Butiki Teas

Backlogged; drank this somewhat recently and enjoyed it!

I guess the lotus stamens or whatever used to be in this tea are no longer, because my baggie doesn’t appear to contain any at all :( Oh well. The tea probably still tastes the same, and it’s nice – spiced and fall-flavoured, though fairly light on flavour overall. It’s nice enough though, and with a 2-minute infusion, the base is kept pretty smooth.

I see I have a note that recommends I add maple syrup for even better flavour… sadly, I just had to dump mine, because it went moldy, probably because the container wasn’t sterilized properly when it was poured in. The hazards of buying syrup from random roadside vendors, I guess. My boyfriend had to dump over a litre of his too, for the same reason. (I had maybe 300mL left). Sigh.

Sipdown! And dayyyum, this is AMAZING with some maple syrup! So amazing that I’ll probably pick some up in the fall. Wish I’d tried it like that sooner.

Thanks to Boxermama I get to give this one a second shot! I was worried that my first sample had sat too long and lost flavour, and felt I was perhaps being unfair to the tea. (This is the same thing that I think happened with Pistachio Ice Cream, so I figured it was worth another shot.)

Turns out, I do think my sample had lost flavour. Although the flavour is not strong here (I also may have underleafed), I can taste hints of spices and pumpkin (like, actual squashy pumpkin) and creaminess. It’s growing on me the more I sip it, which unfortunately means it’s also almost gone :( I’ll have to use the rest of my sample in a teensy mug to see if I can amp up the flavour, but I’m certainly more impressed than I was the first time. However, I don’t think that this tea is what most people seeking a pumpkin spice-flavoured tea would be looking for – it’s tasty, but the flavours are too light (although deliciously complex), and I highly doubt it would hold up to sitting in a travel mug all day. For those occasions, Della Terra and/or DavidsTea would be better options, but for a nice mug to savour, I’d certainly choose this above some more robust options!

Thanks again Boxermama! Hopefully I’ll get to more of your samples (which are nearly all Butiki teas, super excited!) later this week :D

And thus the pumpkin tea comparison begins. All four teas I’m looking at are highly rated on Steepster, 83-86, so there’s no clear winner from that alone! As it turns out, one is a creamy pumpkin tea, and only three are actually pumpkin spice, so it might be not be as great a comparison as I initially thought, but oh well! All still holiday-themed!

First up is this one, a sample courtesy of Stacy at Butiki, the only tea not to specifically mention spice in the name (although I think a touch of spice is implied when dealing with pumpkin!)

Compared to the other teas I have here, the aroma is MUCH more subtle. So subtle that I perhaps wouldn’t even believe that this is a pumpkin tea.

The flavour here is fairly mild. The tea is a bit creamy, and definitely smooth, and finishes with what I suppose is a bit of a pumpkiny flavour. It’s certainly not strong here though. Pumpkin Creme Brulee? Perhaps it will come out with a touch of sweetener…

Sweetened, I feel like I’m definitely tasting pumpkin now, and can see that with a bit of milk/cream, this could taste kind of like a pumpkin creme brulee. What’s really missing a bit for me is that burnt/caramelized sugar flavour that I associate with creme brulees.

Overall, this is certainly not a bad tea, but in the realm of holiday-type pumpkiny teas, it does not come out on top; IMO that award belongs to DavidsTea’s Pumpkin Chai. I want my pumpkin teas to be more spicy, and unfortunately that wasn’t the case here!

(Teas under review: Butiki – Pumpkin Creme Brulee; iHeartTeas – Creamy Pumpkin Spice; DAVIDsTEA – Pumpkin Chai; Della Terra Teas – Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie)

The only tamarind-flavored thing I’ve had before was ice cream (which was delicious), so I was excited about this sample. Through association, the first sip immediately reminded me of all the Mexican grocery stores I’ve visited. The spiciness especially.

I added a bit of sugar to it when I’d had half the glass already (still very warm), but I think I prefer it unsweetened. The spiciness of it isn’t so noticeable when sweetened, but I preferred having it there.

Azzrian sent me some of this – it’s her custom blend via Butiki Teas and I am pretty jazzed about trying it! I couldn’t find it in the database so I am sorry if it’s a double!

It sort of smells like a crusty-peach bread stick or something…prior and during infusion.

The liquor is a light orange-brown…there are floaties AKA a texture to it, too.

After infusion was complete – it smelled more like fresh peaches and wheat or barley or maybe even a little hay-like. There is a bit of a brothy-type flavor/texture to it, too, that was surprising yet welcomed.

