Happy

Sipdown, 197. Hmmm just noticed that my past two teas have been “happy” themed. Maybe I am trying to subconciously improve my mood since I had to get up early and I have a headache. :P Thanks to GiggleGoddess for this sample.

I was curious about this tea because it is a guyusa, and I wanted to see how it compares to Butiki’s guyusa blends. Not that I am looking for a replacement, but more just curiosity. As for steeping parameters, I can understand them for guyusa and green rooibos, but I just realized there’s also jasmine green tea in this blend. Glad I dropped the steep temp to Stacy’s for guyusa.

Woah this tea is getting very dark very fast, but it smells pretty tasty. It’s got that green, leafy guyusa smell, but it also smells sweet and fruity as well. It smells like strawberries, but even though it doesn’t smell like fresh strawberries, it’s not quite candy either. More like macerated strawberries you would get with strawberry shortcake.

This is pretty tasty! Very strawberry, but surprisingly I like it considering I am usually not the biggest fan of strawberry flavor. The guyusa keeps the strawberry from getting to sugary/candy sweet, and gives it a green note that works well. The hibiscus and rose hips in this must be pretty subtle because I can’t really tell that they are in there. There is maybe a hint of tartness in some sips but again that helps cut down on what could be an overly tooth-aching flavor. Anyway, this is a pretty tasty blend and it reminds me that I should pick up some more guyusa blends.

Tea #21 from Another Traveling Tea Box

My first introduction to guyusa was made pretty recently when JustJames sent me Butiki’s Apricot Guyusa in our epic swap. I really enjoyed it so I wanted to see how this compared.

The dry leaf of this tea smells amazing as does the brewed tea. It has such a strong fruit scent to it and a really nice strawberry flavor. While the strawberries don’t taste fresh, they do taste much more realistic than many I’ve had. I can’t really taste the hibiscus, which is a relief, it just adds a hint of tartness to the mix, balancing the sweetness from the strawberry.

This is my second tea from Art of Tea and I think I’ll have to place an order with them soon. I really enjoyed this tea and it will not be continuing on.

Finally had a chance to cold brew this tea. And boy, is it delicious. The fruit flavor is toned down when it’s cold brewed, though. I’m not sure if I like that or not, but it makes the tea lighter. It was really nice with some sugar.

Backlogging…

I had my first cup today…it smells amazing! I could definitely smell the strawberries…the smell ALONE makes me happy:) I could taste the fruitiness mostly once it was brewed. I wish it was a little sweeter (perhaps if they put in stevia leaves in the blend it would make it yummier?) I can’t remember all the fine/little tasting notes of the tea so I’ll keep this review short and SWEET. I’ll increase my rating points by a few for just the smell alone.

May Flowers! This is one of my oldest samplers, so it’s time I finally tend to it (at least there is no coconut in it, so dodged a bullet there!) This is a guayusa tea blended with jasmine green tea (I admittedly can’t stand a plain, heavily-scented jasmine tea, but have found I’m usually fine when it’s blended with other things so it’s more subtle), and it also has some hibiscus petals as well as some strawberry (since my sampler was before they changed the formula to raspberry) and rosehip to add some other fruity notes.

Brewed up warm, this tea has a very odd aroma… I’m getting a somewhat tobacco smoky but somewhat earthy scent from the guayusa, but it is mixed with a very sweet floral aroma. Honestly, I don’t think the two really pair all that well, and after tasting the tea, I feel about the same. The flavor of the guayusa is a bit dominating and that smoky flavor sticks out a bit rather than really mixing well with the floral jasmine and soft, underlying fruity notes. It feels a little off. I think if it was a little more subdued it would be better, or maybe if the tea was somehow a little more naturally sweet, somehow the profile would work better. Since I still have quite a bit of the sampler left, I do plan to play around with brew amounts, water temperature, and steep time, and see if I can’t get a more favorable tasting cup out of this. I feel there may be potential, but for now I’m not impressed.

The batch of iced tea I made is a bit more pleasant; the guayusa is still a little stronger than I’d prefer, but much more subdued overall than my warm cup, with far more of the sweeter strawberry and floral jasmine notes coming through. Since my iced tea batch was prepared by cold steeping overnight, this definitely makes me think that experimenting with colder water temperatures and shorter steep times than what Art of Tea recommends may be the secret to a tastier warm cup. But if all else fails, I definitely can sip this down making iced tea!

We used to have this tea every week in my reading group and it was loved by everyone equally and promoted thoughtful conversation and good listening! Lovely plain, with honey, or sugar. Bright, fruit without being fake or false or artificial.

Sample from Tea Sipper. Thank you!

This is a really interesting combination of flavors. It’s earthy and slightly grassy but those flavors are juxtaposed with a lovely strawberry flavor that has some sweetness and some sourness. It makes me think of strawberry picking, which is something I haven’t done in years. I think this is the first gyayusa blend I’ve tried that I would be interested in buying more of. A unique and appealing blend. This is definitely a Happy Tea!

Not my favorite, the strawberry flavoring is too overwhelming.

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox Round #3 – Tea #12
This one sounded like an interesting combination of ingredients! (And I could have used some happy today.) Upon opening the pouch it smells like super sweet strawberry. The blend itself looks like plain guayusa. I don’t miss the hibiscus.. hibiscus does NOT make me happy,in tea anyway… looking at those big gorgeous flowers is different! But the ripe candy strawberry is a really nice pairing with the guayusa flavors. I would have liked the apple and jasmine to make an appearance though. I’m saving a couple teaspoons of this one for later! Also, since this is guayusa I wouldn’t steep more than a teaspoon at a time.
Steep #1 // 10 min after boiling // 3 min

Happy Tea Makes me Happy!

I’m a huge guayusa fan. I’ve been drinking it for over a year. Every morning I mix plain guayusa with other teas. It’s great to see that Art of Tea is mixing guayusa with other teas and flavors—now I don’t have to!
This particular blend is amazing; and my first Art of Tea tea that I’ve tried. I can’t wait to try more. I really enjoy the fruit flavor-it does not have that artificial fruity taste that I detect in other teas. Thank you for making this blend. I hope Art of Tea continues to expand their guayusa flavors.