Chocolate Banana

There’s always money in the banana stand. I could really go for a chocolate dipped frozen banana right now. Luckily, Jackie T sent this my way.

This particular banana may be hot instead of frozen but it’s a small point; it’s still coated in chocolate. The liquor is a little murky and smells strongly of the two objects in this rooibos’s namesake. The flavour isn’t disappointing either, although it’s weaker than the aroma and I am tasting a bit of the base. I wouldn’t mind a banana split right now either. Or a fried banana. I’ll probably settle for one of the raw bananas sitting in the kitchen though. Bananas are the best food.

On a side note, this reminds me a lot of Banana Dream Pie from David’s Tea, which also has chocolate and banana flavours.

I don’t like rooibos or banana, so I had a moment of fear when I got this as a free sample in my last order. But hey, a sample’s a sample, and I did want to try it out! The dry “leaves” smell really good, not at all banana-like or rooibos-y. It kind of smells like… apple pie, without the spice. I guess that’s because of the apple chunks!

Steeped it also smells really good. While I hate (and I mean HATE) fresh banana, this is like a baked banana taste. Like banana bread or banana oatmeal cookies! Sweet and creamy. The rooibos is surprisingly un-medicinal (though that might be because I got nervous and steeped it for a pretty short time), and it adds to the bakey-ness of the tea. And the apple chunks add some nice fruitiness. The chocolate, sadly, isn’t really that present—I would definitely like a little more chocolate oomph in my cup, given the name and all! And most surprisingly of all, the peppercorn adds a pretty big bite at the end (though there were like 5 in my cup). Sometimes they are just there for decorative purposes, but I feel like they do add some dimension to this.

This isn’t my favorite or something I’d dip into often since, well, I don’t like most of the ingredients, but surprisingly I did enjoy it and will definitely finish my sample off! I think banana fans will really love this one.

Wow, this is better than I expected! The rooibos is nicely tamed, and I’m tasting some banana, but less chocolate than I would like (although it is definitely there!) If you’re looking for a desserty tea, this would probably fit the bill, but it’s not quite as banana-y or chocolatey as the name would suggest. Getting a bit of throat scratchiness from the rooibos though, which seems to be a common issue with me. This is a nice blend for the evening, but not something I’d stock up on.

The dry leaf smelled great but the wet leaf smells slightly medicinal… uh-oh

I did let this steep for a while, I don’t know how long because I got busy with some other things. The rooibos has a slightly woody flavor and I am definitely getting a lot of banana and fruit but I don’t taste too much chocolate in here. I guess given the name I thought it would be more chocolate-y but it’s a banana tea for sure.

I did give it a resteep and added soymilk but then most of the banana was gone…

I did like it fairly well for a rooibos but not sure if I would purchase any more.

Another tea I shared with my mom, and another success with Persimmon Tree. If I had to go by smell alone, I wouldn’t like this tea at all. It has a medicine-y rooibos smell. Luckily it tastes nothing like it smells. I was a little worried this would be INYOURFACEBANANA, but luckily it’s just banana, nice and mellow. Not much chocolate though. Just creamy banana yummy flavor. My mom says it tastes just like banana pudding.

Thank you Alphakitty! I think rooibos was an excellent choice as the base. It works well with the other flavors. I’m catching light notes of chocolate and banana. It’s not super strong in both flavors but it’s just enough to make it delicious. It makes me think of banana creamies. It’s sweet and has a lovely creamy note to it. I really enjoyed this blend :) thanks again!

I just don’t care for this. The chocolate and banana can’t drown out the medicinal flavor most rooibos blends have. The only rooibos I have really liked was heavy on spices-like a masala chai. I do taste what seems like black pepper here (from the pink peppercorn?), but it’s not enough to overcome the medicine-y taste and it certainly does not complement the chocolate and banana flavors either. Maybe I’ll try an extra long steep, but I probably won’t be buying this again.

This tastes a lot like chocolate banana flavored things—not to say it’s artificial necessarily, but you know how there’s that banana smell from confections and stickers and whatnot versus being at home and dipping a fresh banana in chocolate and sticking it in the freezer or fridge? This is more the former than the latter. And that has its place too. On the other hand I am impressed with the almost…juicy tartness of the aroma, like real, fresh banana cooked in something. And the flavor becomes more authentic tasting as it cools. My understanding is banana is hard to get right as tea flavors go. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thick, weirdly almost like eating a real banana too.

The rooibos flavor is ever present too, a little more than in some rooibos dessert teas (it doesn’t bother me but just a heads up for those who don’t care for it).

I’m curious how this one would do with a latte treatment…