A sick-day sip down. Even the dust filled bottom scoop of tea is smooth andsweet. It feels like there’s a scoop of apricot compote in each sip. I took a big whiff from the tin before I brewed this pot. The rich honey scent will be fondly remembered.
177 Tasting Notes
The local Welsh Association sold this for fundraising. A much more healthful purchase than the Butteryball Butter Shortbread, to be sure.
The color is a DARK red brown, even though I used ice to make it cold and weaker. I can smell peat moss and Ceylon tea from ten feet away.
I took a sip and nearly choked. This tea tried to strangle me! I definately can see exhausted Welsh coalminers drinking this then jumping up and digging tunnel straight to China! It’s bitter and with a general “Indian black blend” taste similar to Irish Breakfast, very well suited as an eyeopener. I don’t think I’ll drink this for enjoyment, though.
This one of the cheapest and most comforting teas available to me. Literally pennies per cup. Which is perfect given my sinuses have rendered all olfactory, mental, and gusatory functions impossible. This is a rough and earthy tea that always gets a tad astringent and tastes like home. It’s hard to completely ruin it, though. Minor oversteeping doesn’t show. I’m grateful since I’m very out of sorts…
I am currently on the tweleve step program to combat melon addiction. The first step is admitting you don’t need three cantaloupe and a honeydew per pound of body weight. The second step is Butiki ’s Cantaloupe and Cream.
This is absoultely the most real and natural flavored tea I’ve had. The next closest thing to real melon and cream. But that’s not vegan friendly.
It starts off oddly more honeydew than cataloupe but the honeydew disappears after four steeps. The mouthfeel is juicy like real cantaloupe and the tea base provides the perfect honey toned background. This tea can only be improved by sharing with one’s pet lizard.
I’ve been admiring my Butiki order and finally have the constant drizzle of a day perfectly suited for bai mu dan. This tea has such large leaves I can’t even fit them in my gaiwan. After much awkward head scratching, I finally decided that a kyusu would be the best method. Wouldn’t it be great to have one?
Regular sencha pot prep this is a slightly floral and earthen. It reminds me of Mars and Frontier’s bai mu dan, oddly. There’s no bitterness and as it cools it becomes less floral and gains a more classic bai mu dan savory taste.
Absolutely awesome. Butiki is definitely one of favorite tea merchants now.
No notes yet.
Sipdown/restock #1 of the season! The October air helped us breeze through 100g of this in record time. It was perfect for yesterday’s Oct 13th. Between the creepy cloudy weather and low chill, this was the perfect toasty trea. Polishing off the second tin shouldn’t take long.
I was very wary of this blend as I have the opinion that chai masala should contain no cloves. The absence of ginger is also odd but it was a good choice. This is very cooling and and stretches out the yerba energy. This ia a great blend for cold brewing or cold.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
Today’s brain boost brought to you by Mate Factor. Delivered via a chia orange yerba late. With a pinch of matcha for extra green go. I think there’s just too much going into this blend without better balence. It’s not bad alone and with juice or milk it approches good.
If you’ll excuse me, I need to climb a few sequoias.
I was intrigued by a bagged honeybush chai put out by such a specialized company when honeybush is so new to the American market. Given this speedy release, I expected it to be fresher than bagged usually is and worth a try.
It was not a disappointment and much fresher than most bagged teas. I was wary of the cloves, which are always over powering but this is well balenced and survived in coconut milk. I couldn’t taste the honeybush or rooibos (thankfully) so its unique selling point is nominal, but as a caffeine free chai masala it succeeds.
Since her reactions to coffee and creamer are worsening, my mother has finally relented in trying alternatives. I figured the caffeine rich yerba would be a good start. I can’t rate this quite yet as I don’t think I steeped it right. I used four table spoons in a two cup French press and forgot about it for twenty minutes. It came out with far too strong an aftertaste. I timed the second cup better and was surprised. Despite the dark color and list of toasty ingredients this tastes mostly like green yerba and a cacophony of extras. I’m going to give this blend a few more tries before I give up.
And the maternal unit’s reaction? “It’s okay. Too green. It needs creamer, though.”
Oh well. One problem at a time.
Revisiting this one before shipping off a swap to a new friend. I had to increase the rating a few points from comparative awe. Yesterday I turned on the furnace for the first time and immediately needed oolong to speed the defrosting process. Enjoying the stone fruit flavors, it felt like an admission of autumn’s unwelcome presence. This tea seems infinately lighter and agreeable but I’m not sure I’ll want it much in winter.
I think I’m starting to develop a taste for Wuyi oolongs.
This was yesterday’s evening tea and it last a good five steep through breakfast. The light quality ofthis oolong seems almost phantasmic after the heavier ones I’ve had recently. I can’t say I like this but I can’t say a bad word a out it either. I can appreciate the quality of an oolong but still want sencha afterward.
These are more like plastic mardi gras beads than pearls, lacking the depth and refinement of jasmine. Still, they’re natural enough to fit the rainy day headache cure I give to jasmine teas. It helps one apreciate old favorites in true form.
No notes yet.
Hmm. This is so light it’s nearly seltzer water. I can’t taste tea or lemon. I guess this would be a good kombucha for someone who hates the taste or effervessence but I feel cheated out of a good fizz.
One, two, what is this one? Ninth steeping? These invincable littles spheres have been soothing my headache since yesterday afternoon. The earthy green base lends the right level of stoutness to thefloral comfort of jasmine. It tastes like the start of autumn.
My experience with canned teas has been horrifying, to put it nicely. This was a great surprise. Kombucha is meant to be contained and works with small bottles, so by extension small cans, I suppose. This was certainly light.
I swear I dreamt about this oolong. Today, fear of heavy metal poisoning gone, I barely rinsed it and let each steeping cool to enhance the floral tones. It really tastes vegetal in a yellow, autumn way. It’s going to be tough to save a cup of this to compare to the Golden Key, spposedly the best of the batch!
Brief 10 rinse.
The first steep is almost light feeling, some mineral and staying with the barley and birch flavors. The floral layer comes out when it cools somewhat.
Second steep is even lighter, more wheat and woodsy.
The third is lightly grain and floral, very nice.
I wouldn’t call this one sweet but gives the impression of sweetness, which I love, usually in white teas. The cloud of heavy metal I asscociate with Wuyi is absent and the roasted flavor is welcome in this tea, a blanced brew indeed. The large leaves and subtler flavors make this the best contemplation tea of all the samples. I think I like this one best and I burned the first cup!
I never really enjoyed Wuyi, partially since they were one of the first oolongs I trked to explore and hadn’t quite mastered time and temp variations. I’m determined to find one I love.
A quick 20 second rinse.
The first steep is has a moderate iron taste and oak notes. It’s not heavy though, a quality I dislike about strong roasted teas.
The second and third are much more woodsy and barely mineral at all. It might work for someone looking for a weaker classic Wuyi to space out stronger, more nuanced ones. This is a very promising start to the sampler but not quite cravable for me.
I never thought I’d find a black tea as smooth as a silver needle but here it is! The first sip of this was taked standing up, library book absent mindly being skimmed. The second was taken sitting down there with focused awe. The liquor is so dark but tastes like the lightest honey and apricots. Lots of floral notes and honey.
This is the first black tea I will greedily guard in as massive a quantity as possible.
Second steep: This bizarrely tastes like keemun and rooibos. Come to think of it, that may be a nice combination to try.
