Monkey Chops

This is a really nice banana flavoured black tea that avoids the traps of
tasting artificial or overly sweet. Throughout the cup it tasted of green fresh bananas, a banana smoothy and a good quality banana muffin. It’s really tasty, but still lets the qualities of it’s base shine through. Thoroughly enjoyable.

A more thorough discussion of this tea is below.

The dry leaf is black and wiry with pieces of fruit and some pieces of calendula petals. It smells lightly fruity, but not of distinct banana, and has an almost chocolate like smell.

I steeped this tea for around 3 minutes.

Brewed tea is a copper colour.

There is a scent of chocolate, a slightly savoury spice like rosemary from the calendula, and dried banana.

At first sip there is a taste close to slightly green fresh bananas, or the flavour of a banana smoothy, or good quality fresh banana chips. It is not artificial tasting and not overly sweet. The tea base is smooth, sweet, with a faintly vegetal undertone melding into a taste of a semi-sweet chocolate. The calendula lends a brightness and a spicy taste to the tea and makes it taste like fresh banana. The tea has just enough tannin to give it some body. It leaves a slightly drying feeling in the mouth but is not overly astringent. The flavour compliments and blends well with the tea but does not overpower it. There is a hint of raisin and biscuit in the base. It tastes a little bit like really nice banana muffins towards the end of the cup.

The re-steep has an indistinct sweet baked good flavour with a hint of floral, and chocolate. Pleasant but not really banana. The base looses its astringency.

Tasty.

Tea #33 from the Here’s Hoping TTB

I’m really enjoying trying the teas from Bluebird in the box, they’re a company I’ve wanted to try out for awhile now, but still haven’t managed to place an order with. I doubt I would have chosen to order this one anyway, banana tea just isn’t really my thing, but this tea is really starting to grow on me. I didn’t start off caring for it, but halfway through the cup I decided it wasn’t bad at all. There is quite a bit of banana flavor in this cup, but it is softened by the vanilla, it also doesn’t hide the flavor from the base, which still manages to peak through.

Not a tea I would order again, but one I certainly did enjoy trying it. I will say that my toddler loved it, he snuck the other half of my cup while I wasn’t looking, so perhaps this will be a reorder at some point after all.

TeaTiff Traveling Tea Box | No. 4

There is something really comforting about the smell and taste of this blend. I think it must be the coconut. I don’t smell any banana, and the coconut is very light. It does remind me, as coconut tends to do, of lounging at the beach. Not on the beach – my body doesn’t like sun or heat unfortunately – but maybe on a shaded balcony with a book in hand. The taste isn’t exactly remarkable, but I think there must be a nostalgia here that is making this one feel special. It’s hard to describe really, because I drink coconut teas often and this one feels different somehow. I do wish there was more banana since I think that is meant to be the dominant flavor.

I used 1tsp for this as suggested on the packet, and the flavour is very, very mild. Not like a robust black tea with a slight hint of flavour added, but the base tea itself is very thin and weak. I steeped it for 3 minutes at first, but after tasting it put the leaf back in to steep for another minute. It’s a bit better now, but still on the thin side, and I’m having to chase the flavours in order to taste them. I find the coconut more prominent than the banana, which I’m not mad at since coconut is one of my favourite tea flavours, and I’m not the biggest banana fan in general. Both are very natural-tasting, I just wish it was stronger. I’ll try with more leaf next time and see if that improves things, because I so want this to work out, but right now I’m just not getting enough from it and it’s kinda a disappointment.

This tea is positive proof that I would like bananas if they weren’t so fiber-y and slimy :) I like dried bananas. I like banana flavoring. I really like this Bird & Blend blend! The combination of banana, vanilla, and calendula is sweet and pleasant without all that icky peel and pith.

I made my first tumbler with the leaves in a DIY paper steeping bag, and then due to absent-mentia, had to make a flying run back to church to retrieve a lost item (long story). I took the tumbler with me, but by the time I returned home, the cup was getting a little bitter. Easily fixed—-and actually much improved—with a little vanilla syrup and milk! Tastes like a milkshake now.

On Tea and Cocoa Day, one of my favorite 12-year-olds asked if I had brought some banana tea. He asked me about it again today. There’s just enough left for me to send him a sweet and kid-friendly sample of my sample! So double thanks to AJRimmer for the double-duty sample!

Malty and smooth unlike the first cup which was quite astringent. The banana is subtle but nice and this would probably be good with milk. I decided to try adding some almond milk to the rest of my cup but luckily determined it had spoiled before adding any. I need to make a cup of Curtis Banana Flambe soon and compare the two teas.

I’ve seen good reviews of this one for years, and I’m finally trying it! Nice banana flavor on top of a sometimes harsh black tea. Some sips are quite delicious with an awesome creamy banana flavor. Others are much too light on banana for me. The second steep didn’t have much banana, but it was tasty enough to be worth it. I brewed at a lower temperature the next time I had it, and that made the banana disappear. I think steeping at 200 for a shorter than usual time yields the best flavor, but I also think the banana should be a lot stronger. I’ll probably have another cup or two and pass along the rest. I want a lot more banana, but it’s almost there.

Kiki:

“Ohhhh, it smells good. Tastes a little citrusy, like, uh, tannic maybe. It smells like caramel or something, or butterscotch. Smells sweet. It tastes good. I like it. I like the uh, it’s got natural flavors in it, huh? You know they always make it smell a certain way with ‘natural’ flavors which aren’t natural. There’s vanilla there. It’s really smooth, like the creamy. I’m about ready to pass out with all this smelling! What is it that I’m missing?”

Banana.

“Oh it’s like banana, yeah, like those little circus peanuts. That’s pretty good! It’s an 8. So it’s almost like banana pie with the vanilla and the coconut. Thank you, Cameron!”

derk:

Next morning, I’m having the remaining teaspoon. The aroma is amazing. i don’t think it smells at all like circus peanuts, more like overripe bananas mashed for bread. Gah! Overripe bananas, vanilla, butterscotch, a touch of creaminess. I just wish the aroma translated as strongly on the tongue. It’s a little underwhelming. The base Ceylon is ok, it gives a nice astringent-tannic bite along with tobacco-wood flavors. Bird & Blend has won me over with their banana teas for sure.

Advent from Dustin Day 13
The first tea from Dustin that I’ve tried before, and I was so happy to see it because I absolutely love it. I made a super bold cup of it this morning and it definitely woke me up. Delicious banana, with just a hint of smokiness.

Another sample from Cameron B. :D

I love the name of this tea. I’ve been thinking of making a B&B order soon and this one piqued my interest the most. Since I recently began trying flavored teas, I’ve been wondering if there is any tea that tastes like a real banana. I know banana candy have that issue too. The artificial taste problem. I love a good banana with a slight green tinge in it, but every banana chew tastes nasty to me.

So, I had this yesterday as I went about the town to do errands… And this one is pretty close to a banana flavor. It’s not the overripe oversweet banana taste. The base is malty and it goes very well with the banana.

I look forward to trying this again.