Banane Chocolat

This is another tea from the wonderful package that ifjuly sent me.

This tea is more banana than chocolate. It’s nice real banana, not fake icky banana. The chocolate is really subtle. (Confession – banana isn’t my favorite flavor – it’s not on the HATE list like mint – it’s more on the take it or leave it list). I would have been happier if this was more chocolate less banana, but for those of you looking for a nice banana tea, this is one you should check out.

Yay I have found a tea that smells like very ripe sweet banana, not just banana candy! I was beginning to figure it was an impossible thing to capture in tea. As it steeps the aroma becomes more candy-like, but it’s worth it for that initial hit of real banana. Yum!

The chocolate is relatively subtle compared to the banana, which I appreciate because chocolate teas are a dime a dozen but strong-real-not-candy-banana is…well, yeah, this is the first one I’ve encountered. And the chocolate IS definitely there, especially at the end of the sip—goes very well with the floral sweet banana notes. It really does evoke a chocolate-covered banana.

The tea base is not obtrusive but also not completely AWOL, a nice balance (if I’m in the mood for banana tea we’re so far off into the woods flavor-wise from tea’s standard notes I’m not exactly also in search of nuanced TEA-ish leaves anyway). Smooth, and the floral notes in very ripe banana linger at the end. Perfect for afternoon tea today with palmiers. Yum! Towards the end of his cup husband involuntarily went “mmmm!” which is his highest seal of approval, hee.

Thanks to Dexter3657 for this! Seriously, the swap box that I received from her is amazing and I am having a fantastic time trying all of these teas!

Anyway, the dry leaf of this didn’t really smell like much of anything, BUT then I added hot water and let it brew and the true banana scent that wafted up from the water was amazing. I tested it unsweetened and while it was nice, the banana flavor really pops when I added a bit of sweetener. To my taste buds, this tastes a little like the 52teas Banana Pudding but I’ll have to try some more of that to be sure and see which one I prefer. I don’t really taste chocolate, but that’s totally ok.

I have yet to make a Lupicia order, but I’d certainly add this in if I were to make one in the future. Yummy.

When I was a little girl, we’d go to the Renaissance Fair every summer, and at some point during the day my mother would buy me a monkey’s tail. These treats were bananas dipped in chocolate and frozen – perfect in the scorching California sun. Now you can buy these frozen bananas in most grocery stores, but at the time this was the only place we knew to get them – so it was a special moment.

This happy childhood memory is what I wanted Banane Chocolat to invoke. It’s a nice, solid black tea. Lovely with milk. The banana is strong enough. Reminds me a bit of banana chips. The cocoa is more elusive. It’s there, I think…I can taste a little bit of its bitterness. But it’s either very light or overwhelmed by the banana.

I might try adding a little more tea next time for a stronger flavor, but I used 1.5 scoops when 1 is usually plenty. This may just be a very lightly flavored tea. Not a perfect imitation of a monkey tail, but there’s enough of the treat there that my nostalgia is satisfied.

I was kind of craving this today (which doesn’t happen often), so it tasted especially good. I really appreciate the strong banana note with the much more subtle chocolate in the background (I’m not a huge chocolate fan, especially in teas). I think the two flavours work really well together though. Perfect for a not-quite-spring-but-still-could-be-around-the-corner kind of day.

Also from Cameron B!  Thanks again for all the lovely teas!  I’ve had this a couple times, just trying to find that darn chocolate.  I KNOW Lupicia does chocolate teas very well.  But this seems to be only banana.  I would never guess this was chocolate at all.  It’s also the Runts banana, which I’m not overly thrilled with, but this tea would have been even more disappointing with NO banana AND NO chocolate.  But at least banana.  The base uses two types of black tea, one of which is CTC and I kind of like when some black teas are like this – a balance of caffeine but also another type of black tea for flavor.  I’m surprised more companies don’t do this.  I don’t want every tea blender to do this, but this is fine.
Steep #1  // 1 1/3 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling  // 1 minute steep
Steep #2  // 2 minutes after boiling //  3 minute steep

It’s good but there was a lot more banana than chocolate. I think that’s usual for chocolate flavored teas? Not sure. I taste far more chocolate in some good non-flavored teas hehe. The banana was good, not too candy-like but still not authentic and it was on the strong side and rather sweet (at least to me). It was a creamy tea and overall a nice cup of tea. If you love sweet banana, I think you’d like this one.

I love bananas but I like them on the green side, and so while this was decent, it’s not a favorite. There are some floral notes as well.

This wasn’t a bad cup, but the chocolate is non-existent and the banana is weak. I used up the rest of my sample (~1.5 tsp) and steeped for 15+ minutes. More of a lightly fruity black tea. Still a nice morning cup.

Not bad,I have done it.

I receieved this in QueenOfTarts stash sale. Thank you!

The flavor is great in this, but I want MORE. Like in your face more. It is like drinking slightly flavored tea. See its all about that base, about that base, no treble. … I want more from the base. I want it to be deep and cocoa-y and then have this awesome banana flavor sitting on top. So this one gets a meh from me. The flavor is perfect just very weak.