CrowKettle

A quicky from the iPod! My sister and her husband received this as part of a wedding gift in the summer.

Not bad at all; a smooth black tea with some prevalent peach notes to make it softly sweet and fruity. The light astringency comes off as rather pleasant.. Maybe it’s that way because I always understeep my black teas.

I’m glad I got to try this! I had completely forgot about it until I opened my sister’s and brother-in-law’s pitiful tea cupboard. What they lack in tea they make up with (unwanted) pigeons on “their” apartment “balcony”, however. City birds are fearless and better at sleeping through the whine of the sirens that ricochet off buildings than I am!

Thank you, BoxerMama, for this sample. I think these tuocha pieces found a good end, although they definitely aren’t something I would find myself drinking regularly!

To me they have a musky odour. They taste exactly like moist clumpy rice ,that has been wrapped in vegetal bamboo leaves, once steeped. I went with a rinse and 30 second steeps.

I have two cups of this beside me right now (first and second steep). First is more oily and buttery and makes me think that there might be egg in the middle of this rice ball. Second steep comes off more green, although equally buttery. Mild astringency but no bitterness. Picking up salty and sweet notes.

Third steep is more astringent and bold; the tuocha disintegrated completely (so cool!). Almost have to reduce the steep time when it falls apart to reduce the briskness.

Pros for me: not fishy, coffee-like, or bitter. Flavours of buttery steamed rice with a pinch of green. Savory and filling profile.
Questionable qualities: light musky body that may rub people the wrong way if noticed (like eggs, mushrooms, or fat). Also picking up a note very similar to cilantro. I like cilantro but it’s a wild card.

I think this may be very good alongside certain dishes.

I heard you like eggnog, so I put your eggnog in your eggnog tea so you can drink eggnog while drinking eggnog tea…(sorry).

Half completed experiment last night where I put eggnog in this, as I felt it wasn’t quite eggnoggish enough. However, after making it I decided I wanted to sleep instead and placed the cup in the fridge. Result? Not bad. Cold, creamy, somewhat eggnoggish spiced rooibos that tastes like it has alcohol in it.

I think I prefer it on its own. That way I can appreciate how naturally creamy and spiced it is, even if it doesn’t taste quite like eggnog.

The snowflake sprinkles are cute!

“You know you are addicted to tea” when you dream about walking into an average grocery store and finding Tiger Assam, from Andrews & Dunham, on sale, in bulk quantity, just before check-out. What is this!? Best dream ever. I want to try assam so badly.

I was worried that this oolong was going to be too syrupy, in the vein of DT’s Canadian Maple Rooibos, and taste like little else. To my glee pecan nuttiness, maple sweetness, and rich dark oolong are all kept in tactful balance. Some roasted notes are paired with caramelized sugar to create a savory, warming tea. Soft tangy quality too. I love how naturally everything pairs together; it doesn’t taste artificial either!

Thank you, Stacy, for this last generous sample. I’m officially out of new Butiki Teas to try. Tasting them was a great experience that I hope to repeat in the near future.. I need to withhold on buying teas for at least a month. :/

End day edit: Neglected it second steep and it still came out smooth. Being able to eat the pecans in the leaves at the end of the session: priceless.

The cup is full of ripe and unripe, peppery mangoes. It doesn’t always pull off the mango lassi in every sip, but when it does life is good. The cardamon is prevalent and compliments the bright and juicy mango. Something, possibly the calendula, adds a light salty element near the milky finish. Lingering aftertaste is peppery mango. The rooibos never takes over, although it is present.

Thank you for the sample, Stacy! I’m not typically a fan of rooibos blends but the solid mango notes put this one near the top for me. I’ll think about getting this again; I need more non-caffeinated beverages to drink at night.

Sipdown… :( At least there’s more on its way and my first wave order from 52teas arrived today! Hurray for fandom teas!

Buttery sourdough notes, a roasted chestnut and toasted rice nuttiness, and something sweet. I love holding up the bag of dry leaves to my nose; it smells like sourdough or pickled plums (umeboshi). Sweet & sour and, oh, so very good.

Butiki’s introductory note on steepster for this “puerh” spurred me on to make my first purchase. Yeah, that’s right.. it wasn’t the Cantaloupe & Cream but this! It sounded so intriguingly unique and, even though my experience with puerh style tea is limited, I always get a mouth-watering sensation when I see posts for them. Weird, yet it worked out for me here!

