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Butiki Educational TTB

Kenya White #2

The day is winding down to an end, and my stress is still through the roof. I picked this to calm me before bed time. I have never had a Kenyan White before and was very interested. I am hoping the magic properties of African tea will mystically relax me, haha. The dry leaf is similar to Bai Hao Yin Zhen except its more twiggy. They resemble small silver pins and sticks. They are a brilliant white and gray color. I brewed these in my tea press. The aroma is of wet hay and summer dew. The aroma from my cup is like a wheat field after a rainstorm. The flavor was very unique. It was a syrupy hay. It tasted like green hay and with a sweet after-tone of sugar cookies. This was nice before bed. I really liked this tea, and it was very interesting.

Butiki Educational TTB

Shan Lin #1 – Taiwan

Mmmmmm, this was delicious! The dry oolong consists of small forest green nuggets. I brewed these up in my yixing. I placed these small pebbles inside and washed once. The dry leaf opened up into a vibrant green array of leaves and stems. The aroma was like milk weed and fresh spring. This brew had a deep vegetal tones. The liquor was a brilliant moss agate colour. The taste was incredibly creamy! The initial sip was silky, vegetal, and full of a heady herbal flavor. The aftertaste coated your throat with sweet sugar. The best thing of this brew was the leaf quality. After brewing, I inspected the leaves in my brewing vessel and was amazed! My little pot contained full flawless leaves and each stem had two leaves exactly. I debated on keeping them, haha. I really like it when I get to drink quality Oolong, and I am very grateful for this opportunity.

Butiki Educational TTB

Darjeeling Oolong Autumn Flush – India

Darjeeling Oolongs always catch my eye, so I grabbed this fast. The dry leaf looks alike to Darjeeling black tea except for it carries deeper black and silver colors. I brewed this up in my tea press western style. The small shards steep into a iridescent citrine colour. The scent from my press is a candid vineyard. The taste is incredibly smooth and syrupy. There is a hint of muscatel and hay in each sip. The dominating flavor is light wood and caramel. I brewed this up softly to get lighter flavors, rather than getting the heavy flavors. I really liked this brew and I’m trying not to take it all….. hahah.

This was a great way to start a TTB! I picked this to get me going for the start of my morning. The dry leaf consists of small downy golden curls. This tea is so fluffy it actually sticks together in large clumps. I grabbed a generous amount and placed it inside my mini Gawain. I washed the leaf once and let it breath. This brew carried a thick malt aroma. I brewed up a cup. This thick garnet liquor carried a strong scent of spiced rum and roasted yams. The flavor was incredible! This was such a deep and heady brew. The initial sip carried the flavors of brandy, malt, spice,and caramel. It was such a thick brew and incredibly smooth and silky. I was able to pull a few steepings out my Gawain. The next subsequent brews became sweeter and thinner. This was a great start to wonderful TTB experience!

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I have returned from vacation again. This trip I was going to be running around a lot, so I picked this up. I am usually against tea bags completely. My tea snobbery comes out when bags are involved. I had to keep this at bay in consideration that I wouldn’t have time for Gong Fu, and I needed my tea fix. This actually weren’t that bad. They had a golden amber colored liquor, and the taste was actually quite smooth. This was not anything great, but taken into account that it was a cheap tea bag, it wasn’t terrible. The flavor was a slightly roasted oolong and woodsy. The only problem is that after drinking a few cups in a row I began to get a headache. I needed to stop drinking tea, and start sipping on some water. I suspect this is from the quality of the leaf.

This worked for my situation and now I have tea bags in the house in case anyone is weirded out by my other “tea options”.

I’ve been drooling over this companies products for awhile, and I have finally received one! This was a strange but wonderful brew! The cake is a forest of colors. It is spotted with deep green, mudded yellow, and golden brown. The cake broke apart smoothly without harming the integrity of the leaves (good sign). It carried a light forest scent and granite. I brewed this in my yixing. I washed the leaves once and gave it a whiff. My tea was filled with a sweet tone. This tone carried a heavy earth flavor and slight citrus undertone. The liquor was a deep yellow and thick. The taste was incredibly surprising. I did not encounter even the slightest of bitterness in any of the steepings. It was completely smooth and sweet. I actually added more leaves to increase the potency. The flavor was a smooth apricot and mineral. Once I reached about the sixth steeping it released an amazing syrup. My mouth became engulfed with a honey and oak flavor. This brew lasted well into the double digits and is incredibly silky. If you don’t enjoy a bitter Sheng then this is the brew for you. I am very grateful to have enjoyed this cake!

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HAPPY EARTH DAY!!
I know I’m late :/ I was so swamped yesterday I never even got the chance to sit down. So, better late than never. I picked this tea to celebrate and I chose the perfect brew.

The leaves are small and a rugged green with yellow strands. They seem a lot more rough and slightly dry compared to other Sencha. I gave these small wiry emeralds a short sniff and could hint at spice and autumn. I placed them in my warmed Kyusu and watched as the scent filled my tea room. I brewed up a cup of this delectable earthy brew. It was so pale it almost looked like the spring water I had just poured over these leaves. The taste matched this colour in subtly. It was a fresh vegetal tone with a spice and mineral undertone. It gave me a powerful tingling mouthfeel with soft and warm umami. This reminds me of the smooth tones of the earth. It tastes of early buds, first leaves, young roots, small pebbles, and light ocean waves with a little sunshine. The next brew the flavors aged and became more prominent. The liquor also turned into a serpentine jade. I enjoyed this tea a lot and it succeeded in celebrating the earth! The Obubu Tea Farm will never disappoint.

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My friend works at Teavana, so I had this and many others while in AZ. I brewed it in a Tetsubin. The floral taste was slightly sour and perfumey. The oolong had a nice creamy and vegetal base. The dry scent though was amazing. It was a bouquet of aromas. I enjoyed this, and it brewed very well. The jasmine flavor kept well and was prominent for about three steepings. I would never buy from this company, but I will always accept free tea.

Wow! I havent had a sheng session in awhile and I just recently got this cake. I was very excited to get home from vacation, so I could brew some up. I’ve been waiting to try this companies products because I hear wonderful things about them. This was a wonderful brew!

I “picked” out a generous chunk and plopped this colorful cake in my yixing. The cake consists of yellow, green and silver leafy matter. The cake evokes a lemon spring scent in my warmed yixing pot. I knew that this would be a treat. I poured my boiling spring water over to wash this cake and allow it to unfold. The aroma of southern tobacco fields and the chinese lemon highway mingled within my tea room. The liquor was a pale citrine. The initial sip was incredibly sharp. The bitter flavor is a lot like spicy food. A well spiced dish shouldn’t make your stomach hurt and cause injury; rather, it should give a pleasing burning sensation and evoke your senses. This tea does exactly this. The bitter flavor causes your tongue to drawback. You can feel a tingling upon your tongue and a smooth mouth feel. The silk menthol flows throughout your body. The qi is powerful and immediately uplifting. This flavor keeps consistent for about four steepings. Then, this brew becomes honey sweet. This sugared flavor, which lingers in the back of your throat, follows you throughout the tea ceremony. This brew became sweeter and sweeter with each steep. The liquor remained thick well into the double digits steepings. I thoroughly enjoyed this brew, and I’m very grateful to have more for a later day!

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This is one the my friend picked from the shop outside the Capital.

The taste was very earth and lacked the chocolate tones of the monkey counterpart. This brew had a more malt and spice taste rather than smooth and dessert like. It also carries a light rose hip flavor which was strange. I did enjoy this, but I mostly stuck to my Golden Monkey :)