The Killer’s Vanilla

My first Butiki Teas tea. I was still so tired this morning I thought it’d be a good time to try this one out. I’ve never had a guayusa before but a non-jittery caffeine boost is what I needed. Today we were in for question and answer sessions so I wanted to be alert. It did make me more alert but I still got a little jittery, though it could also be that I was nervous to be interviewed. The effect was not long lasting for me today I got sooo tired in the afternoon I thought I might actually fall asleep in the hallway.

The flavor was a nice balanced blend of vanilla mint, the lavender was not noticeable much for me. I liked it, made me think of cookies and cupcakes… Mmm.

Well I had a whole thing written up about this. I clicked “save” and got an error page. I like the content on this site but I get these error pages a lot, it’s kind of annoying.

I’m gonna summarize what I wrote before rather than try to reconstruct it.

Summary:
- Vanilla/nutty taste, minty finish and aftertaste that is very nice and refreshing.
- I was a little concerned the caffeine might be too much for me – since coffee often leaves me feeling jittery, and I had read this was more like coffee than teas in terms of that. Too me it felt comparable to a black tea, didn’t leave me jittery at all.

Really enjoyed this.

This is the fifth Butiki guayusa that I’ve tried. I’ve been a bit hesitant to try this one, as I detest lavender (especially the smell). I shouldn’t have been worried. It tasted very smooth, I couldn’t detect the lavender, and there wasn’t even a hint of the grassiness that guayusas are known for. Just a nice, almost creamy taste. This is a good combination of flavours. I like mint, but if you don’t, don’t worry, it’s not overpowering here.

I way over-steeped my tea as I’m packing to move and got distracted, so I had it after it had steeped for 20+ min.

An interesting mix of vanilla and mint. I did try to add a little bit of honey, per the suggestion of other reviewers but didn’t find it to add much to the flavor. I definitely felt a bit of calm relaxation despite the claims of high caffeine content so that was nice.

Omg. Cold brewed this tea is totally transformed. It smells like vanilla coke, and it has a hint of cola about the taste too. The lavender is the strongest at first, making a massive change from the hot brew where it doesn’t come through really at all, and as I sip the spearmint becomes slowly stronger. The vanilla is present, but still not particularly strong, and the guayusa is earthy and herbal-tasting in a pleasant way without overpowering the other flavours. It’s hard to describe accurately, but this is nothing like I expected it to be. Cold brewing is the way forward with this one! Upping my rating from 67 because, wow. what a change.

I did not read the ingredients list prior to brewing up the sample someone had sent me of this tea many moons ago….

So I didn’t notice that it had guayasa in it…I was getting some sort of chamomile-like scent, not sure where that came from, but I didn’t care for it. I guess though I love the scent of vanilla+lavender, I could do without the taste.

Cool to try an old tea from my wish list, especially one that no longer exists!

PS – oh hey there. :)

My mom actually asked to drink tea with me last night… this doesn’t happen.
She likes caramel, cherry, and vanilla. Therefore, I chose a vanilla tea because I haven’t had a good one yet and I owned a Butiki one :)
Here’s what I will say about this tea:
1 I wish I could try it fresh
2 I approve
3 My mom wants more… no one tell her, but that isn’t happening

I received a sample of this from Carol Who. I do like vanilla tea, but this is the first time I’ve tried Guayusa. I thought it was a black tea before I brewed it, but now it looks like a dark herbal tea and smells like mint and vanilla. It also tastes like a mint tea. It has more of a plant taste than mint tea, but not much more. The vanilla is more subtle than I would like, but it is good. I doubt I would buy this, but it’s good. I don’t know if I like the idea of a tea that tastes like mint containing caffeine, though… I would only drink this as an alternative to a tea with caffeine, so that makes this tea a bit more impractical.

I have never had a guayusa tea before, so I’m not exactly sure how correct my impressions will be here. I really liked what I think was the base flavor here, kind of reminds me of the outdoorsy (woody? leaf pile-y?) qualities of mate or honeybush without the medicinal quality you sometimes get in rooibos. I was expecting it to have a tinge of dirt flavor when I was reading all these people saying “earth” because earthy to me means dirt—-not exactly in a bad way. The vanilla was light and creamy here, and the mint was more of an afterthought that made it seem refreshing.

I would choose this tea on a lazy weekend morning as opposed to a busy weekday. This feels like the kind of thing to wake up your mind (to chat with friends, read a book, etc.) but didn’t make my body necessarily feel energized. I’m expecting that the Blackberry Lime flavor of Butiki’s guayusa will go more in that direction.

I didn’t read the description very carefully when I ordered this one…I thought it was just vanilla flavored, so the mint was a surprise! It also has an interesting herbal scent that I don’t really care for. Mint is the predominant flavor in my cup, but the vanilla is definitely present as well. There’s also an interesting earthy undertone which I’m guessing must be coming from the guayusa base. An interesting blend overall, but I don’t think I would re-purchase.