Butiki Teas

This tea took me by surprise, and I’m not sure how I’m going to write about it accurately. It’s so different to anything I’ve had before, but definitely in a good way. To me, it doesn’t really taste much like coffee, but I can see where the comparison comes from. It has a thick, rich mouthfeel and a robust, roasted nuttiness about it which is similar, though there’s no actual coffee note to my mind at least. I can more easily see the comparison with roasted chestnuts, only this is darker and more savoury. I don’t get any of the notes I typically associate with puerh – sheng or shou – except for some tobacco-like notes at the end of the sip. It’s quite heavily malty and does have a rice note which I find interesting, and I think it’s like a black tea in some respects, only incredibly strong but also very smooth at the same time.

This tasting note is much shorter than it deserves, but quite honestly this tea is just so unique that I don’t really know where to begin. I’m almost surprised I managed to get anything written down at all! Hopefully the words will come with time, and I will eventually, after many more cups, be able to confidently write a tasting note on this without it feeling like a daunting task that I’m not quite up to.

Bumping up my rating a little from 83 because I managed to get a hot pot of tea and two cold brews from the same leaf, and they all tasted amazing. I think I could probably have done another cold steep, but I wanted to make something different for my next cold brew. Now this really is a sipdown.

Cold brew resteep of the leaf I used in my pot of tea the other day came out amazing! Creamy iced coffee, but super refreshing. Man I wish I’d discovered that before. Now I definitely need to find a replacement.

I had a very indulgent bath earlier tonight where I read and drank a whole pot of this. It was my reward for getting done with my university work for the summer. The roasty coffee and sweet, creamy vanilla go really well with the rooibos and with each other, and remind me of affogato which is something I adore. It’s a shame that it used up the last of my leaf. I’ve put the spent rooibos into a tumbler in the fridge to cold steep to see if I can force anything more out of it. Trying not to get my hopes up about it, though. This was a pretty unique flavour, and I think I’ll be hard pressed to find something to replace it, but I’m damn well going to try.

Sipdown! ): 219/399.

I had a cup of this over a family Zoom call with my brother and his girlfriend, who have just finished university today! We haven’t been able to see them because of Covid, so it was nice to have a chat and celebrate with them. Because of the context (and because I changed to wine part way through the cup to toast them) I wasn’t paying too much attention to my tea. I remember a nice, mild rooibos with creamy coffee notes at the end of the sip, but that’s about it.

I would like to try this cold brewed, I think.

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would! I didn’t expect the flavour to translate as well as it did, but I’m not sure why since Butiki has rarely (if ever) disappointed me. The honeybush is not entirely invisible, but it doesn’t disrupt the coffee ice cream flavour so I barely noticed it. The coffee is mild but present, and it’s the good kind of coffee too, like freshly ground Italian espresso, not cheap instant coffee. Working in an Italian restaurant where I make the coffees may have turned me into a slight coffee snob. There’s a hint of vanilla but the ice cream mostly comes from an unexpected creaminess which makes me want to drink this in big gulps. Together it’s delicious, and if it were still available I’d drink it frequently on a night time, ideally while reading in bed, which is how I drank this cup. If anyone cares, I’m currently reading The Joy Luck Club, and I am enjoying it but I wish it jumped around the stories less, because it always switches just as I’m getting invested in a particular tale. Anyway, this was a nice tea to drink while reading it, and I’m a much bigger fan than I expected to be.

Busy, exhausting days! My tasting notes have been slipping. Typical of me, I’m taking it down to the wire and writing up all of my remaining tasting notes for the drink-a-thon tomorrow. It’s the first day off I’ve had in a while, so I’ll be able to spend a decent amount of time on them, and I can’t wait. I’ve spent the last few days in a fog of exhaustion, but happy to be working good hours again, and just haven’t had the time I’d like to for tea.

