Apricot Guayusa

So I’ve been slacking in the posting department for the past couple of days and that’s likely to continue. I’m guessing i’m going to need to do some serious backlogging when I get back from vacation. I ordered this as part of Butiki’s Summer Sampler before it went away. I love the mango lassi and cantelope and cream so I figured it was a safe bet and a chance to try this one and the almond indulgence (stacy was out of pistachio ice cream so i scored this one instead, which is A-ok by me!). Anyway this is a really nice apricot tea. As is usually the case with stacy’s tea it’s subtle but not lacking. What I like about this tea is the earthy spricot taste that others have commented on. It’s not that artificial taste of apricot that so many drinks try and fail at. Once again, colour me happy with stacy’s wonderful teas

WOOOT! Butiki tea order! Ohh yeah! All the teas I got smell great!

Very excited to Apricot Guayusa after having that tea trade sample of Tangerine Creamsicle – thats the great thing about tea trades, you can get introduced to new teas!

Yesterday was stressful from the rabbit neutering – he’s home and this morning he’s 80% back to normal and recovering well. I just had that one black tea and some cold steeped tea in the morning, I should of drank more tea yesterday to feel less stressed out.

Onto Apricot Guayusa!

DRY: creamy… creamy? Fruity smell. Lots of big bits of calendula, I made an attempt to mix the tea incase those flower things were sneaking up to the top, but it looks like the flowers are pretty generous and evenly distributed.

STEEPED: Light, smooth and fruity. Yellowy brown liquid.

TASTE: Smooth and slightly creamy taste almost with a bit of earthyness (the guayusa I’m guessing). Aftertaste of apricot, subtly sweet – and by apricot I mean I can imagine the flesh and the skin of the apricot blended in. No bitterness, tartness or grassyness. As the tea cools, more apricot and sweetness.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: someone wanting to be introduced to guayusa. I find this tea to be much more gentle on grassyness compared to Tangerine Creamsicle.

COMMENTS: I was almost wondering if this would taste like I ate half my apricot and I dropped in on the grass after trying Tangerine Creamsicle. Apricot Guayusa is on the earthy creamy side rather than grassy.

I could see adding a sweetner would make it more apricoty but I find this tea to be enjoyable as is. I love the depth of this tea, even though it has minimal ingredients – the apricot is natural tasting, the guayusa is creamy and earthy.
And yes, starting to feel full again from the guayusa – very weird (but good, I’m doing a 20lb jiu jitsu weight loss challenge on my blog, so I need all the help I can get!)

Very awesome! I can’t wait to try more Butiki teas – but also I need to have more guayusa blends.
/searches steepster wow, there isn’t many guayusa tea blends out there! I can think up some crazy teas!

The smell reminds me of pu’erh, not that I’m terribly experienced with them however! I think it’s mostly an earthiness that I’m getting, along with a bit of fruitiness.

The flavour unfortunately just isn’t doing it for me. All I’m getting is an earthy sort of taste with a touch of sweetness and maybe a suggestion of fruit, which I’m not finding terribly appealing. Ok… a few more sips in and the sweet fruity flavour has intensified a bit and I’m finding it more pleasant, and less earthy. I should temper all this with the fact that I do have a cold and although I can still taste things, it’s entirely possibly that things are a little wonky.

Anyways, I think I have one more guayasa in my stash to try (also from Butiki), but it may just be that guayasa is not for me. Perhaps a bit mixed into a different herbal tea would work better for me if this actually gives me a caffeine kick (kiiind of hoping not, since it’s 10:30pm), but I’ll try that later. I think I might prefer the flavouring in this one to the only other guayasa I’ve tried, DavidsTea’s Jungle Ju Ju, but neither is something I’m likely ever to crave.

ETA: I removed my rating from this, because it’s probably not fair to judge this tea since I appear to not be fond of guayasa itself. Personally, I’d give it a rating of 63, but for people who do enjoy guayasa I imagine that this is a fabulously flavoured version of it more deserving of a rating in the 80s.

This is my first experience with guayusa – I only got a small bag of this because I wasn’t sure about it but am open to new caffeinated beverages since I quit drinking coffee over a year ago due to heartburn.

My first impression is good – I like this! It’s earthy and slightly sweet and is definitely not as herbaly and bitter as mate. The apricot flavor is a nice touch here, it is fairly subtle but that’s much better than being overly fake or cloying.

I did do a resteep for about 8 minutes and although the apricot flavor has diminished quite a bit it is still a very pleasant drink. Glad I tried it!

