The Killer’s Vanilla

Backlog from last night.

The flu has finally started to subside, only to leave a sinus infection and eye infection in its stead. At least those can be treated! Unfortunately, I needed to appear human for 1.5 hours last night. Enter the Killers Vanilla…

My big kid had her opening night for her middle school play that she has spent the last 3 months rehearsing for on Thursday night. I didn’t stand a chance of making it to that one and was pretty sad to miss it. “I’ll hit it tomorrow night,” I thought. Nope. Then saturday rolled around, my last chance. I wasn’t going to miss it.

I brewed up some killer’s vanilla in hopes of a strong caffeine kick without the jitters. I haven’t had much guayusa before but was hopeful it would do the trick. I can’t say that absolutely love the flavor of guayusa, it’s a little too flowery or something for me, I don’t know, but the flavors mixed in (mint, lavender, & vanilla) give it a smooth, calming herbal tea profile. Kind of a funny combo with high caffeine drink! It was absolutely the perfect choice for the night.

I was wide awake and seemingly human. I waited until the theater darkened, then ran in from the car and sat in the back corner with no one around me. Enjoyed a pretty well done middle school musical, voice cracks and all.

This will definitely be my go to drink when I need a calm pick me up, which will be happening frequently over the next week I’m sure.

Backlog: Had this one while on holiday about a month ago, and as I was writing up my tasting note for Good Morning Sunshine, I realized that I never did it for this one.

I had a very long day and travel for the trip…I got up at the same time I always do for work, and did almost a full day, leaving a few hours early so that I could catch my ferry sailing to Seattle at 5pm. Once I got to Seattle, about 8pm, I took the train from downtown to the airport (about an hour long) and did all the normal stuff for my flight, which didn’t leave til close to midnight. I arrived at almost 7am in Detroit, and caught my flight to Providence, RI. Between these two flights, I amasses probably 3-4 hours of sleep, max. I had sort of rested on my 3 hour ferry sailing to Seattle, but I never fell asleep on the boat, but I was fortunate to have the whole row to myself on both legs of my flight so I was able to lie down and snooze some.

I got into Providence, saw my best friend, and they (she and her hubby) bought me some coffee, cuz who wants to sleep when you’re seeing your best friend for the first time in person? Not this girl. Spent the day with her, had some more coffee, and tea in the evening, before crashing.

The next morning we went out fro breakfast, and then they dropped me off at the train station so I could head to Brooklyn (via Penn Station) to meet up with my husband and see my brother for a few days before heading out to Long Island for Long Island Who (Doctor Who convention). In the train station, there was a cafe, and I got some water and made this tea, for the first time on the trip. I’m not sure why I had waited so long…perhaps because I had a second wind or something the previous day. But you know what?

It was perfect. It was the right time, and it was relaxing and energizing at the same time for my 3-4 hour train ride to NYC. I was relaxed, yet energized when I got to the station and met up with my husband and brother, so I think it was just perfect.

Now for the taste, since really, that’s what this is all about, not my whole trip and what led me to drink it. I found it was not overpoweringly minty or herbal or anything. Having had the GMS now, I can now properly identify the guayusa taste. I can’t say it is my favourite, but it is quite tolerable. As I stated in my other review, I’d be interested in sampling the others before deciding if I want to buy any of them. I’m definitely up for trying more, just to get my feelers out…

Smell and taste wise, can’t say I am especially impressed. However, if this does manage to keep me calm and energized…(Please no jitteriness, I detest feeling like I’ve stepped on a live wire!) I just might be inclined to keep this in my cupboard.

Why I am not impressed: (Nothing against Butiki:) Just about my own preferences, but easily doctored if need be.) I would prefer ALOT more Vanilla in this tea. And a little more Mint. And maybe a little more Lavender.

It could be, that I am just not a Guayusa tea fan. I tried the Citrus PileDriver by 52Teas yesterday, but wound up not being able to finish it til I got home, and neither time it really didn’t taste like much but a bare hint of citrus. (I adore citrus in teas, as long as it’s a bit sharp but nicely balanced out with sweetness.) But I havn’t officially reviewed it yet because I want to give it a fairer shot.
I’m liking this alittle better as it’s cooling down, next time I have it, I will ice it down. I feel kind of weird in having this much caffeine in the middle of the afternoon, even though I am a nite owl I try to avoid having a bunch of caffeine late afternoon because I rarely need help in staying up half the night. But…it’s Wednesday and I rationalized it by thinking: Well, got to grocery shop, (My dad and/or I shop every few days, fruits and veggies get used up better that way.) Also got to pick up my grandmother for the evening, Dad and I are making pizzas with this flatbread I gotten last week.) Then drive Grams back home, and hopefully do some writing. You see, usually on Wed, by the time I get back home I’m wiped out. Tired but not sleepy. So I end up staring at the computer screen trying to muster up the energy to do some work, instead I either end up killing time til I’m sleepy with reading various forums, (Not a bad thing in of itself.) or watching a movie/tv show on my computer.
My writing lately has been awful, not the writing itself but I mean in pushing myself to do it regularly. So anyways, a long winded explanation of why I chose to drink a highly caffeinated beverage in the middle of the afternoon. If this works out in the long run, I may have this and other guayusa teas around for my morning “jump out of bed with a chirp of glee” lol. Something my dad used to say. I’ve never been a morning person even when I was little, so never jumped out of bed with a chirp of glee, even on snow days. More likely I would just go back to sleep for a few more hours.

