Butiki Teas

Since I stayed home & none of my students are coming, I’ve been working in my office.
I just took a lunch break, & now I’m enjoying a cup of honey & apricot goodness, otherwise known as Mi Xian Black. I’ve reviewed it in more detail a few other times, so I’ll just say that although this is not a tea that I would crave, it is a tea that I enjoy from time to time.

I do want to mention that I noticed something about this tea that I haven’t picked up on before. There is just a little bit of an orange peel taste to it, faint, but definitely there.

Sweet apricot with the essence of honey, this tea also leaves a perfume-like sensation in my sinuses.

Here’s something funny. I knew that I had reviewed this tea before, and as I’m sitting here smelling & sniffing it, making notes about it’s deliciousness, I did the unthinkable & went back & read my previous post. I was still new in the neighborhood (hell, I’m still new, I only joined Labor Day weekend, but I feel like I’ve been here for years, LOL). So, I could almost cut & paste that other review, all the way down to pushing my breakfast away to just enjoy the tea.

Last night’s gig was awesome! I was decked out in black, playing a mix of Holiday music, Jazz, & Rock. It was a corporate party, so they started off with Cocktails & then had dinner, continuing to drink more cocktails all the way through dessert. Their personalities were all initially rather stuffy, but by the end of the evening they were all laughing, hugging, & exuding compliments, like people often do when they drink. (not judging, just saying) I went from being ‘the harpist in the corner’ that everyone pretends is part of the scenery, to people coming and hanging out & wanting to talk to me & ask questions while I played, & finally some guy hit on me, saying he’d like to see me again & was I married. I lied & said yes (don’t tell Tony, he gets crazy jealous).

This tea is so delicious. Although I tend to lean more towards the deep & dark varieties, the taste of Mi Xian is just so delightful. Lightly floral, buttery, fruity, & honeysweet. When I was a little kid we used to have cream of wheat cereal, & my favorite way to eat mind was with butter and apricot or peach preserves stirred into it. This tea reminds me of that. It’s not malty, but there is a certain cereal quality to it. Of course, all of these flavors are subtle, with the honey on top!

I’m having a slow morning. Last week I couldn’t sleep, this week I’m having trouble waking up. I hate allergies!

So, Stacy sent me this sample with my order, & I meant to enjoy it much sooner! It sounds so delicious! It is my first cup today, my breakfast tea.

Before brewing: Visually, it reminds me of Arame, a sea veg I used to eat a lot of. Almost black, thin twisted strands, with an underlying greenish tinge & accents of Mahogany. I don’t smell a lot, but it’s allergy season, & although my sinuses aren’t clogged (it goes straight to my lungs), they are still dulled a little. I turn on the kettle…

As I pour the water & breath in the steam, a begin to experience that essence of apricot that everyone has raved about. The beautiful amber color in my cup says, “Drink me”, and I do. My breakfast gets pushed off to the side…

This is a very gentle, mildly sweet tea, with a lovely mouth feel. No need for sweetener here. I had actually planned to add a pinch of stevia to the last couple of sips, to see what came forward, but, alas, it’s too late, I finished the cup! Very tasty, thank you Stacy!

sipdown :) i was going to try for 4 today to make tomorrow only be 10 but i don’t think i have enough time before i leave for the day. We’ve got a decent day planned of board games and seeing a couple sets of friends today so long day, and little chance to bring any extra teas outside of my travel mugs. Not sad to see this one go, though it’s lovely. there are just others that i prefer drinking more :)

I should probably stop picking this tea up. Not because it’s a bad tea but when you’ve got a stupidly long list of amazing teas from Stacy, at some point, SOME of them need to fall off the list. IE. it’s a fantastic tea! but there are 10 more amazing, incredible teas that i love EVEN MORE from stacy, that this one is just not amazing enough haha. or at least only enough to get every few months. I enjoyed the sweetness of this cup compared to the other 2 teas i drank at work today. It was a good contrast to them and made me enjoy this even more today. Sadly, it’s almost gone…but that means room for more stacy teas! woot woot!

I’m finding that this is not my favourite tea. When i first started drinking it, i loved it’s juicy notes and the way the flavours came together in a straight black cup of tea. Now, however, i’ve found similar teas that i like a bit better. that’s not to say that this is a bad cup of tea or it won’t find it’s way in to my cupboard from time to time, just that it’s not a staple. I can only have so many honey/juicy sort of blacks in my cupboard as i tend to prefer stronger, darker black teas. However, I do like visiting with this one now and then :)

long time no see mi xian. It’s good to have you back after such a long time! short notes since the internet is questionable today but this is still delicious and fruity and mild and YUMMY!

SIPDOWN!

I figured that i might as well finish this off since i had half a sil cup left :) Still enjoy this quite a bit and find that it comes in to rotation now and then in my cupboard as i need a few changes.

