Banana Oolong (Organic)

I reached the end of my first 50g packet of this today… and unfortunately I think the bottom was laced with extra stevia. Consequently, it was disturbingly and sickeningly sweet :( Still the tasty oolong/banana flavours, but tainted by sweetness. Sigh.

I finally made it to the new David’s tea in San Francisco! I picked this tea to try in the store. I don’t know what water temperature this was at. To me it seemed really hot since it took me a while to finish this. I was surprised at how buttery the oolong was, and the banana was present but not totally overpowering. I liked this pretty well for a flavored tea but I think it might be even better with a touch of sugar.

Sipdown (204/206)!

Cold brewed overnight and half drank in the morning and half at work in a timolino. Total cold brew time was 12 hours.

I’m pretty excited to see this gone because it was an older tea and yet another unnecessary DT blend to keep around, especially since I wasn’t too impressed with it. However, I will say that it was better cold brewed than hot; it had a stronger banana flavour overall, although the oolong was still very unpleasant and floral.

I can’t help but wonder if this would have been much better if I’d acquired it fresh. I suppose that’s something I can revisit should DT ever decide to bring this back – but for now it’s out of cupboard and out of mind.

I got a big box of teas in from greatlin yesterday! Thanks so much! After my successful go with the mandarin silk oolong the day before, I was craving even more oolong. I knew that this was one that she was sending, so I hunted through the box for it. Unfortunately, I can’t remember how it smelled dry, but after steeping it was like wonderful banana heaven. I was expecting this to have the fake banana flavor, but it tastes like actual bananas. The creamy banana goodness and the oolong go together so perfectly! Definitely getting more of this!

I made a huge David’s Tea order a looong time ago. It was pretty large and I have done a terrible job at trying them. I am leaving to Europe on vacation Tuesday, so I decided that I would go ahead and try a few more of them. This is one I have been looking forward to. Bananas are everywhere here in Ecuador. There are a bunch of varieties (from normal yellow ones, red ones, green ones, small super sweet ones…) and they are eaten in every way imaginable, both salty and sweet. Oolong and banana? Sounds delicious.

The dry leaves were a beautiful emerald green with small cubes of banana mixed in. The scent was surprisingly smooth oolong with a hint of natural banana! I was expecting artificial candy type banana. This was a pleasant surprise! I brewed 2 teaspoons to my 12oz tea cup. The scent while brewing was almost entirely oolong, but a sweet creamy oolong. Exactly the kind I like!

Once brewed the scent was oolong with a hint of banana. It smelled sort of like what a fresh head of bananas smells right after it has been picked: a mix of sweetness, grass, fruity banana, and cream. So inviting… I could barely wait for it to cool down enough to sip.

The first brew was smooth and creamy oolong with a hint of banana at the end of every sip. There was a nice hint of banana to the scent that was delightful. The second brew was a tiny bit stronger on the banana flavor and the oonlong was sweeter. I always find second oolong steeps to be my favorite! Both brews were really sweet and no sweetener was necessary to enhance the flavor. If you like oolong, especially milk oolongs, you should give this a try!

My boyfriend sniffed it and asked to try it. He says it tastes like a sweet large banana we have that we usually bake or fry that we call Maqueño in Ecuador. It is delicious baked with mozzarella cheese melted on top…

I bought 250 grams of this a while ago. And now it is not calling me anymore. I had it a lot at first and then i haven’t had it for a few months. Tried it today and it’s sort of … Meh. Didn’t sweeten it so maybe that’s the reason it’s not making me swoon. It’s still a trusty tea, tastes like banana oolong should. Not too fake, banana does not overpower, but all I can think of is how my della terra teas are coming soon and I will have more choices in my cupboard.

I hate when this happens:

I’m steeping tea. 3 or 4 minutes left on the timer. All of the sudden, I need to go to the bathroom, now! (probably result from drinking so much tea).
The options are:
A. pull the leaves out early and have a light cup of tea.
B. run to the bathroom and risk oversteeping
C. dance around the tea pot like an idiot, holding it in until the tea is done.
D. Compromise and hold out as long as I can, pulling the tea out with a minute or 30 seconds left.

I did a combination of C and D.

Onto the Banana Oolong – I’ve enjoyed this tea and on the dredges of the bag. The leaves are kinda in tiny flake mode and ARRRGGGG the taste is off! Like I ate a mouthful of stevia. Unless all that stevia was on the bottom of the bag? BLEECCCK! Poor Banana Oolong. Unless this was the result of me dancing around the pot and pulling out the tea early.. ehhhhhhhhh.

Thank you TeaFairy for this yummy sample!

Tonight I had an early dinner of fish with Thai Sweet Chili Sauce with some Injera Bread left from the Eritrean dinner last night. I love that savory and sweet spice combination. Um.
After sitting for a bit I decided to try this Banana Oolong before having an ice cold orange for desert and later a square of dark chocolate before bedtime. Little bites of delight are how I celebrate and enjoy my life. And tea plays a big part in that picture!
TeaFairy had plastered a note on the foil packet containing this tea that said “One of my Favorites” in big purple letters. The dry tea had little dehydrated chunks of what I was assuming was banana. (Better than artificial flavoring)
My steep time was 5.5 minutes and produced a clear, light yellow brew that tasted like rich, creamy, warming oolong with a tender and light banana flavor. What a relief that the banana wasn’t a “Screamin Banana” (can you feel me here), but was gentle and true.

Since my dinner was over, I added some sweetening for that “AH” dessert tea-lishous cup, and another. It was very good.
I would drink this oolong over and over again. It is organic, and subtle. More of what I am looking for in a flavored tea these days. I seem to be changing.

(Oh Davids Tea is not entirely correct in saying a banana is an herb. It is an
herbaceous plant…a herb and a fruit….it has no woody stalk so it’s not a tree but has male/female parts, and the banana has black seeds so it is a fruit. It is BOTH)

The first sip of this completely threw me off guard. One moment I was enjoying the lovely flavours that green oolong seems to have, the next moment it felt like I had very sweet smushed bananas pressed against the back of my mouth. I thought it was some kind of weird not-sugar splenda thing but as I continued sipping it became clear that it was all bananas. It’s a little disconcerting how dramatic the bananas are, to be honest. They taste more “real” than the oolong- which makes the transition between the two slightly awkward.

I picked up one of the banana cubes in the wet leaves and they taste like one would expect, although a tad sweeter. Maybe I should steep it longer to bring out more oolong.

Second Steep at six minutes: The liquid smells so good! I have a hard time describing oolong but the aroma is a mixture of that and fresh banana. This is a vast improvement; the banana and oolong flavours no longer feel like their divided by a Pink Floyd-esque wall of social contact. Smooth transition is achieved. The oolong is milky and buttery; the banana is creamy sweet and the liveliest I’ve ever tasted it in tea.

Third steep is my ideal cup. Mostly creamy green oolong with the light banana sweetness faded mostly to the background.

I don’t know what gives with my first steep. If I had based my judgement on that I would have given something around a “70”. As it turns out, repeated steeps make this something I want to keep around.

Holy yum.

This is creamy banana amazing goodness. mmm just sweet enough. I ate one of the dehydrated bananas and it tasted like one of those banana marshmallows, but the tea itself was very real. Like a banana-bread flavour… no. More like a vanilla smoothie with a fresh banana blended in!

srsly.

So the leaf grade is not as high quality as David’s Milk Oolong, it comes out a tiny bit more chopped up, but I still got a quality 3 steeps out of 1 1/4 teaspoons in a 12 ounce cup. The third steep lost most banana flavour, but was still creamy oolong goodness and no bitterness.

Winning!