Guayaki

So I bought a gourd and a bombilla with my birthday money. I’ve wanted one for a while but just never actually got one until now. I must say it takes practice to make it right so the leaves don’t come up through the straw. I’ve been drinking mate in it for the past couple days and I’m addicted. I feel cool :] and I feel like it tastes better. Though that part might just be in my head.

So I decided to go running and needed an pick me up before I went. I haven’t had just plain yerba mate for a while now. The flavor is nice. Earthy and a bit woodsy.

Mmm I love me some mate! I love blending it as well. Blended this with some cranberry tea today and it was beyond delicious!

Yerba Mate is one of my favorite teas. It adds such a nice flavor and uplift to my day. It blends well with anything, especially mint!

I’ve been a skeptic of yerba mate for some time now, but when a co-worker offered me a bag I thought I’d give it a try. It was a pleasant surprise.

Great flavor that’s not overwhelming. 5 minute steep seems to be the perfect amount of time to make the tea enjoyable. Can’t say much on the energy front, but just drinking it makes me feel great.

A good mate for sure. I favor the hot mate that you brew yourself, but this bottle is comparable in that you can expect that same deep, earthy flavor. If you are on the run and need some quick energy, a bottle of Guayaki is a good route to take but I wouldnt give it an A+

Not sure how I feel about this one. I have yet to find a chai that is “it”…and after drinking this one, I still haven’t found it.

I need to steep this one for a long time to bring out the flavors. That said, it holds the delightful greenness that I hope for from mate tea. There’s a sweet aftertaste that is almost medicinal—that’s the part that gets me in the wrong way. Still not a bad cup! Warm on a cold day, add a wee bit of milk—what more could you ask for, in the end?

I received a can of this in my Foodzie tasting box for April, but, I didn’t try it until now… mostly because I was a little afraid. My first tastes of Guayaki products were not positive ones, and I worried that this would be more of the same… but this is REALLY quite good. The lime and tamarind offer nice hints of tartness to offset the sweetness (it’s a sweetened beverage), and there is just a hint of ginger in there too. I like how these flavors keep the tisane from being too cloyingly sweet. This is much better tasting – less sweet – than a typical can of soda.

And it is energizing, too, which I needed! I taste the yerba mate, but, it is not as strong as the flavors of lime and tamarind. There is an earthy vegetal note in the background, but nothing too strong and it all works together very nicely.

This is probably not something I’d stock the fridge with, but, it is something that if I found it while I was out and about and in need of something to drink, I’d reach for before I’d choose a soda or the average bottled ready to drink tea, which do tend to be too sweet for my liking.

I steeped for 4 minutes, and drank by itself; I didn’t love the flavor, so I added some soy milk, which really improved it in my opinion.

I finished my bottle of this early in the morning. I had to get up at 3:30 AM to go back to school with my dad and this is just such a nice pick-me-up when I am exhausted. I am sad that I ran out because it was so tasty, but I am keeping the bottle to re-use so I can have a bottle of cold mate in my mini-fridge.

I am normally not that big a fan of bottled teas because most of them are just way too sweet for my liking. But, I love Pomegranate and I am in a current love affair with Guayaki Mate, so I searched high and low for a bottle of this. Luckily, we had it local so I didn’t have to risk $30 on a case of bottled mate and not like it. I shouldn’t have worried anyway.

The taste is very interesting. It it only slightly sweet, but the sweetness is not overwhelming. I get that splash of pomegranate tang and then a note that tastes like ginsing. It does have some tulsi in it, so that may be what I am tasting. It is very good and not very expensive. About two bucks and change for a big, heavy bottle that feels like it is very good quality and two servings of a yummy drink.

I had my fiance try a sip or two and he thought it was very interesting. It was stronger than he was expecting, but he liked it. He read the memory enhancing properties of the tea and teased me for the rest of the night. He’ll just have to wait until I get some of the other flavors to try out. We only have three flavors local to us though, so it might take a while.

One note on the bottled mate: you will want to shake it up before drinking it. Some of the mate powder settles on the bottom and all you get is the slightly bitter pomegranate and really weak mate flavor.

Remember when my tea notes used to have every other one being this yerba mate or another flavored yerba mate? I do and I am not used to drinking it anymore.

I made this with a four minute steep, a good splash of honey, and some microwaved steamed vanilla almond milk. I left out the honey additionally, but I found it a little bitter. Once it is cooled down enough to actually drink, it is good. I wish I could have left out the honey, but I was feeling like a sweetened latte. I couldn’t get a good foam with my almond milk this time, but I don’t have a tool to actually froth or foam my milk with.

It still stands that I would like a goard and bombilla set to try this with. I think it would taste better. And I could use the bombilla with my mug steeped oolongs as well so I don’t feel strange trying not to drink a tea leaf.

