Butiki Teas

Thank you to Stacy at Butiki Tea for this sample

This is some wonderful Strawberry Oolong!
I am really fond of Black Tea, Pu’erh’s, malty Assam, smoky Lapsang Souchong, but this Oolong swept me off my feet. The flavor after a 4 minute steep was an authentic and gentle strawberry in a buttery, creamy golden liquor. There was a touch of floral orchid taste on the finish . As I said before, wow! This is desert-like!
Adding some rock sugar brought me to the best Springtime Tea experience. Paired with little salty expensive local cheese for lunch from The Welsh Rabbit Cheese Shop and I am ordering this tea right away.
I have to commend Butiki on not only their fine customer service, but on how well they flavor their tea. Never overdone or harsh, Butiki is a reliable tea company! They are one of my top 5 vendors that I will reorder from often!

Sipdown! Except… it’s a fake sipdown, because I finished off my first ever ounce of this tea (about 2 years old give or take), and received my next (and last) ounce just today. The last bit was rather heavy on pistachio bits and lotus stamens, not so much tea, so it still tastes ok, but isn’t as flavourful as it was. No worries though, because I have multiple delicious cups of this incoming to my mouth over the next two+ years. Yes, I will more than likely still have this tea in two years. I anticipate having Premium Taiwanese Assam around for 5+. Perhaps I should invest in a vacuum sealer.

Managed to oversteep this one this morning (just by 30 seconds), but thankfully it doesn’t appear to be ruined. I’m having the same lack-of-creaminess problem as with the Eggnog, which I’m positive is again related to the creamy, sweetened tea I just drank. I’m also getting a slight note of anise, which is throwing me a bit. Blehhh!! (It’s still good though.)

Arrrrrgh, Steepster. Sorry for the backlog, which I may not even be able to post….

Yum. Another tea I was silly to have given away much of before trying my own bag, as the sample I first had seemed to lose much of its flavor in transit (and then I purchased a sampler pack containing an ounce of this, which I stupidly wasn’t thrilled about!) I did use 1.5 tsp instead of the recommended 1 tsp… I prefer a cup with more flavor, and except in the case of very broken-leafed teas, I find 1.5tsp is much more reliably tasty for me for most teas regardless of recommendations.

Anyhow, it’s really hard to say whether this is actually pistachio-tasting or not; I’m personally getting more of a creamy, cardamom(?)-spiced tea, with plenty of background tea flavor. Pistachios to me are very savoury-nutty, which is perhaps not entirely captured here, but that’s not really an issue for me. In my opinion, this tea is much like Creamy Eggnog, in that there are light, creamy, tasty flavourings paired wonderfully with a chewy, vegetal green tea, a combination that not nearly enough blenders attempt. I think this is why although I’m generally not fond of flavoured greens, I do really like those by both Butiki and Verdant, as they use fresh, quality green teas instead of sticking to basic, lower-quality senchas (and if I’m not mistaken, Chinese senchas, not Japanese, which I prefer).

Second infusion, with the same parameters, had a bit of bitterness/astringency and wasn’t as tasty, but worthwhile.

So, my memory tells me that I wasn’t particularly enamoured with this tea the first couple times, which were from a sample from Azzrian. However, I received some as part of a Butiki sampler quite a while back, and hadn’t actually tried it from my own batch. So here we are!

I opened the baggie to a… delicious aroma of creamy pistachios?! What? I don’t remember this aroma! How exciting!

For whatever reason, this tea is definitely working far better for me today! I admit that I probably overleafed my cup (maybe 2 tsp to 8oz. water or so?), but I’m getting a nutty pistachio flavour, creaminess, cardamom??, and a lightly seaweedy sort of green tea. This is certainly not what I remember from my previous attempts! The creaminess and green tea leave a lovely aftertaste in the mouth, as well. The only negative is that I feel like I’m tasting a hint of licorice/anise in there that I’m not liking. I’ll have to try this with sweetener someday to see if I can really bring out the “ice cream” flavour, because as it stands, this is more of a creamy nut tea with seaweedy undertones.

