Winter Fire

Never for a moment did I think this would live up to the heat of its listed ingredients, even with the little “spicy” warning on the label. There have been too many disappointing run ins with “chili” teas that have all the spice of well boiled bell peppers stuffed with white bread.

Then there’s this, which is just like taking a shot of cayenne sauce and cinnamon. Um, wow! I think my roommate was even taken aback for a moment (the joys of shoving “mystery cups” in front of people and making them drink). She usually has a higher spice tolerance, with all her Indonesian cuisine, so the slight reaction was impressive!

It’s almost like that first sip of Fireball that burns.. Once you get accustomed to it the drink starts to taste sweet, although this is nowhere near as cloyingly sweet as Fireball.

Thanks for this fun sample, Stacy! It arrived just in time to help me stay awake for this paper.

HOLY HELL! So for those of you out there who like spicy…. Go, go now and order this. Now admittedly I don’t have a high tolerance for spicy…but I’m working on it. I actually like this tea, though I can’t drink it haha. The tea is beautiful….this smells like Christmas….but then you take a sip…and it’s liquid spice…actually the initial taste isn’t..and if the entire tea was the initial taste, I could drink this. But hiding behind the initial taste is a spicy fiery ninja of liquid fire! HIYAH! Yah that’s right….

The worst part is…I keep trying to drink it, going omg! When it gets to the back of my tongue..and then forgetting its so spicy and trying again. Kinda like childbirth..but with less mess, a delicious taste and not nearly as painful….so not at all but yeah… Except for the forgetting part.

So go…try this if you enjoy a bit of a kick to your tea :)

WOWZA! This is HOT HOT HOT! WHOA!

It smells like peas, cinnamon, and hot peppers. It tastes like Pepper, hot chili peppers, and fireballs!

BUT…you know what? I like it…it’s different especially for a Guayusa and I think this would be a great assist for those with scratchy throats! I might try cooking with this…white rice sounds like it would fit!

I’m thirsty tonight, I finished my Creamy Eggnog and found myself putting the kettle on for more tea. Not that I’m complaining.

This Winter Fire blend made me sneeze when I sniffed it. Very spicy and peppery with cinnamon and that unique Guayusa scent in the background.

Flavour is a little sweet and super fiery and peppery. The right tea to give you a kick up the backside and make you more alert. Also a little smoky in the background and dry. Maybe dry and misty instead of smoky. It is rather warming.

It’s a hit with my husband and he rarely says that he really likes anything. Usually it’s “Yeah it’s alright” or “Tastes OK” but this time was “Oohh that smells very nice” and “I really like this tea”.

Additional notes: Having this one again. My sinuses are bugging me (thanks for yet another fun thing, winter! Why not get dark at 4:30PM when there was hardly any light all day anyway? Or any light for weeks? sigh.) I just LOVE this tea. It is the perfect amount of heat & spiciness. Cinnamon, cayenne, chili peppers! This one might be good mixed with something chocolatey, but I wouldn’t want to ruin how perfect this one already is by adding anything to it. And the guayusa is sure to give me an energy boost!

This is good it’s just burns my throat a little like really good peppers should. I won’t buy it but it is definitely worth a try :D

WOW! This tea is a mean badass! It’s drinking liquid pepper! Dry tea looks beautiful, shreds of guayusa with specks of bright red peppers. I can smell cinnamon, and pepper, and sniffing the tea made me sneeze for three or four times immediately! Liquid is of light body, it goes down easily, and the colour is brown. Steeped tea vaguely smells of, but it does not taste like, cinnamon (which I was afraid of – every time I was looking forward to trying some really hot, spicy tea it ended up being all cinnamon-y). You better prepare your throat for a little shock before the first sip. Because you will feel every sip of this tea all the way to your stomach. It’s a non-compromising, full-bodied taste of pure cayenne, slightly dried and refined. It is not insulting to the palate, at least not mine, but I belong to the type of people who are always on the search for ever hotter treat to their tastebuds. The hotness lingers on the palate long after you swallow. This is my first guayusa so I’m not sure what special qualities to appreciate in it; as to caffeine I’m drinking this early in the morning, so we’ll see how much caffein-ized I feel later in the day. I would definitely pair this tea with some food.

Oooooh wheeeee this one’s not playing around! I love how genuinely spicy without being harsh it is. Back when I was looking around for cold/congestion elixir teas one of the elements I was hoping to find but didn’t (but felt I could do without given I’ve already got ginger and peppermint) was spicy stuff, either actual chile or warm spices, to open the nose up. This might work! I love spicy food (big fan of cayenne and using dried chile peppers briefly toasted, rehydrated, and pureed to make pastes for cooking bases), and this really tastes like actual chile spice, not just stuff like cloves and nutmeg that, while sort of warming, tend to be associated with sweet baked goods and so lose their punch to my mind. This manages to end up being soothing while leaving a residual glow in the chest. Good, rare stuff. I hope Butiki never compromises and makes it more mainstream tame, ‘cause it’s nearly impossible to find something like this.

Wow, was not expecting this. I had read it was somewhat spicy, ok fine. My second guyasa, second as well from Butiki. Not sure I noticed the energizing properties on the first one I sampled, but it´s cold and winter and this seemed like a good idea.

Sniffing the dry sample, I got overtones from a green smell which reminded me of the other guyasa I tried. I am not really a fan of that note, but I should not have worried. The brew was instead very very spicy and in a way I just found glorious. This is probably borderline to how much spicy a tea might be and me still find it enjoyable and drinkable but arguably I brew it strong. Fire, and cinnamon and some energizing tisane body underneath. Really glorious, for my own taste.

I would recommend this only very cautiously to spicy food lovers, and would not recommend it at all to people who do not love spicy foods (and I mean really love). Me, I have loved it. Though would not want to have it ALL the time, but wow what a kick.

Might be totally psychosomatic, but been having joint pains all day (due to approaching bad and cold weather probably), and they seem more tame after this tea. Chillies are supposedly good for joint pains, though I thought it was through skin application.
ox.
From kittylovestea european travelb

The description for this tea is absolutely spot-on. This is what liquid cayenne pepper tastes like. It’s comfortable only thanks to the cinnamon, otherwise it’s pure fire. I appreciated the fact that even though it does burn you, the burn only lingers on your tongue, not in your throat, which makes it not quite evil and unpalatable. I received a sample of this, I won’t be purchasing a full bag but it was interesting while it lasted.