Tangerine Creamsicle

I know that I’ve reviewed this tea before, but I have no clue where my notes are. To sum them up: I’ve never managed to get the amazing flavors out of this that everyone else has. I’ve adjusted everything, and it always comes out bitter.

Well I decided to try this today with the water at work. I didn’t expect much, but I’ve had this for a very long time and I should really finish it. Well, this is the closest I’ve been to tasting what everyone else writes about. I could actually taste the tangerine, just barely. Maybe it really was there, or maybe my mind was just desperate for this to work and made me taste it. I’m thinking of cold brewing the last bit of this to see if that goes any better.

So I’m finally getting back in the habit of writing reviews and I’m a little rusty. Today is a tea drinking day. I just want to drink gallons of it. If I didn’t have to go up the stairs each time to make it I probably would.

This is the second time I’ve tried this tea from my last Butiki order. I know people say guayusa is hard to oversteep but I wish I had remembered I was steeping it and it didn’t go quite that long. I have no idea how long it was steeping for. 8 minutes?

Anyways the longer steep time made the guayusa much stronger than the first time I tried the tea. Luckily I’m starting to to take a liking for it.

The thing I like the most about this tea is that it is definitely tangerine. Not orange. Not vague citrus. Real tangerine. There’s just the right amount of cream flavor to make it unique and desserty. Butiki has a way with cream notes. I wish there was such a thing as a tangerine creamsicle. Maybe there is but I’ve only ever seen orange.

Oops, I seem to have missed the mark on this one.

I gotta have a think about this.

This is the third guayusa I’ve tried—not just from Butiki, but in my life. The first was Blackberry Lime (pretty good) and the second was Good Morning Sunshine (awesome) but I’ve either hit a guayusa wall today after having two cups of GMS before trying this, or Tangerine Creamsicle and I just aren’t gonna be friends.

Thing is, I was super excited to try it because the dry leaf SMELLS so good! It’s the final flavour and the aftertaste that is rubbing me the wrong way here. I think it’s the cream flavour? Maybe? I don’t know? Maybe it’s true guayusa flavour? Adding some sugar definitely helped mute that particular flavour, so that could be what saves my feelings on this blend in the long run, but I don’t know when I’ll be up for trying it again with so many other delights in my cupboard.

Not sure if I have reviewed this tea before. Anyways, it smells fruity, but also sort of ashy. Like tangerine pipe tobacco ash? I don’t know! When tasting it I get something earthy that slowly fades into a distinct tangerine taste. It isn’t earthy like a puerh, it is something different that I can’t name. Is it the guyusa I’m tasting? I’m not too familiar with guyusa. Adding brown sugar changes the earthiness, but not the fruit flavors. Next I’m adding cream which is making for a creamy earth taste. The tangerine always stays a little behind the earthy taste. It’s good, but I think I need to play around with it a little more to get a wow out of it. Not sure if it is good for multiple steeps, but either way my cup is finished and I’m diving into a second steep!

Thank you NayLynn for the sample!

I’m so tired and I guess a kick in the butt with guayusa would do it!
This tea smells like how an orange cream popsicle would smell like! Like the scent is DEAD ON.
I feel like I’ve left it to steep for a bit too long since it’s right on the edge of being bitter, but it’s still pretty good!
It definitely tastes like a tangerine cream pop! Definitely a great blend :)

I haven’t purchased from Butiki yet, but I’ve had plenty of their teas from swaps and their teas and flavours are as close to perfect as you can get!
Once I get my cupboard down to a reasonable number, I think I’d happily splurge on Butiki :)