I don’t think I’ll ever be quite the fan of this tea that some people appear to be, but it’s much better than I originally gave it credit for. I suspect it perhaps was a tea that suffered for whatever reason by being packaged up as a sample (too much exposure to air, cross-contamination, etc.) Rating bump!

ETA: A re-steep with less water and the same parameters yields a pretty tasty cup as well, although with reduced seaweedy green tea flavours. (Bonus, it withstands sitting cold for 24h too!)

Ok, used maybe a bit more than 2 tsp, and I think I’m getting a lot more aroma, so hopefully that translates into a lot more flavour!

Well, there’s more flavour, but I think I oversteeped it – there’s a touch of bitterness coming out. It’s creamy and I can taste a bit of green tea, and maaaaybe pistachios?? It looks like I must just be one of the people that finds this tea ok, not great. Oh well!!

Second infusion – I’m an idiot and left it for 8 minutes, but I’m actually getting some more flavour here! It’s not particularly bitter or anything…. oh whoops, I drank it all. Well, there was a nice green tea flavour too, but I can’t remember the rest! Good, though.

Thanks again to Azzrian for this sample :D

Super excited about my upcoming Butiki order! Turns out that shipping to Canada is quite reasonable, after all! I need some retail therapy (lies, I just need therapy, but spending money always feels good).

Can’t say I’ve had pistachio ice cream, but I have had pistachio pudding? You know, the green stuff… that I’m totally craving now that I’m thinking about it…. hello shopping list.

I neglected to sniff the dry tea enough to write about it, and it’s way over there gestures to foot region sooooo later. Later.

Steeped, the smell is creamy and… nutmeggy? Interesting.

Sipping it, I’m getting something familiar from this, although not pistachio ice cream. Is it reminding me a touch of 52teas Cherry Cheesecake Genmaicha? Hmm. I can taste the green tea lurking in the background, tastes like sencha to me.

Uh… I’ve finished the cup, so can’t write anymore. I think this one has promise, but i think I need to use more tea or less water. Or steep it longer. It was just a bit too much on the light side.

Thanks to Azzrian for this sample, and hooking me on Butiki Teas :)

ETA: Second infusion, about 175F for a… while. And in less water. Doesn’t taste like much. I’ll have to try again as described above.

I received a bit of this tea from a recent swap with DaisyChubb – thank you very much, DaisyChubb!

I really like this. I couldn’t find it on the Butiki Teas website, nor did I have any luck finding it anywhere here on Steepster. This is really quite tasty. The apple is a nice pairing with the flavor of the guayusa, and the spices weave their way in and out throughout the sip. It’s quite enjoyable. Sweet and delicious!

Additional notes: Sample sipdown! Oh wow, I just saw the last tasting notes date and it was May 5, 2012! Exactly a year ago! I’m not sure how that happened. I followed the steep instructions this time.. (no three minutes) 50 seconds first steep, 70 seconds second steep. The flavor wasn’t the same as the last time (since I didn’t steep it correctly last time). The flavor still wasn’t your typical oolong, but it didn’t have those pumpkin notes like last time either. It’s tough to describe this one! It isn’t really peachy, floral, or vegetal. Not sure what is going on… but I kind of liked the pumpkin flavor better. Also, the new blends from Butiki sound AMAZING.

This is a very light oolong with just a hint of floral flavor and scent. BUT it surprised me. As I was drinking it (maybe because it cooled) it became like a subtle pumpkiny flavor, even with a slightly spicy flavor. I did steep it for longer than 50 seconds, so maybe that was why. But this would be good for a nice base for a pumpkin flavor, if you steep it the way I did ( I wasn’t keeping track but it was maybe 2 or 3 minutes). And there was a buttery flavor too. All of the Butiki teas are amazing. Just try to find a bad Butiki tea!

Thank you Butiki Tea and Stacy for this sample!
Tonight I grilled a Ahi Tuna steak for a favorite sandwich. After grilling 1-2 minutes per side on a hot dry pan, rest the tuna a few minutes then cut into chunks. Dress with Soy sauce mixed with a little WASABI (um love it). Make a salad of chopped greens, cut up avacado, a little chopped green onion, fresh corn if you have it, a little jalapeno pepper if you want…tomato if you are not allergic like me…and mix with the tuna…then spritz with lime juice and put a glob of the mix on a hotdog type bun. This is really good! Should be enough to make a few sandwiches.

