Cider Guayusa

Guayusa scares me. I had a cup of bare guayusa a few weeks ago and dumped it down the sink. BUT, after only one third of the to go cup I had a huge energy rush. So, today I woke up exhausted and rushed as it was the first time I didn’t set the alarm for my usual 6 am, but 7 instead. So I brought this to work with me. Man is it good! I put milk and cane sugar in it, that’s how I like my morning tea. It tasted almost bubble gum like!
Thanks to Will Work For Tea for this sample!

Love sent to Stacy @ Butiki for this sample with my order!

I was planning on trying Good Morning Sunshine, but I was craving peanut butter oatmeal. I figured lemon tea would clash, but cider would not. In the end, it didn’t matter as I gobbled up my oatmeal before I started on my tea.

DRY: Earthy scent with a gentle warm baked apple smell. Lots of great big chunks of apple!

STEEPED: Transformed into a strong spicy baked apple smell! Stronger than the smell of the dry tea!

TASTE: Gently earthy and apple taste with spices dancing through the cup. Not bitter, tart or watery. The whole tea is on a mellow level, so nothing is overpowering. The sips also change, some sips I get more earthy guayusa taste, others more spice. The apple reminds me of a baked apple without sugar.

Sweetened with plain rock sugar, the apple brightens and warms up and the tea becomes slightly creamy. Less guayusa earthy taste.

I think I like the non-sweetened version more. There’s a natural sweeteness that does the job enough for me, and I love that guayusa taste.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: Someone who wants a spice tea that isn’t strong. This is a great breakfast tea for someone who drinks cream/sugared chais to switch out to a tea they don’t need the cream and sugar for.

COMMENTS: I love that this tea is not tart at all! No cardamon either, UGGG CARDAMON! I dislike cardamon after a coworker told me try adding cardamon pods to my coffee or chais and it was traumatizingly bad.

Again, guayusa teas make me feel full, and I could barely finish my cup because I was feeling sloshy.

Overall, very good! Tempting to get more than this tea – see if I start craving it and going crazy.

Another tea from the Group Order. :)

I was the only one interested in this tea, so I shrugged my shoulders and got a package to myself.

It’s really good. I’ve never had a guayusa before, so I have nothing to compare it to, but yummers. The apple and spice are nice and subtle, it smells like apple juice, and I’m really enjoying this.

Part of the fun is I’ve decided to try all my teas in some of the tea cups I’ve collected. So far I’ve used (and washed!) 3 tea cups.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=585247051496118&l=d698555422

(Sadly it increased anxiety, so I’m going to have to be careful about when I drink the guayusa teas I now have. Interestingly, regular teas and mate don’t seem to have much of an effect.)

I can smell the guayusa clearly and then some apple and spice notes in there. The first sip was good. Very guayusa with spice and a hint of apple. I added a wee bit of brown sugar and it really makes the apple come out. It’s much more cider-like with the brown sugar.

Update: I cold brewed this one for maybe 12 hours (I can’t remember exactly) and I’m preferring it cold over hot. I’m finding much more of an apple cider taste.

Another of my samples from Butiki, and another first for me as I’ve never tried a guayusa before. I guess this is a funny kind of day to be trying one for the first time, too, but I figure I need waking up. I’ve been feeling so dreary today, maybe this will do the trick.

The dry leaf smells like…cider, as it happens. I usually visit a cider press in the summer with my family, and sniffing this tea takes me right back there. It’s the same beautifully fresh, fermented apple scent. Although the ingredients list specifies other ingredients, at this point apple is all I’m getting, and that’s all right with me.

Brewed, the apple/cider scent comes through even more strongly, and there’s also a definite hint of spice (I think cinnamon and clove, mainly) that I didn’t detect in the dry mix. To taste, the natural sweetness of the apple is just glorious. It almost tastes sticky, if that’s even possible. There’s a slightly dank aftertaste that I’m assuming is the guayusa, but it’s by no means unpleasant. On the scale of my experiences with apple tea, this one is doing pretty well. It’s certaintly the most natural tasting of those I’ve tried so far, and also one of the clearest and strongest in terms of how well the apple translates. It might just be love at first sip. Definetly one I’m glad to have tried, and another I’ll be watching for future orders!

Thank you to Stacy of Butiki Teas for adding this sample with my latest order!

I have found that I just love guayasa. Granted, the only guayasas I have tried have been flavored ones from Butiki, so there’s that, but I haven’t been let down yet. This cup is nice enough, a smooth concoction. However, I can’t get over the smell and taste of banana that I am getting from this brew. I really dislike banana flavor. :-( I think my taster might be broken today, so I am refraining from rating this one. I know Butiki Teas are wonderful and despite the banana thing I drank it all, so it couldn’t have been that terrible!

This one is tricky, because cider is an evening drink for me, and guayusa is something I prefer to drink earlier in the day. It was difficult for me to choose this one as a morning tea, but I did today.

The cider spices work so well with the earthy guayusa, and the apple bits are just the perfect amount of sweet. I had my first cup without the brown sugar, but added it for the second infusion. Delicious either way. I don’t like this one as much as Good Morning Sunshine or my favorite, The Killer’s Vanilla, but it’s still quite delicious.

I ordered some of this in my Butiki order yesterday, since the description and reviews made it sound very tasty (especially at this time of year). Went to dig through my box of samples for something new to try, and lo and behold, I apparently got a sample of this at some point and had completely forgotten about it! I steeped it up, and mmmm, I am so glad I have more on the way!

I have no idea what unflavoured guayusa tastes like, but whatever it is, it melds beautifully with the apple and spices. Yum.

This does taste a lot like apple cider! The apple flavor is great, and while I’m not able to pick out the spices individually (aside from the cinnamon) they do come together to create a convincing flavor. This is my first (and, thus far, only) guayusa. The flavor is very earthy – I’ve seen it compared to wet leaves, and (with the caveat that I’ve never actually eaten wet leaves) I’d say that’s an apt description. I don’t think I’d enjoy it plain, necessarily, but it’s pretty good blended with complementary flavors – on this note, I’m quite curious to try Butiki’s Good Morning Sunshine! Just for reference, I’ve been drinking this hot, no add-ins.

This was a lovely sample from my first tea swap buddy, TeaTiff!

It smells a little savory, but tastes nice and sweet upon sipping. The taste is a bit bland for me, but I think it might grow on me (that, and I steeped it for 5.5 minutes instead of 6 minutes). I like the natural sweetness and neutral grassiness it has and will try it with a bit of sugar next time per the description’s recommendation.