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Every year or so, I exhume the desecrated husk of my sole remaining Butiki tea and mourn anew. It’s a grizzly and macabre affair. It involves a lot of pining.

The ginger is now very bright, somewhat eclipsing the strawberry, which in turn has mostly drowned out the withered remains of the green tea base (why did I hoard a green tea? I should have gone with a black tea or something. I have so many regrets).

There is still beauty in the residue. Stacy made the best blends.

Golden Orchid is a vanilla scented black tea blend as per its ingredients list. In practice it’s more of a fudge tea. I stand by my old tea note of six years ago. I don’t know which year this batch came from (no younger than 2018) but I do think it’s not quite as fudge-like as previous batches but the aftertaste is undoubtedly fudge-like. Weirdly enough, a bit of the sour tang of stonefruit and cleansing note of eucalyptus is creeping in too, as well as a burst of cloying date sweetness every once in a while. Neat.

I may be at the point where I slightly prefer Ambrosia to this but it’s still very much a comfort tea. Glad to see I still have some in my stash (I am totally rediscovering my previously neglected tea cupboard. It’s the coursework and procrastination).

I wish this blend and more peanut butter consistently but, omg, the banana is once again delicious. Also does stellar as the “cup forgotten the night before and consumed first thing in the morning” tea.

Oh man, I feel bad I never made a proper note of this one while I had it. We will all just have to make due with this belated note.

This tea was consumed enthusiastically and without care by the tea drinker. It was wispy and sprite-like in nature, both in its fleeting non-committing flavour profile and brief but flighty sojourn in and out of my cup. Sometimes it tasted like nothing at all. Other times, like the sweetest of sugar crystals and smooth sensual grass. Gone before you know it – with memory altering effects that are sure signs that this tea might just be another moniker for the Springs of Elysium. Like, I don’t even remember the year I bought and consumed most of this tea.

You think this tea note is fluff but it was the tea that was fluff! And I want more despite not having the foggiest clue why. Thanks for all the confusing feels tea.

Today this is all about the sourdough. I guess sour fermentation and nutty rice grains promote some crossovers with other food associations.

I wonder how many steeps I’d have to go through before stripping back most of the flavouring.

Steep Count: 2

I had a few 2018 Nepali teas from What-Cha once upon a time. I’m pretty sure this was my least favourite, and the only one not to disappear almost instantly upon arrival . That’s not to say it’s a bad tea; it’s actually pretty awesome!

Aroma of liquid: browned butter, wood resin, brown sugar, chocolate, malt, and weirdly enough, veggies (Togo’s Bell Pepper Note is spot on).

The smell gave me the impression that this would be a bright but woody/dry tea, but it’s surprisingly creamy and liquid sweet to taste (liquid honey, brown sugar, or the creamy sweetness of processed malts). the astringency does build with each subsequent sip but it’s quite pleasant.

For beer lovers, this tea’s profile is a close approximation of a rich stout.

(2018 fall harvest)

Here’s another tea that’s gone on practically untouched since buying it back in 2018, despite loving it a lot. I just stopped drinking it as a got more and more stressed over the last year and a half? Some teas are meant to be savoured and not chugged in sleep deprived desperation, I guess.

Since I ordered some of the 2020 harvest I figured now is the time to drink up and enjoy this batch.

Aroma of steeped tea is lovely as always, invoking both a delicious and hot chocolate caramel fudge brownie as well as dusty cocoa powder. First steep is brisker than the the second and third, with a bright pine or citrusy orange peel finish more apparent (this is a nice note if you like chocolate orange-like desserts). There’s a bit of pepper and cinnamon too, I swear. I don’t remember tasting all of these notes in my earlier harvest batch from yesteryear (sweet potato and chocolate were my main takeaways).

Also, it’s a shame steepster doesn’t allow us to remove the old broken images. This is a pretty tea. Edit: and the broken image is gone! Hurrah!

Steep Count: 3, plus a short rinse

(spring 2018 harvest)

Today I debated on whether I should take a break from caffeine in the vain hope that it would reduce my wonderful inflammatory flare-up symptoms or drink this tea. This tea obviously won. Mental Health won. Seriously, this tea is balm to my soul some days. It has made bad days manageable and already awesome days stellar. This all may sound cheesy, but man do I love this tea.

Steep Count: 4

How did I forget that I have 100g of this sitting in my cupboard? Shame.

I’m bumping up the rating on this one because, while it’s flavour profile is not dynamic, it’s one of the most consistent and trustworthy teas in my arsenal. There aren’t many teas that I can resteep all day without a second thought (besides Milk Oolong and friends, + puerhs).

Steep Count: 3

(spring 2018 harvest)

April 2020 Blend

I didn’t do an overnight cold steep until I reached the end of my sample. Big Mistake. Hot, this tea is a pleasant enough warm cocktail punch with a mildly brisk and bright malt base (I’d rate it an enjoyable 75 maybe). Cold, this is a summer carnival fruity cocktail dessert full of all the fruit magic (+A iced tea). I now wish I’d ordered some (curses, terrible exchange rate and COVID-19 related financial uncertainty preventing me from binge ordering all the tea).

Super refreshing.