I’ve been on a bit of a Steepster hiatus since my past few days of tea drinking have been kind of boring—I was at my parents’ house so I went to my old standby bagged earl grey and lemon herbal, and other than that I’ve been playing around with the sample of my custom blend from Butiki. I’m sure everyone would have been enthralled by 5 tasting notes for the same tea in 2 days! Time for something different tonight, so I reached for one of the Butiki samples I got from the awesome Krystaleyn. I love apricot and am in the mood for something new!

This is my first experience with guayusa—I’ve been a bit nervous to try it after reading some tasting notes describing it as plant-y. Well… it is! But not in a bad way. It tastes like fresh-cut grass, and smells like maple tree leaves in the spring when they’re bright and green and new. It’s herbal without a specific herb taste, and is wonderfully new tasting. It’s less plant-y than it is bud-y. It evokes some kind of odd nostalgia in me—when I was younger I used to go out after the rain and pull up blades of grass so I could see the new, soft green part coated in dew… and then I’d munch on them. I know it’s pretty weird, but it was so fresh and sweet, like veggies straight from the ground. That’s what this tea reminds me of! The sweetness is from the apricot, which is so subtle and light. I think I’m going to have to order some of this asap… as soon as I get some more tea funds.

I needed a bit of an energy boost this morning and this certainly did the trick. The apricot is subtle and slightly sweet, with that earthy grassy Guayusa base.
I have to admit, Guayusa isn’t my favourite base, but this is a decent tea.

Edit: chilled, this tea still has those light apricot notes, but seems sweeter somehow. I think I will drink this tea chilled from now on.

Another sample from Stacy at Butiki…Thanks! I have avoided Apricot flavored tea’s. They seem to go all sour and bitter. Is it just me? Have you noticed that too? It takes nerve for me to try this tea and the only way I’m trying it is because it doesn’t say ‘Black Tea’ but Guayusa…so I’ll give it a try.
I had some California Rolls for dinner with WASABI! I really love WASABI with soy sauce and pickled ginger. Oh yeh! I was thinking that the Apricot Guayusa would be a nice after dinner drink which proved to be so true.
This is a Brilliant and restrained version of Apricot Tea. The best Apricot Tea I’ve had or am likely to have. I don’t think I’ll even try any others. No bitter overdone sour fruit here but subtle, mellow and round flavors, almost melon like. There is warmth. If you’ve ever eaten an apricot right off the tree…when it is warm and fuzzy…then you have had this melony creamy flavor that has no acidity. Truth is that some sweetening enhances the apricot flavor and brings the fruit alive in your mouth.
For all those who are Apricot Tea haters, give this a try. I think you will be won over!

Remember, remember the 5th of November.

It’s Guy Fawkes day today. It has nothing to do with this review, just so everyone knows. :P I feel like I should watch V for Vendetta tonight, hmmm…

I have had this tea in my cupboard for a long time. Thanks to Tigress Al for this in a swap.

This one smells quite nice. Very lightly sweet floral, reminds me of honeysuckle. There is a smell almost like dried apricots. But not super dried out crumbly fruit, but like a dried apricot that is still a bit squishy and has some softness to it.

On first sip it is not too bad. Tastes like sweet and earthy guayasa. I would say it is reminding me of orange blossoms, could be apricot blossoms but I don’t think I have ever smelled (or tasted those). I re-read the description which recommends to add some sweetener to bring out the apricot. So I added a bit of sugar twin, not my usual choice but it is all I have at work. It is almost like adding more sweetener makes it less sweet, not sure what is happening here. I would not say that adding the sweetener brought out more of an apricot taste. But it does make the liquor feel thicker. There is a generic stone fruit taste to me. Not necessarily apricot.

As I let the cup cool further, once it is quite cool, there is a mild apricot flavour in the aftertaste.

Overall a good blend. Not sure if I would describe it as apricot, but I am also and apricot snob when it comes to teas- it is almost impossible to please me if you call a tea

i find myself in unfamiliar territory. i am trying to sort out guayasa.

i’m not sure if i like it or not, thus i will suspend a numerical rating.

the smell is excellent. the visual with the fluffy saffron coloured bits of calendula curled over the chips of guayasa is very cool. the caffeine absorption is nice and smooth, not a rush and i’m not predicting a crash. BUT… i am detecting a twang. it’s the twang that’s throwing me off. i got it with the killer’s vanilla as well… but there were stronger flavours involved.

hmmm.

Thanks Stacy! this was a sample and I put into my travel mug so I could have an afternoon pick me-up and I decided to try this. Well my travel mug is I think 16oz but you in this case I don’t think it made a difference. It’s quite tasty and I highly recommend it. It won’t steal my heart from the awesome Good Morning Sunshine but it is a good alternative. I’ll try some of the other samples tomorrow :D