This one I drank the other morning when I had a couple of hours going spare to drink a few cups of tea. I had it plain first, then with a pinch of (smoked) rock salt, and then finally a third time with a pinch of sugar, for good measure. It’s amazing how much it changes! Plain, the starchy potato and sweet apple and cinnamon notes are both equally present, and make for a tasty – if slightly confusing – cup of tea. Potato with sweet things seems very weird to me, as a non-American, but the potato here doesn’t seem overtly savoury so it doesn’t bother me too much. The base tea was hardly noticeable in any of the cups I had, which didn’t really surprise me after seeing that my dry leaf was over 50% potato and apple pieces. It was probably most noticeable here, but I had almost no tea leaves at all in my second cup so that might be why. Overall I find the balance to be intriguing, and would have liked to have tried it with a little salt and sweetener at the same time as per somebody else’s suggestion, but I didn’t have the time nor the patience to have yet another cup of this tea just then. I will probably try it like this eventually. With the rock salt added, only a little and not enough to make the tea actually taste salty, it was just as Stacy suggested – enhanced potato notes, diminished apple and cinnamon notes. The tea had a very brothy feel this time around, which I quite enjoyed. It almost reminded me of chips or ready salted crisps, but the cinnamon was still a quiet lingering note which stopped this from being completely savoury. On the flip side, I had a separate cup with added sugar and the potato note became much less noticeable, and the cinnamon and apple notes were brought out more. Similarly to the savoury cup, the potato was still present enough that the tea wasn’t completely sweet.

Each way I tried it, this tea was quite different. I could still tell that it was the same tea each time, and yet it tasted drastically different so as that three cups in a row wouldn’t seem like three cups of the same tea in a row. None of them were particular stand-outs, though all decently tasty, and the potato chunks really do make strainers a bitch to clean, but I’m still happy to have this tea in my collection for the sheer novelty factor.

When I first got this it was my favourite oolong, but my tastebuds have shifted a little since then and it’s been ousted by the Fu Shou Shan. It’s creamy more than buttery to me, with light sweet/savoury vegetal notes which remind me of pea shoots and a delicate floral note (this might be what others pick up on as orchid, but I can’t say I’ve ever eaten one). The light roasted quality comes through at the end of the sip in a warming, bready note, which is finally followed by a return of that floral note and some fairly noticeable pear, right down to the texture. I think for my current tastes it’s just a little bit too indecisive – not quite roasted, but slightly too roasted to be called green. I really enjoy both, but I find myself wishing it was one or the other. I think perhaps when I first tried this it was the first ‘roasted’ oolong I’d had, and therefore my mind was blown by the new flavour profile and I became enamoured. Now that I’ve tried more roasted oolongs I find that this just lacks the toastiness I want from it, and I’d prefer it to just be a little more green. Having said all that, don’t get me wrong, I still do really enjoy this. I do! I have just about enough leaf left to have a lovely gongfu afternoon session with this one day for the perfect send-off, but for now I think I’ll get a few more steeps out of these leaves.

Upping my rating from 38 because this doesn’t have the gross smell that it used to and I think it actually tastes better too. Maybe it’s mellowed with age, or maybe it’s my tastebuds changing, but I like it a lot better now. I don’t get as much of an artificial cherry note any more, and now it’s sort of sweet and woodsy with a mild cherry-like finish. I made this as a latte tonight with some maple syrup and it’s bringing out the honey tones in the tisane more. Plain honeybush is probably never going to be something I gravitate towards often, but this is one of the better ones I’ve tried now it’s aged some, and it’s doing what I wanted it to do tonight.

Not so much to say about this. Flavour-wise, it’s just fine. Woodsy and has a sort of fake cherry note which I’ve noticed a few times with honeybush. It doesn’t have any honey flavour, and apart from the scent I don’t think I’d be able to differentiate it from any other plain honeybush I’ve tried. Scent-wise, this smelled awful. Like, truly bad. It had a sort of fishy, rotten, inside of a bin smell which really took me aback when I sniffed it. It smelled quite pleasant in the bag, so I’m not quite sure what happened there. Maybe it’d be better with milk and/or honey, but this just didn’t do anything for me and the scent was downright off-putting.

Yesterday was a day of resteeps! I meant to review a new tea when I got in from work but it was a really busy shift and I was so exhausted I just went straight to bed. The resteep of this was much like the first, but less earthy. The blueberry holds up well and I’d like to brew this gongfu next time.

I accidentally steeped this in boiling water, and forgot to rinse the tea (I have no idea what I was thinking while I prepared it) so this is admittedly probably not the best this tea has ever tasted. This is another one I’m going to have to keep separate to make again at the end of the month if I have time.

The blueberry flavour is dead on, and really quite enjoyable, though I don’t get ‘champagne’ from it, even after adding sugar. Mostly I think that the Suncha base is too jarring for me with the sweet, jammy blueberry flavour. The earthiness I can dig with the blueberry. Yeah, I can see that making sense. But it’s just a little too much on the smoky savoury side for me to really enjoy this as a ‘blueberry champagne’ kind of tea. I’m also a little sick of drinking so many Butiki 1989 Suncha blends recently though, because of my drink-a-thon, so maybe I’d appreciate it more on a regular day. Still, I can’t help but feel like the blueberry flavour in this, which really is lovely, would be a hundred times better with a white tea base, or a green oolong. I’m going to reserve final judgement until I’ve tried this gongfu brewed, or maybe cold-brewed, or even just brewed according to the actual suggestions… Yeah, my bad.

