Bananas Foster

Well, this is tasting note #500 for me. I figured since #400 was from 52teas, make #500 also! Since I think partially if it wasn’t for finding out about the amazing creations of Frank, I probably would a) hardly drink tea b) not have a ton of tea and c) not get to interact with some of the most marvelous people I know of on the internet.

It’s been about 14 months since I started using Steepster on the regular with a new account or name change, whatever I did at that point, so 500 at this point to me is quite the accomplishment.

One of the reasons I love tea so much is it gives you the ability to have multiple desserts without ever feeling sick. And even teas that aren’t flavored like desserts like this one can be just as sweet. Since my first note, I have learned so much about tea from others on here and from the very generous companies that realize what a tool Steepster is. I definitely was very much into flavored teas at first, and now I have a yixing pot for my favorite green oolongs.

I hope that my love of tea stays around for quite a long time…because if not, I have a lot of tea to deal with.

So this tea is a perfect way to celebrate 500. I added some agave to it and it’s really brought out the banana. It’s very much cinnamon otherwise, lots of cinnamon. As it’s cooled, there’s a bit more banana, but it pops with sweetener. And it’s a really good banana flavor, it’s not coming off like banana runts to me or anything candylike.

I’m not getting much rum, but I am enjoying the cinnamon banana flavor. Bananas foster isn’t typically a dessert I get to have, so this is perfect right now. I’m going to have to give it a try iced!

Sadly, it pains me to write this note. I guess I shouldn’t have had the high expectations that I did, though. So many people have written their ravings over this tea and I love bananas and so I thought that this tale would end with me penning, typing rather, the words ‘and everyone lived happily ever after’…such is not the case.

As I said I shouldn’t have had such I high expectation. To clue you in to what this tea was for me I could first mention that I should maybe change my name officially to ASTRINGENCY WEENIE MAN. It seems it has come into play during several of my recent notes. This will be no exception.

I will go into little detail. I will simply say that the drink started out with strong cinnamon flavor with the vanilla/banana coming soon after. The obvious problem is that I could not get through the strong astringent ‘like licking chalk’ sort of ‘mouth devoid of all moisture’ effect it played on my tongue.

I’m certainly sure it’s me, it’s all me (sounds like every other break-up I had in my yoot-youth). Too many others had nothing but good to say about it so don’t consider what I’ve had to say, though my wife didn’t like it either.

no tune,flick (kinda like’no Coke-Pepsi) The Grey/ with Liam Neeson

Good morning Steepster—

It is foggy and gloomy over here, but what else is new? This is San Francisco!

Maybe this tea seems like a strange choice for the morning time, but it actually goes well with the banana flavored instant oatmeal I am having. I like the cinnamon – banana flavor here and it goes really well with soymilk and a bit of coconut sugar.

Sipdown of this sample from old! I’m trying to see if I love it enough to buy it and man oh man this is GOOD. This one is another irresistible reblend! I had to try it again to see if I love it as much as I think I remember. Yessss. 52Teas would certainly win the banana teas award! I love all of them that I’ve tried. The description of this one is as accurate as any blend has ever been! I definitely get hints of banana, rum, vanilla, brown sugar, butter… all equally represented. And the black tea base is one of the best that 52Teas uses. Actually there was a teaspoon and a half here to use up the rest of the sample. The second steep was really nice too. I can’t resist ordering this one and I REALLY hope this is blended the same, if not better. Even as an older tea that was stored terribly in a really thin tiny ziplock, this blend is pure magic.
Steep #1 // a few minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 min

Story Time: Had my first guitar lesson today. I have been take bass ones for years, but I want to learn how to better compose music and play guitar. The guitar teacher my dad told me about is perfect for that. I can’t wait for next weeks lesson.

Tea Time:Made up a big two steep combine batch today. I love this tea when it has been in the fridge and cooled downed. I put in a bit more leaf then normal though and noticed a stronger astringency taste. Next time I will reduce it back.

So strangely, when I pulled this tea out tonight from the box Azzrian sent me, the package was already open. Yet, I had no recollection whatsoever of trying this tea yet! I think I must have opened it one night with the intention of drinking it, but then decided against a black tea. Definitely threw me a bit, though!

Anyhow, to be honest, I have no idea what bananas foster even is! I just liked the idea of the tea and was curious.

The dry tea smells cinnamon-spicy, like Cinnamon Roll Honeybush or Strawberry Pie Honeybush, plus a bit of creamy banana. Steeped, the aroma is quite similar.

The flavour definitely tastes to me like CRH, minus the honeybush base, plus a slightly astringent black base and some banana. Not bad, not great. Perhaps it would be tastier with some sweetener, but it’s cold now, so that would require a great deal of effort.

Definitely not my favourite 52teas blend, but not bad either. Now I’m curious about what bananas foster actually tastes like though…

Oh nom nom nom.

My first couple of sips were strongly of cinnamon, with mere hints of the other flavors in the background… but as the tea cools somewhat, there is a fantastic balance that happens … the cinnamon remains the strongest flavor, but, every flavor comes through very nicely. It tastes very much like bananas foster… not a dessert that I’ve had a lot (I think I’ve only had it twice in my lifetime! But even so it’s still one of my top three favorite desserts)… but the tea is so very good. Notes of buttery, sugary caramel, banana, cinnamon, even a touch of rum and vanilla. So delicious.

I love this tea. Love it.

sample sipdown…thank you kittenna for another try of a 52 teas blend! This is a whole lot of cinnamon..and sometimes when i inhaled a little i caught a whiff of banana…but it wasn’t super strong.

In tasting this, it’s pretty astringent, even with the short steeping time. It’s also mostly kinda of like cinnamon water. boooooo oh well better luck next time. HOWEVER! and this is the important part…

I’m at 262 teas…the same as my tea sister terri…so it’s time for a SIPOFF! (i’m making this up as i go along…) So the rules of the game are:
-Tea must be a true sipdown rather than a “i’m swapping this away sipdown”
-Sipdowns officially start tomorrow
-the sipoff will run from Midnight tonight (so friday 12:01am) until midnight Sunday, with the final number being revealed Monday!
-tea that might come in during the sipoff must be set aside as if it hasn’t come in until monday thus not changing the cupboard size until after the sip off
-Winner gets the glory of being the Sipdown Sister Champ until the next time our cupboards coincide!!!

Really very nice. I prefer it far more cooled with sugar.
The banana comes out more when it is cooler and has some sweet in it.
I used German Rock sugar.
It cooled to room temp but would be so so amazing iced!
Hot, without sugar, there was just a little too much cinnamon for my liking.
I was not really getting much Rum flavor.
I am going to keep playing with this one though.
This rating could very likely go up once I find the perfect steeping parameters, and mess around with cold brew, different ways to sweeten etc but this has a lot going for it right now already.

This is one of my samples from Libertea’s box. Lucky me!

I have no idea what Bananas Foster really is, but based on the description I would probably love the heck out of it. I really like this tea too. Hints of cinnamon, caramel and banana make for a tasty treat!

Bonus: Sipdown!

Just a funny though – when I started on this site I used my standard internet name, but it doesn’t make sense her. I think a good chunk of you guys have got my mailing address from swaps, and if you haven’t, on a long enough timeline you probably will. So hiding behind a screen name does what? :P