Banana Coconut is a caffeine free herbal/rooibos blend of chamomile, coconut and banana. This tea comes from The Persimmon Tree, a great online loose leaf tea seller.
(FYI, this tea was previously called Banana Dulce and went through a recent name change, hence why my tin has the old name on it. It is still the same blend!)
I need more caffeine free teas in my life. Unfortunately, I’m not huge on rooibos or chamomile – which is often used for caffeine free blends. Regardless, I still order teas with rooibos or chamomile as I’ll try about anything and I don’t want to miss out on any gems. The Persimmon Tree has never disappointed me – their teas are expertly blended and their coconut teas are amazing! I trust Banana Coconut is a safe bet to be delicious!
DRY LEAF: I made a mistake of taking a big sniff of this tea, causing lots of chamomile and rooibos bits to fly up my nose. What I did smell was chamomile. I’m not trusting my nose to smell this tea again!
Appearance wise, Banana Coconut has whole chamomile flowers, rooibos, lemongrass, mystery brown lumps (bananas I’m guessing), coconut shreds and lavender. Lemongrass and Lavender? Weiiiiiiiird.
STEEPED: Dark golden coloured tea that smells slightly caramelly.
Beautiful steep colour here – as it steeps, it became gold, slowly transitioning to a deeper browner gold!
I had to do the photo shoot with a slice of just-out-of-the-oven homemade banana bread! YUM!
TASTE: Chamomile herby flavor upfront with lovely deep caramel, graham flavors with a slightly sweet banana finish. For some sips, I can pick up a little lavender which adds a nice comforting effect. Slight silky creamy texture remains after my sip. I didn’t notice I was drinking rooibos – but I’m guess it contributed to the caramel/graham flavor. I did not taste the lemongrass.
Sweetened with rock sugar, the caramel is almost brown sugar tasting now, which pulls out the banana flavor more! Still chamomilly, but more into the dessert zone.
SHOOOOOT! I just realized that I did a 4 minute steeping – following the rooibos steep times. On the website, it cites a 5-7 steep. Whoops. Oh well, mistakes happen and experimenting with tea is fun!
Round 2! FIGHT!
As a 6 minute steep at 200F, Banana Coconut is sweeter upfront, with a brush of woody chamomile, finishing off with creamy sweet caramelly banana. The balance between the chamomile and sweet is much better with the longer steep. As the tea cools, more and more banana caramel flavor, with the chamomile adding to the sweetness. Sweetened, Banana Coconut has a stronger banana taste, moreso than the 4 minute steep.
As a latte sweetened with honey, the chamomile flavor is still there, but pretty light. The chamomile is just a quick herby bite right at the beginning of sip. I can finally pick out the rooibos a bit, and lots of brown sugar taste. Banana Coconut lattes finishes with soft natural banana flavor. Banana Coconut tea latte is amazingly soothing and mellow – a perfect milky drink before bed!
Mr. Owly approved!
It is decided – 6 minute steep for Banana Coconut! Sweetened or as a latte! WIN!
COMMENTS: Broken down, Banana Coconut has an interesting mix of ingredients, expertly blended by The Persimmon Tree. With the combination of flavors of Banana Coconut, it is like an indulgent comfort food plus relaxing tea, that is not at all a guilty treat!
Sweetened Banana Coconut is a bit hit with me – my plain rock sugar did fine, but the honey was even better. I think brown rock sugar would do a great job with this tea – The Persimmon Tree’s german rock sugar is a good deal that I plan to snag once I’m out of my rock sugar. Or maybe try amber agave syrup for a more maple flavor.
This chamomile and rooibos blend has won me over, so I think you tea peeps will dig Banana Coconut too!
Try Banana Coconut with this tasty PROMO CODE
OolongOwlBC
10% off Banana Coconut – good through February 20th, 2013.