I guess in a way it taste like a flat-beer…but in a tasty way! :)

This is completely different than other teas I have had…I do really like it. It has a pleasant morphing flavor roller coaster going on and I find that fascinating!

As it sits at room temp for a few moments it does get sweeter and peachier. YUM! This is tasty!

Thank you Stacy (Butiki) for this sample tea!

(I’m Whispering…
…..we all know how good Stacy is at creating tea’s that
are…
not nasty and artificially flavored…the really special tea’s that we love! Shhhhh, listen up!…..
…..This one is my favorite Butiki Tea Flavor of all!)

I want a pound of this tea already. I ONLY HAVE A SAMPLE! STACY!

The wet leaves had the softest aroma of green beans and sweet grapefruit as though the clock had been turned back and Spring was here once again.

I had just enough tea leaves for one precious mug full.

I took a sip of the pale yellow liquor and was amazed at the restrained taste of the grapefruit next to the more robust but smooth savory bean flavor. This was a juicy tea.

I added a little sweetening (as Stacy suggested) which brought more of the grapefruit flavor to the forefront, still perfectly complimenting the savory base flavor of the tea.

I used to make a grapefruit salad years ago with ruby grapefruit, carefully removing segments of ice cold fruit from it’s membrane, then mixing it with chopped avacado, salt, olive oil and lemon. The acid and sweetness of the grapefruit with the smooth creamy avacado were perfect compliments to each other. (It was an 1980’s popular California salad.)

This tea embraced that idea of combining crisp grapefruit and the creamy savory tea in a similar way. It worked really well!

There was that Umami thing happening in my mouth when I added some sugar (but without the bitterness, and the sour was just the normal grapefruit tang).

Yes, this was/is the best flavored tea in my Butiki book! It hits all the marks for me! Bravo Stacy!!!

Having this tea for breakfast! Very juicy!

I forgot how good this black is – maybe as I’ve had a couple unflavored blacks after this tea, and now having this one. I think it either set the bar or this black just is the one my tastebuds dig. I love the sweetness and lychee notes and lack of bitterness!

Looking back at the info on this tea – Nooo it’s attack of the leaf hoppers! Sadly, those are bugs, not bunnies!

WAHH more buggy tea! Attack of the tea eating leafhoppers! Eww, I regret googling leafhoppers eating tea as bugs creep me out! Before googling, I had a picture in my head of a cute anime like bug (maybe a pokemon like weedle or sewaddle) cuddling a leaf and nibbling on it. I got this tea for winning the unflavored tea drawing! YUM!

DRY: Reminds me of dark chocolate!

STEEPED: Sweet, honey, raisin? Brown earthy coloured tea.

TASTE: I’m getting a lychee taste and lots of smoothness. Also honey sweet, like Gui Fei Long, but much more mellow. Little peach aftertaste. Fun creamyness feeling too!
No astringency or bitterness. The natural sweetness is very nice, I do not want to add sugar for this tea!

Second infusion is less sweet, more mellow and creamy. Still not astringent or bitter. Tempted to try a third, but wondering if it’ll be too light and mellow.

COMMENTS: Very tasty! I dig the sweetness! Solid cup of tea, with a great second infusion. If you are looking for a good unflavored black you don’t need to sweeten, this is it!

Hmm, so I just discovered that I’ve been spelling ‘guayusa’ incorrectly this whole time…. whoops. Mostly noticed because I couldn’t locate this tea with my spelling…

So thanks to Stacy @ Butiki for this sample! Not sure why I’ve gone on a Butiki kick lately, probably because I realized that there were a bunch of teas I had yet to try, and since I’m planning another large order, should get to trying things sooner rather than later! Apparently I still have a few teas from my first order that I haven’t tried (including a sample of Pumpkin Creme Brulee, which is awaiting my 4-way pumpkin spice tea comparison).

So this tea. When I first got my huge package of teas from Butiki, by way of Azzrian, I opened up my little package of samples and this tea was all I could smell. Straight up apple cider… and I love apple cider! Pretty exciting. I’m not exactly sure how I managed to wait until now to try this one… The dry tea smells so delicious, sweet and cinnamony and appley, and I can see big apple chunks in the tea… mmmmm! I can barely smell the earthy guayusa at all, which is great!

I sampled this quickly while it was hot without sweetener, and am pretty sure I could drink it without, but threw in some rock sugar anyways. It’s pretty good! Not as strong as I expected, given the aroma (and given how strong cider usually is), but the flavour is like a weak cider with earthy guayusa undertones. I wish there was more tartness from the apples, but that’s about it. Otherwise it’s quite good!

The only downside of this tea is that I can’t really see myself picking this over a cup of apple cider, even though this is caffeinated. So I’m probably more likely to stick to the Killer’s Vanilla and Good Morning Sunshine as go-to guayusa blends, although this one was definitely worth the cup!