Guayaki has all of these recipes for drinks that you can make with mate, so I took inspiration from the juicy recipe idea. I mixed slightly sweetened mate that I made yesterday with a cup of strawberry kiwi juice and had it iced. Wow. Nice and light and juicy with that earthy mate finish. Perfect to have on a hot day. Can you tell I’m in denial about it turning quickly into summer?

I shared this idea with my roommate and she mixed her with cranberry and didn’t put any extra ice in it. I have to make another batch of mate to chill in my bottle again. I’m out. I might have to look into buying another bag at the rate I’ve been drinking this. Or another box of teabags so I can try more flavors. I want to see how many different ways I can have mate.

Note to self: If I add grapefruit juice, make sure to chill the grapefruit that I am eating first. Grapefruit flavored mate would taste better cold.

My fiance helped me get a french press to take back to school so I could make a fair amount of mate easier in the morning at school. Getting the tea ball out first thing in the morning is a little hard to do and I always spill some from my tea pot when I try to put it in my travel mug. So, I had to break it in this morning.

I followed the instructions on the bag and pre-wet the leaves like it said. It tastes so earthy! Earthy, strong, and yummy. I took a sip plain to see what it would taste like and it was strong! But it didn’t get bad-tasting strong like some black tea can when you steep it too long. Then I added milk (unfrothed, sadly) for a nice mate latte. I am convinced that yerba mate will probably go well with everything now. I am thinking about getting a bottle of chocolate to use on indulgent occasions to make mate mochas.

I only did one steep this time, but I am sure that the second steep would have been even better. The french press is also nice and easy to clean as well.

I bought a half pound bag of this when I was at the store last time. It was a risk, but I was betting that I would love my new indulgence. I was right. I do love it down to the very last drop. I brewed this in my teapot and managed to get three steeps out of it. I could have gotten more if I didn’t shake most of the powder out of the tea ball.

The first steeps were roughly at 5 and 10 minutes. The liquid was a nice light honey brown. It smelled nice and I hoped that the unflavored mate tasted as good as the flavored. It tasted very earthy and a tad bitter, but I liked the bitterness. It reminded me of petrichor in taste form instead of scent.

The second steeps were another 5 and 10 minute steep. The liquid this time was a light green, which surprised me. The taste was a little softer, but it started to taste sweeter. I shared this steep with my roommate (she got the longer steep) and said that the taste was lighter than she was expecting. At the end of my cup, I was entertained by the fact that it tasted like I had real sugar in there when I didn’t. I am easily entertained.

The third steep is where I stopped paying attention to how long I was steeping it. I also ran out of water in my kettle, which was fine. The water was a little cooler by now. The liquid in the final steep is a light yellow green. The taste is reminding me more of green tea, but a little earthier than green tea. A slight sweetness is still hitting the back of my tongue, but it is less than the second steep was. So the third is more earthy and less sweet. I am down to sipping it now instead of really drinking it, so I think the balance of earthy and sweet in this cup is spot on.

So, I managed to get six cups of tea and I drank five of them myself. I really like the concept of re-steeping. It lets you get more flavors out of a pot of tea. I really need to get myself a gourd and a bombilla to try mate in the traditional way. But, for now I would be happy with getting a small one-person french press to have a way to make it easier in the morning. That way, I could have this as my morning tea again. Yummy!

This tea was less than mediocre. While it can warm someone up and it light in taste, it hits with a hard sluggish feeling afterwards. It was not spicy, nor did it really have the “chai” flavors. Rather, it tasted like a generic, herbal tea dust that had been forgotten about for a few years in the back of someone’s pantry. Additionally, it left a thick layer or residue along the bottom of my teacup from dusting along the tea bad and that which had escaped it. I was not at all impressed, but I hope to find someone who can enjoy it.

A good daily tea, enjoyable hot or iced.

Ok, I managed to go one day without having a cup or three of yerba mate, but I don’t feel like going more than one day. It just tastes too good!

Compared to the loose leaf teas I have been drinking recently, the cup isn’t as clear as the other ones. But it is the nice chocolate with a hint of spice chocolate mate I remember. I found this bag floating around with my roommate’s stuff. She said she didn’t remember if it was a gift or not, so I took it back. Yummy.

Two cups of tea this morning. I’m going to have to have a glass of water to follow these ones so I don’t get burnt out by the caffeine. Well, more from the caffeine in the mate than anything.

I wanted something comforting tonight. This has been my pick-me up for the last several days and I have finally run out of it. I have to remember to pick another box up the next time I go shopping with my friend. I really, really like this.

It started snowing here today and I had a glass of this tea for lunch and dinner. The sad part is that I only have one more tea bag left. The happy part is that I beat Portal 2 today. Now I have to go back and play the original Portal.

Tea and gaming. Good day.

I think I had this for lunch today. It made me feel a little bit better until I remembered that I only have five or so teabags of it left. I know I have a half pound of plain yerba mate from Guayaki, but these are so convenient!

I haven’t had this for a couple of days, so I had it for lunch.