Boost

This was the first Kusmi tea I ever tried and so far it has been my favorite. I walked in and it was the tea sample of the day and after taking my first sip, I knew I needed to own a box. This tea is spicy and roast-y from the mate. It manages to balance the spices beautifully so that everything works together equally as opposed to once spice taking center stage. Moreover, apple helps to keep the spice in check and make this a smooth, pleasant cup. It is nothing extraordinary really but it does make for a good cup of tea. Unfortunately this has mellowed a bit with age and improper storage but tbh, it is holding up pretty well after 2-3 years.

Sipdown! Thanks, VariaTea!

Mmm, caffeine. Mmm, spices. Mmm, honey. Haha. I added the honey to help my throat. I quite enjoy this! I wonder if the local store carries this one.

Honestly it’s nice that it’s bagged in cotton. I don’t have to fuss with anything, and it can go right into the compost.

No one’s really written a note on this one either? Jeez.

I got this as a sample with my order and I figured I could use it this morning because I have a headache probably due to suddenly seeing the sun before 8am because my boyfriend has no idea how to not wake up at the crack of dawn. And people were getting rowdy down in the hotel bar last night. Seriously. Thursday night, hotel bar. Miami is that way, people.

This is nothing impressive. It really just tastes like gingery green tea which isn’t exactly what I was looking for…I guess I can kind of taste the mate in here. So now I know, don’t be lazy and just break out the travel kit for some guayusa.

This is unremarkable and there are too many tasty mate blends out there to look to this one for a boost. Unless you really like spiced green tea that’s falling short of chai.

Umm…

Ick.

This is very much ginger, and weirdly cinnamon-spicy. And not at all what I was anticipating because this smelled like fruit and cinnamon to me when it was dry, but now there’s no fruit at all and it’s just too much ginger which is pretty unpleasant.

So, thank you VariaTEA for the sample but I’m happy there’s only one sachet left because that’ll be a quick sip down and I don’t think I’d want any more of this on hand.

I told my husband to pick a tea from my Kusmi collection box and he chose Boost, he said it should help us both keep healthy and get rid of our colds. It’s my birthday in a few days and the last thing I want is to be ill on my birthday, especially since I’m having a girls night out as well (you know..drinking, eating, dancing etc).

Steeping this in excess tonight, if any is left over I can always put it into my flask and have it iced tomorrow. Anyway after the steep the tea smells strongly cinnamon like with a hint of fiery ginger. It’s nice, much heavier in cinnamon than I thought it would be, but I love cinnamon so fine by me.

Flavour is also strongly cinnamon with a touch of ginger in the after taste and what I thought was clove (as it’s somewhat refreshing) but turns out to be cardamom. I’m happy that the cardamom is not heavy or thick, if anything it just helps to lighten the darkness of the cinnamon and ginger. As a blend it’s rather thick but at a nice level for me, it has a lot of flavour and edges on being heavy but remains mid way.

Now that my tastebuds have become used to the blend it’s starting to sweeten and lighten a little. I still think the after taste is more clove like than cardamom though.

Overall it’s a nice blend, not amazing but pleasant and certainly a nice tea to have as a welcome after a cold. I may consider purchasing more of this tea when it runs out but I see cinnamon based teas as being winter teas so it would be a long time before I would consider buying any more.

I am soooooo tired, and can’t seem to find the time for a nap.

This tea is called boost, I could really use one. Not sure I feel any better, but I really like how this tastes. It’s gently spiced, just hint of mate, and not really any green.
I would drink this again, it’s a bit medicinal, but not really in a bad way. I like it. Thanks VariaTEA for sending me this sample.

Tea of the morning here, when I first opened the tin I thought it smelled like a chai so I was hoping for something like a green chai. This tastes a little strange, I think it must be the mate throwing me off a little. Is is supposed to taste like minty dirt?

This is okay, hopefully it will do what it’s supposed to do and help me wake up. So far I haven’t been overly impressed with any of the Kusmi wellness teas but I still have a few left to try.

I tried this at a café – teabag (nice mousseline one, must be said) on a mug, and nearly boiling water from the coffee machine.

Kusmi is becoming rather easy to find at some trendy cafés and bakeries. So far I had not much luck with their blends, and that is an euphemism: their Detox blend, from the same café as this one, I loathed. But this was a lovely surprise. It´s nothing extraordinary, green tea and presumably mate, cinnamon noticeable and then cardamom and ginger. But the brewing method (bag in a mug, water from coffee machine) seemed to work really well with this and it was a perfectly nice cup of tea. Maybe I am overrating it because it turned out better than I expected, but a nice surprise indeed.

And ah, now I found a Kusmi tea I like, I do not like its tin. That is ironic. Not that this was a must have, or something I needed for personal collection, it´s just my insane mad lusting over Kusmi tea tins (though not the teas).

I was bracing myself for completely hating this since, even though it smelled good dry and brewing, the last Kusmi mate I had tasted thoroughly awful. Well, I was surprised (there seems to be a lot of that surprise happening with the Kusmi I’ve sampled…) It’s essentially the green chai I never would’ve wanted to sample—except it doesn’t taste wrong like I’d always thought a green chai would.

Unsweetened (on the first steeping at least), it tastes like a bit of a harsh cinnamon bomb in that it has the sharp taste of something to which too much cinnamon and nothing sweet has been added. Sweetened, it’s interesting. Sweetened and with soy milk, it’s a different and pleasant take on chai. You wouldn’t necessarily guess it was made with green and mate teas unless someone old you, because it produces a nice, light chai latte that doesn’t taste grassy or weedy in any way. It’s less fragrant and spicy than a regular chai, kind of like the polite, delicate younger sister of normal chai or something, but I think the flavour is still essentially chai. A key difference between this and the other Kusmi chais I’ve had (Sweet Love and Tchai) is that cardamom is not one of the most dominant notes here (its place is taken by cinnamon).

It’s good, but if you want chai, there’s better stuff around. It might be a good tea for you if you like to rotate different chais or something like that.

Part 2 of my mini tin gift pack that I received last Christmas or so. It came with Spicy Chocolate, Anatasia and Boost. Weird combo, I know lol.

So… I liked this one. I had my doubts after reading some of the reviews. If you don’t like strong ginger or cinnamon, this will be your nightmare. The label says a blend of maté, green tea, cinnamon bark, and ginger. It’s a robust, full taste, unlike the Spicy Chocolate. It’s a smooth tea, and I can still taste the ginger and cinnamon well after finishing the sip.

I drank it hot. 2 tsp in 10 oz, 175°F. Steeped for 3 min. Says it is good iced but today was the first time trying it. I have like 20g to go so maybe I’ll try it iced next time.

It’s 16:07 here, and felt a little tired before I drank it. I definitely feel the anti-fatigue effects. So, that’s good. :) I recommend it if you like ginger.