This tea was probably not the best choice for last night, given that I burned part of supper but had to eat it anyways… and of course, this smells wicked burnt when infusing. Luckily, the flavour isn’t quite the same, so it was palatable. This time, I think I may have used a bit more tea (2 rounded tsp for 8 oz.), and got a tasty, dark, woody/burny, sweet-ish mug of yum. It tasted particularly good the next day, after it had sat cold next to my bed all through the night!

The second infusion is pretty good too, almost making me think chocolatey, like a very, very dark chocolate, perhaps with roasted cocoa nibs. What’s a bit strange is that it’s reminding me a fair bit of Malted ChocoMate, or more specifically, the taste of roasted mate. Though the two are totally unrelated, and there’s no flavouring here. Interesting!

In spite of the burned smell of the wet leaves, this oolong is surprisingly mild! The flavour is almost of a toasted nut, with a bit of a woody aftertaste. Not like too many oolongs I’ve tried, yet! I might try infusing this one a bit longer next time, just to see what happens (especially since it’s not at all astringent or bitter, and I had such great success with the Gui Fei Oolong!) Although this one’s pretty good, I think my heart remains with the Gui Fei Oolong for that incomparable sweetness!

A pleasant surprise with this one today – it’s still quite good! I was concerned that, being a green, it would have lost flavour or turned all metallic, but perhaps that’s only what happens with broken/poor quality leaves. By contrast, this tea is light, sweet, and as I apparently noted in a previous review, kind of like a field of sweet grass. It’s closer, IMO, to white teas like Moonlight White and Zomba Pearls, than it is to the rock sugary, vegetal sort of greens I like. Which is fine, because the former teas age well, the latter teas generally do not.

Deliberately overleafed this one tonight, with lovely results. It has just a whisper of rock sugar/vegetal sweetness, just enough to stir your imagination into thinking you’re tasting it, but not nearly as much as most other teas have. Quite an enjoyable cup. I still can’t believe that this one stands up to boiling water, but that’s what I used!

Giving this one a second shot! This time I decided to double the amount of tea, and keep the infusion time the same. So about 2 tsp of leaf (it’s so hard to measure though, it could have been more than that) in 8 oz. water.

This time, there’s a definite sweet green tea aroma, and plenty of flavour. Yum! It’s not an overtly vegetal flavour; kind of minerally and sweet, a bit like a field of sweet grass? I think I may have overleafed a bit, as there’s a bit of astringency, but it’s reasonably tasty. I prefer my greens to be vegetal and beany, like steamed veggies, instead of leafy/grassy, so this won’t rank in my favourites, but I have found a way to enjoy it!

ETA: So I guess the second infusion of this was pretty good – I drank it all in record time! Yum! And the leaves survived sitting for two days (uncommon for a green, in my previous experience)! Awesome! Trying for a third momentarily…

ETA again: Third infusion is pretty light, even steeped in half the water for 4 minutes. Still reasonable though (and I’m cold, and it’s a hot beverage!) Definitely like this tea much, much better when made stronger than recommended.

I’m deliberately not reading the tasting notes on this one so I can draw my own conclusions! This tea is definitely gorgeous, and reminds me of small, newly formed pods on sweet pea plants in the summer.

First off, I was surprised that the brewing recommendations here called for boiling water. Green tea? Boiling water? Crazy! However, I followed the recommendations, and did so. The leaves had no real aroma to speak or, nor does the brewed cup. In fact…. the tea also has very little flavour as well. All I can taste is a very faint honey-sweetness, with a bit of a boiled veggie flavour. Maybe a bit of almost a mintiness? All very, very mild though. I thought that if anything, I had kind of overleafed the cup, but I very much doubt so now. The most noticeable thing about this tea is its mouthfeel: quite full and silky-smooth, contrasting with the other teas I have on the go this evening.

Clearly I should give some other brewing parameters a try, because as it stands, this tea is really not one I’d go for again. There’s just so little flavour! Hopefully I can manage to coax a bit more out of it next time.

Sip down. I really enjoyed this flavoured white tea in the afternoons or iced in smoothies! I have it a nice send off today by using it in a delicious strawberry melon smoothie!

I love the juiciness of this tea. It I the best with a little bit of brown crystal sugar.
It is so good iced.

Thanks again to Stacy for the FB contest. This was one of the teas included in the flavoured prize category! watermelon tea!