Had this earlier today but i’m only now getting a chance to breath. I probably should have gone with something simpler today but i wanted the comfort of some favourites as well as teas that i’m close to being through. I feel like half my cupboard is devoted to stacy’s teas so i want to make sure i’m able to get through the ones that are almost done, try the ones that i haven’t yet so that i can get organized for another order soon :)

While i thoroughly enjoy this one, in comparision to laoshan black from verdant, stacy’s high mountain and her premium taiwanese assam, i’d rather pick those others up. This will likely become a floating rotation in my cupboard when i feel the need for a bit of change. Quite a delicious tea but more ordinary than others :)

yep…wonky taste buds but i won’t let that stop me too much today! had this early in the morning but man it’s been busy again. I’m pretty sure people out there are losing faith in us. But i digress! go team AMAZING! that being ME of course…singlehandedly dealing with issues, testing for our release, backing up 2 people including my boss, getting my own work done! and all with a smile on my face and tea in my hand! woot woot!

oh man… i haven’t had this one in a long time! Going through some of my new-er teas today only because i really want to place another order with Stacy but can’t do that until i get through some of the new-er teas i ordered from her recently. Not that i’ve done that today since i’ve had both teas that i’m drinking this morning already. haha

I do enjoy this one, though i have to say premium tawainese assam and laoshan black are still more favourite of mine than this one. but i’d never turn this one down :)

Sp down!

Good thing I have other tea on its way to replace this one. I’ll likely reorder this at some point because its been a good solid black tea that I’ve really enjoyed.

Mmmmmm back to work “monday.” I’d forgotten how busy it is coming in to work and how noisy people can be in the morning. Good thing for me i had my traveller’s mug full of this tea! I only have enough of this left for one more cup so it’s a little sad. BUT it also means more room in my cupboard for another order! I really love the velvety tones in this tea, and also if you’re anywhere near a Ghiradelli chocolate place…go buy some of their pumkin spice chocolates. Don’t like pumpkin? Just do it anyway. It’s their limited edition chocolate for this time of year and it is HEAVENLY! Rich wonderful chocolate wrapped pumpkin spice caramel…omg so good…especially with this tea. :)

Man… I’m getting a clearer picture of my go to teas as I get down to the last bits of all my teas. Only enough for another go round of this one as well, which makes me a sad panda. On the plus side, just as soon as the post office cooperates with me I’ll have samples to burn through from Stacy and then another order to place! YAY!

Love this as my morning tea to chase the smoothie lol I really need to try more of stacy’s unflavoured teas – its just that her flavored teas are soooo delicious!

Another repeat of yesterday! Trying to make a final decision on which two teas get to travel with me on my upcoming cruise lol.

Mmmmmm love this tea. Today it’s like a smoothy chaser lol While i love Stacy for her flavoured teas, this black is amazing! It’s the right balance of black with a creamy, sweet taste that leaves me looking for more every time I finish a cup.

The dry scent reminds me of honeydew melon initially. My boyfriend immediately identified watermelon so people who love both will enjoy this. I taste the fruity flavoring, then the tea alternately and those are balanced in the first steep. Second steep allows the tea to shine and the melon is the undernote. I was surprised at the suggested steep time of 4.5 min since that’s twice as long as usual time for white teas. I am reminded of a previous discussion that silver needle can handle hotter and longer due to having a thicker “body” in it being the apex leaf bud. I want to try a boiling temp rinse of 30 sec, then brew at the usual 170-185 for 2 min first steep, increasing steep time for as long as it can go. That adventure needs to wait another day though.

At first, I got a very delicate tasting tea… almost too softly flavored. It has a nice texture, it’s like a very thin broth. As I continue to sip, though, the flavors begin to define themselves. I taste the buttery notes, and a hint of citrus brightens the cup a little. The vegetative tone dominates the flavor, but even that is quite delicate. As the description suggests, it has an artichoke like taste to it. I taste more artichoke than spinach here … and I like that this is a mild vegetable taste and not so much a sharp grassy taste. The citrus intensifies as I continue to sip, it is a bright, lemon-y note that comes in near the finish and lingers well into the aftertaste. Very nice, I’m glad I gave it a chance after the first couple of sips… I like how the flavor has developed. It is still on the soft side, but, I kind of like the delicate nature of this.

This guyasa had a lot to live up to, since I had just tried Tangerine Creamsicle and Good Morning Sunshine, also from Butiki Teas. But I thought it was pretty good! To me, the mint was the featured flavor, and the vanilla just added the right amount of creaminess. I didn’t taste the lavender at all—at least I don’t think I did, which is good, since I’m not that fond of lavender. I would certainly recommend this one for a mint tea lover who wants to try something different.

So I’ve been in a Tea Funk. I pretty much had to force myself to make this but I did. And it was delicious as always. And my girlfriend got me a cute little Danish blue infuser mug with a saucer for my birthday so now I have a new go-to mug, and I’d say my tea funk is on the way to being over now.

Smooth lemony happiness in a cup.