Lights on the Bayou

Cold Brew!

Trying this one tonight while I work on catching up on tasting notes. I love banana teas so much so when I was placing my order this was top of the list out of the newer blends for me to add – even with the green tea and chamomile inclusions.

The dry leaf smelled very good – super intense and sweet banana in that way that rides the line of banana taffy and the delicious banana flavoured medicine you’d get as a kid. For sure not for everyone, but it had me salivating!

The cold brew is… interesting. It does start off with that banana medicine sort of flavour albeit a lot less sweet than you’d think it would be, and there’s even an undertone that’s a bit chocolate-like. However, the finish is, like, actually medicinal. Not in the fun penicillin way, but in the more bitter and unpleasant.It’s not as bad as it could be (I’m drinking through it), but I wonder how much of that is because this is a cold brew and this style of brewing tends to really scale back bitterness and astringency. I also really hate the inclusion of chamomile. In general I feel like it’s a dumb ingredient to add to caffeinated teas, but it’s musty floral note also isn’t helping with this finishing flavour IMO…

I think I need to try this again hot to really decide how I feel. As of right now, it’s not living up to my expectations but I have this sneaking suspicion it might be one of those teas with a learning curve where you have to get your brewing just right.

Honestly, this blend was kind of lackluster for me. It smells heavily like banana but its more of an aftertaste to me. I didn’t get the desserty aspect either so it tasted like mushy bananas and black tea watered down with green tea.