Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups! You all seemed to love my last How Do You Brew? Tea blending experiment/ recipe post, so I thought it was about time I did another one. With Easter coming up I wanted to try and make this one an indulgent sweet treat blend that you could even gift to family and friends for Easter if they aren’t really fans of chocolate but still want to have a sweet treat. I know there are lots of tea theme Easter gifts on the market now, but nothing beats a personal gift that you can work on yourself.

So what teas do I use for my Banana Pancake Blend? All the teas I used for this blend are from T2 Tea (I know …. What a surprise!), I used T2’s New York Breakfast for the Pancake element of this blend and for the banana element I used T2’s Banana Bake, both are black tea-based blends that are completely vegan friendly. The New York Breakfast is much stronger than the Banana Bake is so when I do blend the two I tend to use a little more banana bake so that the banana note is strong enough to come though when they’re blended together. I normally add a small amount of sugar to this blend (I go for Rock sugar, but normal sugar is fine as well) I find that that slight sweetness helps to enhance the banana notes and brings out the vanilla a little more in the New York breakfast as well. To blend it all together I find that a pestle and mortar is the best as it enables you to mix everything thoroughly and grind down the rock sugar into small enough pieces.

Overall, I think this tea blending experiment worked out really well and I’ll certainly be making it a lot throughout the rest of this year. It’s incredibly indulgent and will be perfect for those times that I just need a quick sweet treat (It’s probably much better for me than any sweet treat out there as well.) I won’t bore you all with the many reasons Love T2, but I just want to take a moment to applaud them for being so creative with their blends. Their creative flavours allow me to experiment to no end and gain more knowledge as I go and I’m very thankful for that. While I do drink this blend straight sometimes it’s perfect for latte, so I thought I’d share my banana pancake latte recipe with you in this post as well.

What you will need: T2 New York Breakfast, T2 Banana Bake, Agave (you won’t need much because of the sugar you added when blending) and Soya Milk (I fill my latte glass up twice and measure out my milk that way it’s just so much easier) – Set a little aside for frothing as well. | The only equipment you will need is A small saucepan, A T2 Perfect Spoon (not essential but handy), a latte glass or mug and a milk frother. (Serves 2)

How to make it

– Blend the tea (When I blend it to make lattes because I steep in milk I make it a little stronger than normal – I use 2 perfect scoops of New York Breakfast and 3 Perfect scoops of Banana Bake) & Measure out your soya milk. Add both to your sauce pan with the agave and steep on a medium heat (it’s black tea so you can allow it to boil but this often makes soya milk split so I wouldn’t suggest it) – Be sure to stir it well as the leaves will stick the to bottom of the pan if it gets too hot.

– Once its done steeping, strain the leaves and transfer the latte to your chosen mug or latte glass. (remember to compost your leaves – they will help your plants grow and they are completely bio-degradable)

– Heat the milk that you set aside for frothing/topping your latte and froth to your hearts content. The reason I use soya milk is because I find that it makes for the best froth – I discovered this at my T2 chai masterclass and I’ve not looked back since. Once I’ve added the frothed milk to my latte I sprinkle with a little coco power if I have it in the house – It just finishes it off well and makes it a little more indulgent.

– And finally, … Drink to your hearts content and indulge in a delicious sweet treat.

I really enjoy doing tea blending experiments and I’m going to try and do my best throughout the year to do more and share them with you all. If you have any specific flavours you would like to see featured in my blending experiments let me know and I’ll do my best to try and make them happen. If you’d like to have a go at this blending experiment yourself, you can find both the teas I used here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on twitter (@teaisawishblog) and I’ll answer them as soon as I can.

Speak to you all on Friday. Happy Steeping! – Kimberley