Thanks for including this with my order, Stacy! I appreciate being able to try it.

The citrus zing of this one has mellowed out over time, so it’s actually more enjoyable now than it was fresh. There’s just too much going on in this tea for me to really appreciate it, but the tangerine and maple flavours are the most prominent. It’s not a common flavour combination, and not one I gravitate towards often, but it was nice enough this afternoon. A light, fruity oolong with some sweetness. I’m going to up the rating a little from 59, because as I said, this has gotten better with age.

I resteeped my leaves a couple of times yesterday, and the citrus zing was much less abrasive in the subsequent steeps than the first. It is still the dominant note, but it’s mellowed out to a point where the overall tea is much more enjoyable. I noticed in my third steep that the strawberry note is holding up quite well, and becoming more present as the other flavours mellow out. I’m pretty confident with my guess that strawberry is a flavour here, or at least another berry which very much resembles strawberry to me. I’m going to bump up the rating just a little bit from 57 because the later steeps are definitely more enjoyable than the first.

As with Happy Trails, I read the ingredients for this when Stacy first posted them a while ago, but have since forgotten and haven’t looked since.

This is a very interesting tea. The dry leaf smells mostly of maple (which I got excited about), which is followed by strawberry, which is followed by orange, in descending order of strength. I had high hopes, because I love maple flavoured teas, especially Butiki’s, but this isn’t really what I expected. The liquor while brewing smells very tangerine-y, and the other notes are mostly swallowed up. The flavour is the same. Strong tangerine note in the initial sip, which develops into a more orange note in the aftertaste (could Stacy have used both flavourings? It is a very strong orange citrus note). There is a syrupy sweet maple note if I block out all of the orangeness, and I think I can taste some vague strawberry in there somewhere, though I don’t think I would have picked up on it if I hadn’t smelled it fairly clearly in the dry leaf. There’s a chance it could be some other berry note, maybe raspberry, but strawberry seems the most likely to me. I’m picking up on cinnamon-like notes which I don’t think are coming from the flavourings, but pretty much confirm my suspicions that the oolong base is the Fu Shou Shan, which I am very fond of and always translates to me as having natural apple and cinnamon notes. Right at the very back end of the sip I taste something sweet, light and pillowy which is making me think this might have some marshmallow flavouring added to it, though if it does probably not much.

It’s fun to guess which ingredients are in these mystery teas, but honestly the citrus in this one is a little bit overwhelming for me and I would rather drink the Fu Shou Shan on its own. I preferred the other mystery tea.

ETA: As this is starting to cool, the maple flavour is becoming more pronounced at the beginning of the sip before the orange kicks in. I’m pretty well convinced it’s one of the flavours.

Drinking this one right after the Plum Compote and Cashew Cake for comparison, with half a sugar just as I had in that one. I’d hoped that the flavour profile wasn’t as faded as I remember it being, but alas, my memory was correct. The brandy is nowhere to be found while the plum plays hard-to-get. It’s such a shame because this used to be one of my favourites, too. The cheesecake note, once all but lost and consumed by the heady combination of plum and brandy, is now curiously the only note still discernible. I think I might combine some of this with the PC&CC and see where that gets me, and perhaps try again with double the leaf. I am desperate to chase down something of that wonderful elixir from my memory before this tea is lost forever. I fear I will fail, but I must try.

Something about this tea is making me write like a Victorian gentleman, for some reason. Idk what’s going on there. Carry on.

This was one of my favourites when I first ordered it, in fact I loved it so much that I added it to my wishlist immediately after my first cup (which I very rarely do when teas are still in my cupboard) and eagerly parsed others’ notes to see if anyone wasn’t keen and wouldn’t mind to swap. I remember taking my first sip and having an ‘ohmygod’ moment. All of the notes were present, particularly the plum and brandy. The reason I’m describing this experience from almost two years ago is that sadly, out of all my Butiki teas, this seems to be the one which has lost its flavour. I’m going to have another cup in a few days once I’ve got through the rest of my drink-a-thon teas in the hopes that it was a fluke, just a bad cup, or I brewed it wrong, because this tea was once magnificent. O’ cruel fate, why must you take from me one of my favourite teas in such a brutal manner?

