The Cheshire Cat's Tea

The random number generator is into banana teas today since this and Gizmo’s Midnight Snack are the two teas it randomly selected – both blends with banana. I mostly get pepper-y honeybush. Some coconut maybe. I want more banana so I am hoping that will come through as it cools more.

I mostly taste the honeybush, with a bit of rooibos and coconut. I can’t taste the banana. I made it hot and let it cool for five minutes, as instructed.

It cooled off a lot before I finished it. I added some ice, and it’s good that way too. The rooibos stands out a bit more when iced. Something tastes almost minty now, odd. I like it.

I love banana teas. 52Teas seems to be especially good at using banana flavoring. I was excited to get this in a mystery pack from 52Teas, because I was always weary of trying this one because of the rooibos. Unfortunately for me I find the woodiness of the rooibos pretty dominant. The banana is very present as well, which is nice, but the rooibos kills it for me.

Ok, just a quickie to start tonight off, I’m gonna begin this by letting yinz know this is somewhat outside my comfort zone as far as teas go. It’s got coconut and banana, both of which are not my favorite flavor profiles, but I wanted to, how should I put this, I wanted to try something that I wouldn’t normally drink tonight. So Cheshire Cat it is.

I steeped this Western, Keurig water, 4.5g/12oz/9min. One of these days I will invest in a water thermometer so I can gauge what temp my Keurig brews water at. Today is not that day. Tomorrow has potential, but don’t hold your breath.

Taste without sugar is… Ok, I don’t know what that is. There’s heavy woodiness from the Honeybush, and I can taste the banana and coconut. But I think I would like it better with Splenda.

Flavor with one Splenda? Much better. The sweetness is bringing out the coconut and the banana while calming down the WOOD! a lot. Yes, this is much better. This is something I believe I could enjoy. As I said, it’s out of my safe zone; it’s not like anything I would drink on a regular basis. But maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I’ve been drinking too many “safe” teas. Perhaps I need to put myself out there and experiment. After all: not all new foods can be tried via a dream.

(To explain, I don’t usually try new flavors or foods outside what I know I like. The exception is when I wake up from a dream where I was eating something I don’t normally eat, and then I can’t be satisfied until I try that new food IRL. That’s legitimately how I learned I liked several new foods, including buffalo wings, blue cheese, and salt and vinegar chips. I have weird dreams guys!)

Anyway, back to the tea. This is really good. It’s something different, and while I can’t compare this to other banana teas (this is my first), I think it’s a good starting point. The banana isn’t overwhelming, and it meshes well with the other flavors. Just realize that it has a heavy wood leaning, so if drinking lumber isn’t your thing, I would avoid it.

I said this would be a quickie. I lied. OOPS.

Finishing this up tonight..kiddo in bed and now ian and i can sit and try and play a game or two before we crash early haha. Been a long day. Happy to be finishing this year out in fine tea form. achieved all my sipdown goals!

13 teas (370g); 7 puerh (795g). I have a bunch of tea coming in the new year because i treated myself with my work bonus (and ‘cause i’ll be back at work soon enough) but that’s a problem for next year haha!

(52teas (Anne) 2022: 216)

Noooo, do not like this one. I taste the banana and coconut a bit, but I think it’s the marshmallow root that’s hitting me the wrong way, combined with the rooibos. It’s kind of a musty, woody staleness. I really don’t much care for it.