We’ve Gone Bananas: When Did the Banana Split Become Coffee?

There was a time when coffee was a pretty simple arrangement. You wanted coffee, you ordered coffee. Maybe you added milk, maybe sugar, and everyone got on with their morning. Apparently, that wasn’t enough excitement for the modern coffee industry. Coffee has become the Frankenstein monster of beverages, with somebody constantly bolting another flavor onto the cup and waiting to see if it survives. Pumpkin, pistachio, cookies, cereal, matcha, cold foam and now, apparently, banana.

Banana coffee is having its moment, with cafés experimenting with banana lattes, banana matcha, banana pudding drinks and banana bread-inspired coffees. Some versions are remarkably simple, combining banana milk or blended banana with milk, ice and espresso or cold brew. Others go completely down the rabbit hole, adding syrups, cream, cold foam and dessert flavors until the original banana is practically sending out an SOS. Banana drinks have been spreading beyond coffee too, showing up in matcha, chai and other cold beverages.

The funny thing is that banana milk isn’t new at all. In South Korea, Binggrae introduced its famous Banana-Flavored Milk in 1974, and it became a cultural favorite. So the banana didn’t suddenly wander into a coffee shop and demand an espresso. It had already established a successful career in milk. Coffee just came along later and decided to recruit it.

And this is where things get wonderfully ridiculous. We used to eat banana bread and drink coffee. Now we’re drinking banana bread coffee. We used to eat banana pudding. Now there are banana pudding lattes. Banana split flavors are getting their turn behind the espresso machine, too. The food hasn’t changed. Our determination to turn it into a beverage has.

Woody Allen made Bananas. Apparently, he was just waiting for coffee to catch up.

That seems to be the bigger trend. We can’t leave anything alone anymore. Oreo became dozens of flavors. Pumpkin spice escaped the pie and invaded practically everything. Coffee has become the latest playground for this obsession with taking something familiar and asking, What else can we do with it? The cup has become a laboratory, and apparently no ingredient is safe.

I was perfectly content with my banana on ice cream and sliced over my waffles. I had no complaints. Then somebody decided the banana needed to get into my coffee, my matcha and apparently every other beverage on the menu. That’s where I have to draw the line. I refuse to be a republic for my taste buds. My banana can stay in the fruit bowl, on my waffles, or under a scoop of ice cream. It does not need a passport.

Maybe banana coffee really is delicious. The combination makes sense. Banana is naturally sweet and creamy, while coffee brings bitterness and acidity. Put them together with milk and ice and you’ve got something that can taste more like a liquid dessert with caffeine than a traditional cup of coffee. I can understand the appeal. I just don’t have to participate.

Because somewhere along the way, ordering coffee stopped being about choosing coffee and became an ingredient audition. Today it’s banana. Tomorrow it could be cheesecake, cereal, or something that makes us question whether we’re having breakfast or drinking it.

The banana split was already doing just fine. Apparently, it just needed a caffeine problem.

Nibbles: South Korea’s banana milk has been around since 1974, meaning the banana was already living a secret second life as milk long before coffee decided it needed a roommate.