But seriously, aside from the melodramatic mourning, I was so disappointed when I took my first expectant sip. The flavour hasn’t completely dissipated, but it’s faded to the point where I have to chase the notes to taste them. The scent is very creamy, and the cheesecake flavour is probably the most prominent note remaining, but I barely get any brandy at all and the plum is seriously fading. The base itself was on the light side, too, and I could taste the water through it, so I’m living in hope that I just underleafed even though I followed Stacy’s suggestions. This might have to be moved into my focus box until it’s sipped down.

My rating for this is based on how amazing it was when I first bought it, since it wouldn’t be fair to it or to Stacy to mark it down because of my negligence/hoarding.

After the aged offering from Nannuoshan, I was in the mood for more Bai Mu Dan, so I picked this one out. It maybe wasn’t the best idea because even though I do really enjoy this tea, it’s always been on the more ‘delicate’ side, and it doesn’t shine as much after the thick, nectar-like aged Bai Mu Dan. It’s not surprising, and I love delicate white teas, but with a flavour like squash I want it to be more hearty than light. I’ve noted before how I wish this one were richer, with a thicker mouth feel. I wonder if I could Frankenstein the two to create the perfect tea?

Quick tasting note before I take a walk down to my nana’s, I’m going out with her for lunch. I’m also going to Weight Watchers tonight and have an appointment at the dentist’s, so I’m not sure how much tea I’m going to get drank on my only day off this week! Next Monday and Tuesday are the last days of January and the last of my drink-a-thon, so it might end up being a sprint finish if I can’t find the time sooner.

I estimated the temperature while I was distracted, and think I might have brewed this a little too hot, since the liquor is a darker colour than I expected and there’s a tiny hint of astringency right at the back end of the sip. It’s not too noticeable, and doesn’t bother me, but still I feel like I could have done this more justice. The squash comes across to me as a cake, cookie or muffin sort of flavour, and along with the vanilla and cinnamon the overall effect is one of a cinnamon cookie, which is just fine by me! The sweet, earthy, starchy squash is the most prominent note in the body of the sip, mingling with the vanilla note which helps make it more sweet than savoury. The soft cinnamon comes through at the end of the sip like a blanket, covering the mouth with a natural, comforting spice which makes me suspect this tea would be perfect for curling up in front of a fire in the Autumn. I added my usual half a sugar, and now the vanilla and cinnamon notes are more prominent and the squash less so. I do wish this tea had a thicker mouthfeel to match the creamy starchy flavour, but it’s very enjoyable nonetheless.

ETA: As it cools the muffin comparison gets stronger. It’s reminding me strongly of a muffin I can picture quite clearly which I used to have often as a treat when I was younger, but I can’t quite remember where I got them or the context around them. What I can picture quite clearly while I’m drinking this is the colour, texture and flavour of the muffin, right down to the gooey, sticky glaze on the golden brown top and the spongy but dense feel of breaking off a piece to pop in my mouth while the coating got stuck to my fingers. I was originally going to rate this a 76 but I’m going to have to raise that because yay for muffin tea!

This may be my least favourite of all my Butiki teas. Not that it’s bad, it just isn’t the one for me, or rather I’m not the one for it. It was free with an order, though, so a big thank you to Stacy for allowing me to broaden my horizons and try some teas I never would have gone near on my own. It’s leaning toward the more savoury side of greens, which makes me think it would be interesting paired with some more savoury flavours such as sage or even tomato if we’re getting adventurous, but as a straight tea on its own, for me it’s a miss. There’s an earthiness to it and a natural smoky note which is admittedly interesting, but nothing about this tea really makes me want to drink it again, except for the thick mouthfeel and brothiness which made it easy to gulp and is giving me a warm happy tummy. I’m sure it would be great for people interested in such teas, but I am not such a person and will most likely be passing this along.

Sadly I think time has been less kind to this than to some of the other Butiki blends I still have kicking about. My palate is contaminated with the garlic butter king prawns I had for dinner, though, so maybe it’s just being overpowered. My mam surprisingly seemed to enjoy this one, she said it was ‘not bad’ and it got an eyebrow-raise of surprise, which is high praise from her! This is all the more surprising because, like me, she is not usually a green tea fan. The jasmine and anise are still noticeable, though soft notes in a delicate cup, but the pear was mostly lost to me this time. Brewed in my IngenuiTEA to Stacy’s instructions, I’m going to try resteeping the leaves at a higher temperature and with less water to try to coax out more of the brilliance that I know was once there.

EDIT: I resteeped the leaves in less water for 5 minutes at 88 degrees C/190 F and the anise note is much stronger this time around, while the jasmine has faded into the background and I can actually taste the pear now. Still no astringency from the base, which I forgot to note the first time around. Overall I would say this is a more robust cup than the first steep, though still a shadow of its former self.