I accidentally steeped this for 6 minutes instead of the recommended 4.5. Oops, I got distracted. Anyway, it didn’t taste oversteeped at all. It is really nice and smooth. I am actually getting more of a honeydew melon note like someone else mentioned. And like Kittena mentioned, it is similar to Cantaloupe&Cream, but with less cream.

I resteeped at 6 minutes and very lightly sweetened with white sugar. This is where the watermelon came out a little more. I think I need to get those brown sugar crystals next time on Butiki’s site.

Great work Stacy on another white tea! I love white teas. Great for relaxing in the afternoon!

Tonight I made Pad Thai from scratch for the first time. Prawns, noodles, egg, sprouts, scallions, garlic, peanuts, and homemade sauce. It was Excellent!, if I do say so myself.

The last squeeze of lime and sprinkle of chopped cilantro was pure heaven in my big bowl!

I paired my delightful dinner with Congou Keemun Tea because of it’s sweetness. This isn’t a malty tea and I wouldn’t have wanted malt or cocoa with my Pad Thai. A fruit or floral tea with body works better, and this Keemun was a nice balance with the Pad Thai flavors.

When you get old, remember to cook with love even if you’re by yourself. Healthy food should taste good, especially with the right tea!

Maybe I’m the only person who has had a negative experience with a tea and then avoided all the tea’s like it from that point on. But, I don’t think that’s the case.
I’ll bet you that most of us have a tea or two that we go blech…and that’s it for us. It could have been a Pu-erh, or a Lapsang Souchong, or a Black Tea or Rooibos. Whatever it was we didn’t like that one tea and mercy be, just like a child with cough medicine, I AIN’T GONNA DRINK ANY MORE!
My ’ain’t gonna drink any more’ was Keemun. I had one from a great tea company that curled my hair and my toes and made me shiver in a bad way. BLECH! No thank you please!

Time passed. Tic Toc, Tic Toc, Sun Up and Sun Down.

A little over a week ago, I was looking at Butiki Tea’s and saw the Keemun’s (shiver). I trusted Stacy’s taste in tea. Hum. “I’m no whimp, afraid of a tea. I should give Keemun Tea one more try,” I said to myself. So I ordered this Congou Keemun.

Whatever possessed me? But OK, I could do this.

I made a whole POT of tea, careful NOT to over-steep (3 minutes).
The liquor was dark and savory but sweet smelling without a heavy maltiness.
I opened the lid on the teapot and really smelled the tea full force. Wow! Gravy! Steak and mushrooms! I couldn’t wait to taste the tea!
My first gulp was sweet! That was unexpected! Then tingling, slightly malty, floral flavors rose from the savory base playfully weaving around melding and separating at the finish.
There was smoothness and no astringency in every phase of tasting, and the body of this tea was higher than medium weight(which was best for additions).

I added a bit of sweetening and cream which was not only delightful but the additions didn’t HIDE the flavors in the tea.

As the tea cooled, the floral taste became an almost bergamot flavor.

This experience was nothing like my first Blech Keemun many months ago. This Keemun tasted great!

Stacy and Butiki changed my mind!

The point, try another brand or another type of tea to see if you like it a different way. All Lapsang Souchongs and Pu-erh’s and Keemun’s are not equal. Find someone who you trust or who knows about that type of tea and ask for advice. Try again and see what you think.

I liked this Keemun! It’s complex and has some of the characteristics that I remember loving in wine (yes WINE) when I worked for Fortino’s Winery back in 2003. Savory mushroom and floral notes with levels of flavor that are earthy and bright at the same time. Really nice!

Pleasantly surprised to find I had a couple cups of this left – and also surprised to find it had lavender in it! I’m sure I knew this back when I drank it more often, but had completely forgotten. Anyhow, this is another one where I can’t detect any flavour changes or loss. It’s perfect. The vanilla is intense (please someone, get vanilla this intense into a black tea! Or white!), and the lavender is secondary but perfect, all backed by that wet autumn leaf/vegetal guayusa flavour (which admittedly, isn’t my favourite base). Absolutely fantastic.

ETA: I always find reading my previous notes to be so interesting. Apparently I used to drink this mostly with sweetener – definitely didn’t feel the need for it today, which is good because I’ve been on a severe sugar kick since about the second trimester (so nearly a year ago), and anytime I don’t feel the need to add sugar it’s a big win. Also, apparently there is mint in here – either I confused it with the lavender, or it’s one flavour that has dulled a bit with time, though apparently it wasn’t strong or objectionable to begin with anyhow.

Backlog from last Monday.

Man, I love this tea. I really should have picked up more. Such a great vanilla flavour, and the guayusa works so well, even paired with lavender, which I’m touchy about sometimes. Overall, a great tea. I have one cup’s worth left now, I believe. Sad times.