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This is still so lovely. Alas, it’s a sipdown. On the other hand… yay, another sipdown!

Boo, I didn’t put any sugar in the first steep. It’s still quite tasty without the sugar, but a touch of sugar really brings out the creaminess in a most enjoyable way. So I decided to get creative on the second steep and add maple flavored agave syrup. Um… no. That doesn’t work well at all. Lesson learned. Luckily, I still have more! Although at the rate I’m blowing through this bag I’ll need to reorder pretty soon. This is definitely my go-to flavored sweet tea at the moment.

Had this yesterday while cleaning. Still perfectly cantaloupe and creamy. The taste is just dead on, simultaneously soothing and juicy. I only did two steeps. Both were lovely.

Soooo good. Picking up more coffee flavor than last time. This is a sipdown and that makes me sad. Definitely going on the shopping list, if I ever get my stash low enough to justify buying it :)

Thanks to whatshesaid for the sample!

Finishing off the last of this that Sil sent me. I’m liking it better tonight than I have in the past. The dry leaf has a vanilla frosting scent, the brewed tea smells like cake batter, and the brew itself is much improved with the addition of some agave syrup. The sweetness helps bring out the vanilla frosting flavor (though I’m still not getting any cake). The syrup also gives this a smoother mouthfeel than the sugar did, so the frosting doesn’t taste quite so from-the-can. There’s still a weird frosting-flavored after-texture, like a film on the roof of my mouth. It’s not as coarse as it was before, though. Still not a huge fan, but bumping my rating a bit.

Aaaaand sipdown!

This is better than I expected. Even the color is spot-on for gingerbread. The sip starts off bready, with cinnamon and ginger coming in mid-sip. The ginger really lingers on the tongue in just the right quantity, definitely there but not overwhelming. I can see this being a good winter bedtime tea.

Thanks to Sil for the swap.

This one is ok. The strawberry flavor is a little on the artificial side. There’s a nice toffee flavor that comes out mid-sip. I’m not getting the ginger at all. I am picking up a grassy/mossy flavor from the base, which I quite like. Overall, though, it’s kind of meh. BUT. It is a sipdown. Whee!

Well this certainly has a kick! I like how the lemon plays nicely with the guayusa. I wasn’t a fan in the first few sips, but as I kept drinking it the lemon and a touch of creaminess came out more. Also, the lemon flavor is distinctly lemon and not just generically citrus, which is nice.

This is definitely the most enjoyable Butiki guayusa I’ve had to date. The lemon really complements the base. And seriously the caffeine kick is fantastic. Still, it doesn’t completely bowl me over and I’m starting to think that I just might not like the base tea all that much.

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki for the sample, and I get to call this a sipdown!

I steeped this for a long while without watching the clock… maybe a bit over 10 minutes? Anyway it came out wonderfully juicy with a dead-on natural strawberry flavor. Many thanks to Laurent and Sophie at Nina’s Paris for the sample, and I get to call this a sipdown!

This smells so fantastic. All cinnamon and fruit with a touch of nuttiness. Alysha sent this to me a few months ago (thanks!) and it smells so good that I’ve been using it as potpourri in my sweater drawer. With the weather getting chillier, I decided that it was finally time to use it for its intended purpose.

… it’s better as potpourri. Seriously, upon taking the first sip, my instinctive response was to exclaim aloud – to an empty room – that this tea is terrible. It even loses the yummy spicy smell once you brew it. This is just vaguely cinnamon-y hibiscus juice. Blegh. Back in the sweater drawer it goes, and I’m calling this a sipdown because I never want to drink it again.