EDIT AGAIN: I steeped the leaves a third and final time, and the balance of jasmine, anise and pear is much more even now. This time I used boiling water for 8 minutes, and was actually somewhat surprised that the more delicate notes are still present in the cup. There aren’t many teas I would steep more than twice Western-style, but for Butiki I keep going as long as the leaf lets me. I get the feeling that I could probably eke out another very delicate cup or two, which is impressive considering the age of the tea and how mild the first cup was. I’m half tempted to try it and keep going, but it’s just not quite enjoyable enough at this stage in its life, and I’m going to have to drink something else if I’m going to hit my target of a sipdown a day! I only have enough leaf left for one more sitting with this tea, so maybe then I’ll see how far I can get with it.

This was the big surprise of the final Butiki batch for me – I love it! So much of it, particularly for me, shouldn’t work… but it just does! First off, the base is a green, which is typically my least favourite, and on top of that it has anise, which, as a licorice-hater, I’m also not a big fan of. But somehow when combined with the pear and jasmine flavours this tea just really works for me! It’s even more surprising given that it doesn’t seem to be too popular with other Steepsterites. But that’s okay, more for me! Or there would be if this were still available…

The dry leaf of this tea is absolutely gorgeous. Butiki blends tend to be visually stunning, but this one more than most. There are whole jasmine flowers dispersed throughout the leaf, and whole pieces of star anise which, though I’m not usually a fan of flavour-wise, are pretty gorgeous to look at. Many reviewers have commented that they found the anise to be overpowering, but this wasn’t the case for me. The bi luo chun, pear, jasmine and anise notes are all pretty harmonious in my cup and none are overwhelming or jarring. This is a very relaxing cup of tea! It’s subtle in the right way; I think if the notes were stronger they would become overpowering and become more of a punch in the face, but it’s not lacking in flavour like I found the Irish Cream Butter Crisps to be. Perhaps the trick with this one was leaving it to mature for a couple of years until the flavours mellowed out! As usual I added a little under half a teaspoon of sugar, which, as Stacy said it would, really created a pear drop sweets kind of feel. Only this one is mature and better for you. The Jasmine notes are soft and natural – I suspect they come from the added flowers rather than additional flavourings – and add a sophisticated twist to something which otherwise could have been too sweet and fruity. The anise is mellow, too, and doesn’t remind me of licorice as much as peking duck (that sounds totally negative but it wasn’t meant to). Perhaps what I should have said is that it reminds me of five spice, in that the anise is more natural and ever so slightly on the savoury side, so that it pairs well with the green tea base. The pear note does not come across as artificial to me, or at least not in a bad way. It’s definitely reminiscent of sweets more than the fruit itself, but it comes across to me as deliberate, and the word ‘artificial’ to me conjures up (gustatory) images of plastic, chemical-tasting sting-your-mouth disgustingness, which this doesn’t have.

Of all the Butiki teas I bought in their closing down tea-blending frenzy, I knew there would be some gems I would struggle to part with, I’m just a little surprised to find that this is one of them! I’m relieved I picked some of it up, because I was umming and ahhing over whether to get any at all, but now I wish I has more than my measly half an ounce. Oh well, hindsight is a wonderful thing! I shall enjoy this while I have it, and savour as much as I can.

This, though a nice enough tea, is probably one of my least favourites from the last Butiki release. I guess it’s unsurprising since I’m a lover of strong teas and this is very delicate. I love Irish cream, but I dislike butter, and unfortunately for me the butter is stronger than the Irish cream here, particularly in the scent. I suppose for people who like/don’t mind the flavour of butter it would likely be a good thing, but the scent of the tea once brewed is strongly buttery and makes me feel a little queasy. It’s milder in the actual tea, thankfully, and I do think the Irish cream is very mild, too. The main note is of cream, but I can’t pick up on much – if any – whisky, so I’m tempted to say that the creaminess might come mainly from the bai mu dan, which is a naturally creamy tea. I don’t really know what sugar crisps are, but it is a sweet tea… I added a bit of actual sugar and it intensified the creaminess. All in all it’s a nice tea, but that’s all it is: nice. I can happily sip it while spending the afternoon reading as I did today, but it’s not one which bowls me over with its flavour.

Resteeped my leaves and was rewarded with a milder, lighter cup of the same deliciousness I had yesterday. Maybe a bit lighter on the coffee this time, but the pumpkin spice is still present and yummy.