Aha! It all makes sense now. I made a 3oz cup of this as I often do when I’m not brave enough to make more of a new tea. I didn’t know/couldn’t remember what the ingredients were except guayusa, and of course that the name implies “vanilla.” As I took the first few sips, it reminded me of one of the various organic bath products that I have used in the past, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. As it cooled, the guayusa came through stronger, but the aftertaste was like a sort of natural mouthwash. I thought to myself: guess that’s what I get for using natural/organic bath products. It confuses my senses and I forget what is supposed to be edible :p Then I came here and saw that it has lavender and mint! That must be the association I’m making. I didn’t not like it. My feelings are mixed. It’s more a matter of sensory confusion than dislike. (^^)

Mmmm, thanks for the sample, Stacy! I was eager to try another herbaly caffeine tea that wasn’t yerba mate, which I don’t like at all. I just finished drinking my cup and I’m not feeling much caffeine yet, but I love the taste, which honestly reminded me a lot of Tazo’s chamomile blend, Calm. Low key minty herbal flavor. I’d totally drink this again. But right now….I’m going back to bed before my next class, haha. A potential side effect of guayusa is lucid dreaming. Hm! Maybe I’ll have one.

Sadly, this is one of the few Butiki teas I just never enjoy. Something about the flavors just never meshes for me and it ends up tasting kind of chaotic. I still drink it because
a) caffeine boost yay, and
b) I stupidly bought 2 ounces before even tasting it and need to finish them off.
I always brew precisely per the instructions, so I know that’s not the problem. I’ve had this in a regular mug at home and in my travel mug at work, so context and ability to smell the tea aren’t the issue. The only thing I haven’t done is try this with sugar, which might do the trick. Unfortunately, I almost never have sugar in the house. Maybe honey? Suggestions welcome.

Never had guayusa before today, so this should be an adventure!

It brews up a muddy grey-greenish brown, like soil. Unusual, and pretty in its own way. Smells quite good and a bit novel—I haven’t been exposed to mint with vanilla before, and the combination is strange to me as mint feels cooling and medicinal while vanilla seems warm and decadent. But you know, it’s pretty nice here! The balance is really evenly struck between them, especially when freshly brewed and still quite hot (as it cools, the vanilla takes over more and everything becomes sweeter and mellower). And it does have both elements’ qualities: the alert, bright, revitalizing feel of mint (it’s the kind of mint I like; I’ve never bothered to figure out which is which, but some mint teas make me feel a lot better and some I find horrid, ditto mint cocktails) with the calming comfort of vanilla (ever present but never harsh or too heavy), fused together to form something I imagine would be ideal for things like dissertation writing, anything where you want to be in a state of flow (working in “the zone”) with a calm, steady level of focused energy sans anxiety or jitters. I think the next time I have a late night painting session I should brew this up.

Sipping down two of these this morning! Need to wake up! Working at 6am will do that to you….

I got my first Butiki order in the mail today! It came at a perfect time b/c I had a major caffeine headache this afternoon. I decided to try this tea first due to the high caffeine content. To be honest, I didn’t taste much vanilla as the name of this tea suggests. I tasted mint, lots of mint. I like mint, so I was ok with that. I read on the Butiki website to add a little sugar to bring out the vanilla. I usually don’t add anything to the teas I drink. I threw caution to the wind and added a bit of sugar. Whoa! There’s the vanilla I was looking for! All in all, a very enjoyable tea.

When the tea was dry I thought it smelled a little heavy on the lavender. Once brewed I’m still smelling it coming off my cup, but finding only a hint of it in the taste. Vanilla is the main flavor I’m getting in each sip with the spearmint adding a gentle touch of accent mint. I’m not sure what guyusa tastes like on it’s own, but I’m not picking out any flavors aside from the mint, vanilla and lavender.

Last time I had guyusa it had a kick in the butt type caffeine effect on me. I’m hoping it is the same this time because I really need a jump start this morning. The last sip of the cup was a little grainy, but I should have seen that coming. This is pretty tasty and I have a feeling it is going to grow on me even more.