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This tea smells great, and I have to admit I had high hopes for it, even though I don’t love bananas. After drinking it, I can honestly say I wish it had tasted of banana at least, as mine really tasted like water. I put a larger amt in than recommended, and let it steep for a good 10 min. Expensive water was the end result. Not a winner for me. Maybe I’ll eat the rest of my bag as a trail mix.

I was really happy when I saw this tea was in the Spring Collection. I’m recently a fan of oolongs (well, some), and have fallen in love with all things coconut in the last few years. This was the one I HAD to make first when I got home tonight.

The dry tea has a light coconut smell, but you definitely still smell the oolong. Brewed, it’s a fairly light coconut taste. Nothing overpowering, and very easy to drink. I accidentally over-steeped the first infusion by a few minutes, and it was still drinkable. My second infusion (when I set my timer), was great.

I may have to get a tin of this one.

The dry tea smells great. It has a sweet, lemony smell, but it’s not lemon-cleaner-like, if you know what I mean.

My first thought when I tasted it was that it was a variation of Exotica. I love Exotica, so that’s not a bad thing. I did detect a bit of a bitter end note while drinking it, though. I followed DT’s instructions and steeped it for 4 min at 92C. I think next time I’ll try it at a slightly lower temp, and maybe for only 3 min, and see if that takes away the bitterness.

I liked it, but unless changing the steeping method improves it, I’ll stick to Exotica.

This was a sample tea with my Butiki order. It had such great reviews here, I really wanted to try it, but I didn’t want to commit to a larger quantity. I was leery of the “floral” part in the description of the tea.

I’m afraid I don’t get much peach flavour here. It’s drinkable, but just doesn’t wow me in any way. It does taste a bit floral to me, which is likely why I’m not a big fan.

I’m not going to rate this one, as I knew before trying it that it might not be the tea for me.

I tried this one for the first time this morning. I was very careful of the temp and the steep time, as I’d read this one is tricky to get right.

I poured some tea at the 1 min mark, and some after 2 min so I could compare the two. Strangely enough, the 1 min steep had an astringency to it that the 2 min didn’t. I preferred it after 2 min.

It did have an apple-like taste to it, but it wasn’t so distinctive that I feel the need to buy more than the small sample that I bought. There were a couple of really big chunks of apple in my 20g bag, that I think made up most of the weight of the “tea”.

This might be good iced, but I’m not really an iced-tea kind of girl.

This is the fifth Butiki guayusa that I’ve tried. I’ve been a bit hesitant to try this one, as I detest lavender (especially the smell). I shouldn’t have been worried. It tasted very smooth, I couldn’t detect the lavender, and there wasn’t even a hint of the grassiness that guayusas are known for. Just a nice, almost creamy taste. This is a good combination of flavours. I like mint, but if you don’t, don’t worry, it’s not overpowering here.

I way over-steeped my tea as I’m packing to move and got distracted, so I had it after it had steeped for 20+ min.

I was a bit surprised at DT’s suggested steeping temp and time (4-5 min at 94C), as I was afraid it would turn bitter on me. I decided to follow the instructions for the first cup at least, and am happy to report no bitterness.

Unlike one of the other reviewers, I like the fact that there are no floral additions to this tea. It has a very light, grassy taste and smell to it. NO perfumey or floral notes here.

Overall, a very mild, pleasant cup of tea. It’s not one that I’ll think to drink often, as it’s not very distinctive (maybe I’m not used to luxuries enough to appreciate its subtle qualities, lol), but I’ll enjoy it when I do drink it.

Eucalyptus, baby!

This tea is basically in your face eucalyptus mellowed out by mint and a bit of orange. I really like mint, so I started off thinking it tasted great. Well, a few sips in the eucalyptus hit. I was sick last week, and ever since my voice has sounded a bit hoarse, even though I feel ok. I think the eucalyptus may have fixed that. I won’t be able to handle drinking a lot of it, but I don’t think you need a lot. This will be added to my “medicinal tea” section, which I hopefully won’t need to use for a long time.

Oh, and I forgot about this one and accidentally steeped it for about 45 min, so it might have been milder in taste if I’d had it after 5 min. :)

This smells great. It has a wonderful, tart, fruity smell both dry and brewed.

Unfortunately, it tasted bitter to me. I’m not sure if that’s the fault of the oolong, or the kombucha. Either way, I’m not a big fan.

I decided to try this one again, but with some alterations. I added a bit of dried ginger and 4 cardamom pods to the tisane, and I think it helped. I’m still getting a bit of a fake almond taste, but it’s not nearly as strong as before. The spices help to balance it out a bit. Still no coconut flavour, though. Maybe I’ll add some coconut next time.