OK. What goes with this?

To follow my fab sandwich for dinner, I had this Coconut Cream Pie caffeine free Rooibos and watched a French Movie on Netflix in HD on my 60in big TV (this is the good life of a retired old lady!). Oh, and a piece of salted dark chocolate.

I think this tea is almost a vanilla coconut cream flavor. I am so thankful that Butiki knows how to create flavors that are pure without going sour in the mouth. It is a pet peeve of mine that some companies use flavoring that is like swigging out of a bottle of flavoring with the alcohol in it. YUK! This is GOOD flavor not the bad stuff! The aftertaste lingers pleasantly long afterwards with that mostly vanilla note. I was tempted to get creative and run for my Lapsang Souchong to add a little…but this is not about mixing tea this time around. Butiki deserves it’s own time spotlighting this tea!

Thank you Butiki for this sample!
Yesterday I drank so much caffinated tea that I was up and down during the night (don’t act like it never happened to you!) . So there’s no way I wanted to repeat that mistake and took down my decaf bin for an evening selection.
Have you noticed how vanilla tea initially tastes ok and then the flavor goes sour? I hate that! Reminds me of fake flavoring with alcohol.Blech!
This vanilla is good! No bad aftertaste and the flavor is mellow not overly bold.

While this is not a mindblowing brew, it is tasty and created well.

Sipdown! 91/365

Cheater sipdown. Turns out I have at least 3 packages of this? This was the remainder of one of them. It’s fairly tasty, but as I might have commented on my last review of it, some of the magic has definitely been lost. This tea is extra-old, though, as 2oz of it was one of my earlier Butiki purchases.

Apparently I did have a bag of this left. It’s extra-old, though, and has definitely lost some of its magic. It still tastes so familiar, though, there just isn’t as much melon or cream as there once was.

Cold brew! Again, lightly sweetened (as in, you really can’t even tell that it’s sweet, it’s just not as “dry”) which makes it perfect.

Tried cold-brewing this one a day or two ago, and am drinking it now. While the cold-brew was certainly successful (as in, the resulting brew tastes like Cantaloupe & Cream), I don’t like it like this. I particularly disliked it unsweetened, which is interesting, because I don’t think I’ve ever sweetened this tea when I’ve had it hot. Anyways, that led to me pouring in a minimal amount of diluted honey (I had this bright idea back when I was a bit sicker to pour hot water into my crusty jar of honey to get the last of it out, so now everything I sweeten will get diluted honey until it’s gone, haha) and… I still didn’t like it, at least not when it was ice cold. I’ve let it warm up a bit (I don’t know what temperature it is, certainly still cold, but not quite fridge cold) and it is now much better. I’m still not entirely sure that I’d repeat this experiment, but the way it is now, I’m rather enjoying it, so the answer is probably “yes”. I think I used… ~ 3tsp for 8 oz? So double strength? Even if it costs more, I’d rather have a flavourful drink that a diluted one. Just my opinion. I’m not overly frugal in that regard.

I have so much of this one (a bit of an overbuy, I’ll admit, if only for freshness reasons), that I was curious to see if it would work in a travel mug. And? Success! It’s certainly better in a regular mug, but it was pretty good this way. Just have to ensure I use a contamination-free mug!

Mmmmm, soooooo cantaloupey and creamy. Delicious!

Indulging tonight… yummmmm. I think I overleafed again (why?!) but it’s still delicious. Need to compare directly to Watermelon Xylophone at some point, but I think this one will come out the winner.

Note to self: use only 2 level teaspoons when filling the regular-sized (10oz. ish) mugs.

Today, I learned that it is possible to screw up this tea (although even screwed up, it would still get a 90s rating). I really need to get my water thermometer working again, as I suspect that and a bit of overleafing were my problems. Ah well. Still tasty, just not magical :)

What’s a comfort tea night without some Cantaloupe & Cream? So yup, drinking this. My cup has cooled though, and I’m annoyed because my body wants warm tea. Flavour is still fabulous though (so I bet this would be great iced, although it seems a waste with such a delicious/expensive tea, since I usually gulp iced teas down). Going for another infusion shortly (and by that I mean immediately, as I just finished my cup).

