banana coconut, persimmon tree tea

Spring has sprung and as a result, I've been neglectful. Shame on me!

Ahh Rooibos. We meet again.

We're back today though with a brand spanking new review for Banana Coconut, which is an herbal/rooibos blend from Persimmon Tree Tea.

I hestitantly considered this one, because rooibos and I have something of a disagreement when it comes to my tastes and how it tastes. But banana coconut sounded really luxurious and tasty. Luckily, Persimmon Tree Tea has these darling sample packages at affordable prices.

I snipped a small opening in the bag, warily seeking any hint of over-rooibosing. I found none. There wasn't even a hint of it in the dry leaf. Instead I definitely caught chamomile and coconut. Not really much in the way of banana, though.

It was still banana-y smelling
enough for Monkey to pop
out and check it out

I brewed this up for 5 minutes at 205F and definitely started smelling the rooibos at the 3 minute mark. Uh oh.

The result? All that worrying for nothing. The chamomile and floral aspect is pretty overwhelming in this tea. Maybe too overwhelming. I get the slightest hint of banana and some toasty tasting coconut, but if I’m not looking for those flavors I complete miss them. It tastes like a pot of sweetened chamomile with a tiny banana aftertaste.

I wasn't ready to give up on this tea yet though! It's got to be called Banana Coconut for a reason, and not an elaborate ruse to drink a cup of chamomile, right?  So, I attempted to bring out the other flavors and beat back the chamomile by adding a drizzle of honey. Success! Banana then chamomile. Still losing a lot of the coconut and caramel to chamomile, but at least I taste banana in my banana tea.

Lovely color!

I also did a cold steep of this one, because I thought the flavor profile might lend itself well to that. I was also hoping that it would draw out some different flavors than the standard steep.

There were definitely some different highlights in the cold brew. I get caramel and a lightly toasted nuttiness (from a combination of rooibos and coconut, if I had to guess) with a really light, natural banana flavor. The chamomile is most certainly there, and still in the forefront even, it just makes sure it shares that spot this way.

This tea is preferable when cold steeped, because the flavors are more true to what banana coconut should taste like. The banana flavor is nice and natural and doesn't remind me of banana suckers or runts or candy and I appreciate that. I would have appreciated more of that natural banananess though.


Persimmon Tree Tea