177 Tasting Notes

55

I entered this with low expectations, a vague hope for some mangosteen flavor in mind, and settled for a pleasant peach flavor with a phantom astringancy to assure me there was some tea in there somewhere. But no mangosteen.

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54

Retrying this with vetiver incense it tastes fine. I tried it previously while burning Dragon’s Blood incense, giving it an odd cough syrup tinge, and was ignorant to the source of this problem. I was more curious than concern since I new it was a type of resin. Looking it up, it could come from a number of trees, including Calamus , which are growing by my porch! Dragon’s blood is also used for ink and varnish, which would through off anyone’s sense of taste. A roasted yerba mate or a heavily oxidized oolong might work better but I doubt burnt varnish pairs well with anything. XD

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 7 min, 15 sec

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54

David Duckler has me thinking about how incense and tea interact, this tisane is a good example. Usually it’s a bit grassy and bitter on its own (due to my forgetting about my drink for a good hour or so), but when I burned some Dragon’s Blood incense today to scare off the bugs, the taste took on oddly medicinal and sweet taste. I needed a honey cough drop after forsaking sleep and it tastes like my evening mate. Very interesting…however, I am too tired to ponder the specifics of this. A repeat experiment (I certainly have enough work to get through) is something I look forward to trying.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 8 min or more

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95

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.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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45

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.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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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…

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 0 min, 45 sec

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89

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.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Batrachoid

Following Liberteas’ experiment with 52Teas, I want there to be enough time for the flavoring to fully set but I’m not sure how long ago this batch was flavored. Perhaps someone on Steepster has such privileged knowledge?

Butiki Teas

It was flavored on Oct 3rd.

Butiki Teas

I’m curious, what was Liberteas experiment with 52Teas? What was the result?
Also, I’m totally imagining a lizard with a little tea bowl. awww.

LiberTEAS

@Butiki Teas: it has been my experience, not just with 52Teas but when I was flavoring teas myself, that the flavors need time to develop. Three weeks gives an adequate amount of time for the flavors to do their thing, I’ve found. A lesson I learned very early on was a tea that is flavored today will not taste the same three weeks from today.

It was more or less part of my trial and error thing when I was teaching myself the art of flavoring tea, but, something that I didn’t really think about until a year or so ago (I don’t really remember when I had the a-ha! moment), but I found it to be true with 52Teas’ blends, some of the teas I’d try as soon as I received them, and they were alright… but then I’d go back and try them a few weeks later and it was like WOW! I don’t remember it tasting this good… then I realized why … the flavors needed their time.

Butiki Teas

LiberTEAS-Interesting, very interesting. I had read that it took a week or two to settle, but that’s interesting that it may even be longer than that for the flavorings. I noticed that with spices quite a bit. At first I would overload the spicing then later on it would be way too much.

LiberTEAS

@Butiki Teas: This is why I would always wait three weeks before I would offer my flavored teas for sale. I wanted to test them before selling them, and I didn’t want to test them until I was sure of the flavoring. I was a bit of a perfectionist, I guess. LOL Which is yet another reason why I had no business selling tea. I am much better at just being an artist. Things don’t get done very often (perfectionism thing) but at least I’m not making things that people are clamoring to buy.

Butiki Teas

LiberTEAS-I know exactly what you mean. I have been working on this Pistachio Ice Cream green tea for maybe 2 months now trying to get the flavor just right. Then it gets to the point I’m not sure anymore if its good or not and I’m not sure if I just want to scrap the whole thing but I’ve already invested so much time.

LiberTEAS

Oh goodness… tell me about it. It took me over a year to develop my chai. Nearly as long to develop my caramel. My chocolate was a work in progress… and while my first couple of versions tasted wonderful and I sold them as I continued to work on the recipe… it took about five years before I developed the perfect chocolate. sigh

LiberTEAS

PS: I do look forward to trying Pistachio Ice Cream… YUM!

Butiki Teas

Wow, 5 years! That is quite a work of art. Thanks, I hope the Pistachio Ice Cream finished soon-ish.

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88

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.

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Bio

‘m a student of relentless self improvement and social cooperation.
I love Japanese teas, whites, pu’erh, and tisanes. I don’t out right dislike any kind of tea; everything gets a fair chance as a gift from the Earth.
Reviewing new teas always makes me a happy frog. Contact me at [email protected] or comment on my blog below.

Location

Georgia

Website

http://sabiisphere.teatra.de

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