Ahhhh, reunited at last. This is delicious, as I remember. Light, but deliciously creamy with a juicy cantaloupe flavour and wonderful lingering aftertaste of white tea and creamy cantaloupe. This is an absolute must-try for melon lovers.

Ohh… my cup’s gone already :( Guess I better go re-steep… good thing I have a glorious 2 oz. of this one now :D

Suuuuuper excited to try this one!! Azzrian was generous enough to send me a sample of her precious, precious stash! Ever since being in Japan and experiencing melon everything (seriously. Among other things, I bought a melon Kit Kat and have a melon Pocky key chain), I’ve adored melon. Mostly honeydew, but cantaloupe will do as well!

The tea smells like classic melon. Even more excited now, because that’s exactly what I was hoping for!

AHHHHH OHMYGOODNESS!! THIS IS AMAZING! Tastes like liquid, creamy melon in a cup. And with a glorious aftertaste of creaminess. It’s light, but I am loving it. LOVING IT. (Right, like you couldn’t tell.)

I can’t taste a great deal of white tea, but have been getting hints here and there.

Ohhhhh man. This is… probably better than I was expecting. I will now make my way to Butiki’s website instead of showering and going to bed, like I should be doing. Yep, it’s good enough that I want more NOW.

Cannot thank you enough, Azzrian! I know it was probably super hard to part with, but thank you sooooo much!!

Three big consecutive tea hits in a night. Good thing this doesn’t happen too often…..

ETA: Ooh! Second infusion (same parameters) is different and interesting. Tastes more like cantaloupe without the cream, this time. Delicious, authentic taste though. This is so good :D (I’m tasting something odd here too… pretty sure my mouth is having a few issues right now. Sigh.)

ETA again: Wow. Even the third infusion tastes lovely. And the fourth! Yes, the flavour is weakened, but… yum. I would go for a fifth if I didn’t have like 8 cups of other teas sitting around me right now :D

Thank you Butiki Teas for this sample!

Bonnie is getting brave, coming out of her shell and trying new tea’s. Gyokuro on ice, and two Oolongs all in one day. Who would have thunk it! You can teach old folks new things! (I also had a lovely black tea from Teavivre today also but I’ve logged it twice already). The luxury of tea and discovery of new flavors and brewing methods appeals to me. I am so greatful for today and all my days!

At first when I read the steep time of 4 minutes I was surprised because my earlier Oolong this morning was only a 1 minute steep. However, I leave all this to the tea companies and obey their instructions (at least for the first time I brew the tea!). Like all Oolongs, please don’t use a teaball. The leaves need room to expand. Even if you pour water over the leaves in a bowl it’s better and let them expand then strain into your cup or a pot.

1. Gold shimmering liquor! Then, a grape/lilac-orchid aroma. The flavor is not overly orchid and there is a little tannin along with big, bold creaminess. I don’t find the grape overdone. This is, after all, a grape oolong so there should be grape flavor. It is sweet with rock sugar and slightly mineral.

2. Second steeping I kept with the same 4 minute time. The liquor is still the color of spun gold.
The mouth-feel is juicy, mineral, floral but less creamy with more tannin on the tongue. My addition of sweetening kills the tannin and enhances the floral note and slight grape flavor. I recommend doing this. It is true that the more this tea cools, the more the grape flavor increases which is pleasant.

3. I’m having fun now! Still steeping 4 minutes. The liquor is a great color and fragrant.
Not expecting much flavor, I am very surprised at how juicy the tea has become, and that the tannin is gone. There is rock sugar, mineral flavor with a faint floral orchid taste. It is sweet enough to drink straight up and a bit salty, pecan nutty. Of course as the tea becomes cooler…more grape flavor pops up!

During the last tasting I was thinking about the grape flavor…and how I would like to purchase this tea to Pair with Hard, Salty Greek Goat Cheese like a Kesseri (which is good flamed) or Cypriot Halloumi Cheese (which can be fried)!

I finished my tasting this way…some cheese…some grape oolong tea…some cheese….