Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Teenage Summer’

My general aversion to bananas goes back to one greasy teenage summer schlepping banana splits at the Dairy Queen; I’d come home with fiber under my nails and reeking of overripe peels. (To this day, I won’t eat one raw—playing the “it’s a texture thing” card.) Thus, you’ll understand why I approached this tea with a bit of caution.

The first thing that struck me was how pretty this tea is. Heavy on the chamomile flowers, it would be pretty in a potpourri jar. (If you’re a fan of Adagio’s Foxtrot, it’s similar in character, minus the peppermint.) A test sniff didn’t turn me off; didn’t seem too heavy on the banana, so I gave it a go–about a teaspoon per cup, an approximate boil, an approximate five minutes, and …

…wow! The chamomile, banana, and coconut work really nicely together–you can’t really taste where one ends and the other begins. It’s difficult to pick out the other goodies individually, but they blend to make a really pretty red cup of herbal sweetness.

I downed half of my first test batch to prime myself for mowing the lawn; then iced down the rest to reward myself for doing so. Of course, the tea lost a little bit of strength on ice, but that can be remedied next time by upping the steeping strength. I can see Banana Dulce as a base for some add-ins–maybe orange juice or pineapple juice–for some nice, cool summer sipping.

You can purchase the Banana Dulce directly from the Art of Tea website.