… although I think that the chocolate malt honeybush may give it a run for it’s money.

Backlog: I had some of this yummy tisane earlier this evening while watching TV. I still love this so much. YUM!

Some skim milk in this tea seems to bring out the flavout a bit more, particularly the banana. Still I’m rather ambivalent about this tea so I think I’ll probably end up either putting it up for adoption or sending it away as a freebee in one of my swaps.

I got my second pouch of this last night and immediately brewed a cup….mmmm. I upped my rating of it now that I’ve played around with it and found how I like it. So far my favorite way to drink this is blended with Teavana’s Coconut Ginger Zingibar. I used 3 heaping tsp. of Chelsea’s and 2 of the Coconut to 12 oz. water and added some milk and agave and yummers!!! This is my favorite bedtime/dessert tea blend yet :)

This tastes best piping hot!

2 tsp in 12-16oz water; added a splash of silk vanilla almond milk. Very nice.

I can’t believe I don’t own any plain rooibos. This is as good as it gets. Not a complaint against the awesomeness that is “CCBRb,” I just need to buy some Stash Red & White fusion for those times when I just really want a soothing cup of warm red tea.

meant to grab the Pina Colada Honeybush since I hadn’t had it in a while, but accidentally picked up this bag and scooped some into my IngenuiTea without realizing it until I saw the cocoa nibs. Oh well – I wanted a decaf dessert tea, so this will do just fine! :-)

Since some people (myself included) seem to taste hints of banana in the Malted Chocomate, and since Chelsea’s Chocolate Banana Rooibos is great, but could use a bit more chocolate, I decided to combine the two into a malted choco-banana rooibos mate concoction. Since they have the same steeping parameters, I just used 1 tsp of each with 16 oz boiling water. Meant to stop steeping at 4min but got distracted, so it was somewhere between 5-6 (not 5:30 exact). Anyway, I added a splash of almond milk to cool my big mug down. It’s chocolatey and banana-y and sweet (no sugar added). It looks and feels almost as rich as a mug of hot chocolate, but without the heaviness. Perfect for a rainy evening!

I got a well-blended spoonful this time so I can taste the chocolate! It’s not overwhelming, but balances out the stronger banana flavor. No sweetener needed, but a spoonful of half&half made it rich and creamy.

finished off this dreary, rainy, foggy morning. Added a teaspoonful of vanilla coconut creamer, and served with greek butter cookies.

good with a splash of almond milk – the nutiness complements the banana. Again, the chocolate is just a hint, but that’s ok with me.

having a cup w/ a piece of carrot cake. Yum!

This really is like a low cal dessert in a cup w/a sinful banana flavor and no need to add sugar…It was perfect for my mid-afternoon treat…Come to think of it , this would be great w/chocolate milk….

OK, after changing up the brewing time, this tea is one of my new favorites. I had a nice equally delicious mix of chocolate and banana. I sweetened it and added just a splash of milk, and I tell you, it blew my mind. Uber good.

What a delicious afternoon pickup! Solid flavor with the chocolate and banana and rooibos. I added milk and sugar and lapped this right up. Mmm.