Happy New Year (or New Year’s Eve, depending)!

Man, this is good! Today I finally worked up the courage to try the five second steep, gongfu method, in my measuring glass. When I made it yesterday using my wonky method it felt like the oolong was jumping from one flavour profile to the next in a chaotic array. This allowed me to taste all of the transitional stages, slowly, step by step. This is simply magical.

I let my mother smell the wet leaves and her reaction was in the negative but then I pleaded her to take a sip of the first steep, and also the fourth one, I think (when the finish became delicious). She told me it was smooth and like drinking a fine eighteen year old scotch. A positive reaction.

I haven’t kept track of how many times I’ve steeped this; I’m just enjoying the transformation of the flavours. It started out malty smooth, had a stage that tasted and smelled like fruit jam, and is now on a buttery, creamy, honey stage. I’m not getting anywhere near as much of that “roasted rice/genmaicha” flavour as I did yesterday. Where did it go?

I don’t have a gaiwan or a device to measure grams but I can do this! Yummy oolong, although I think I still prefer the greener ones.

Bengal Spice used to be my absolute favourite hot beverage; I brought boxes of it with me when I started university away from home. It was my comfort drink. Then things got busy, I “discovered” tea, and this was pushed to the back of the cupboard. Until now.

I went to check up on my mom, and she handed me her mug and said “I think I’m spoiled on pumpkin chai.. try this.” I never thought I’d be the type of person to say “blegh”. Just awful cinnamon cardboard water in milk. We both agreed to dump the rest of it down the sink.

Maybe.. the box had gone stale (better chuck out the box). I’d like to believe that but I think the truth is that it’s not for me (or my mother) anymore. I wish I could give this a higher rating, just for old times sake, but I’m afraid my face looked very similar to that red dude on the far left of the spectrum.

When I think of nauseating, overpowering jasmine teas this is one of them.

This pretty pink tin of twenty tea bags was given to me as a birthday gift last year. It was an incredibly sweet thought and I had never seen pearls before this. The individual sachet bags are gorgeous; the leaves themselves look like delicately rolled bits of green and white cloth. At the time, the jasmine aroma reminded me of root beer.

This tea is consistent. The jasmine is exuberantly floral. Sometimes, I pick up a pleasant “salty” sweet finish. The flavours have a tendency to overwhelm and I can’t imagine following the suggested four minute steep.

Unfortunately, this isn’t one of those teas I find myself reaching for. I still have twenty tea bags. They must have given me extra because I’ve had this at least three times in the last year.. just did a count on my gifted Paris tin and, although it says “twenty sachets”, I counted twenty-one. Lucky me!

Hybrid, eyeball estimation style steeping:

The dry leaves remind me of waffle cones: light and dried out, with a sugared vanilla sweetness. Whereas the dry leaves smell like stale, woody “waffle cones”, the hot water makes them come to life. It tastes buttered and fresh from the baker. Light waffle malt first steep.

Second steep: feels lighter than the first “awakening steep”. The honey notes are so very sweet and moist. There’s a roasted rice taste that reminds me of genmaicha. Delicious, like crispy grain goods with syrup drizzled across. Aftertaste is a fruity honey with a somewhat buttery lingering sensation.

Third steep: Lots of sweet butter and cream that pairs magically with the toasty note. Vanilla and caramel notes too? This is the best! Fourth steep is similar. The finish reminds me of Butiki’s Sparrow Tongue- where does that even come from!? I think I’m going to stop on my fifth steep today but this has at least another few left in it.

The tea has transitioned from roasted sweet malt to a rich, honey-infused, buttery cream. I’m getting the impression that Verdant Tea doesn’t deal in the simple and static.

I would’ve never picked this out for myself as I’ve not been a huge fan of the darker oolongs I’ve come across in flavoured blends. I’m grateful Verdant Tea threw this one in as my sample, though, because my preconceived notions were wrong.

Boosting the rating on this by a couple after steeping a lot of leaves for a minute (probably could have reduced that) in my measuring glass + mug. While the notes always taste slightly different I haven’t had a bad cup of this yet!

Today, the jasmine comes off even more banana like in flavour- it almost has a sticky sweetness to it. Delicious fruit. It reminds me of the sweet notes in the sparrow tongue- honeysuckle again? It’s so sweet…annd it’s gone. Second cup!

There will be many more cups of this today.

You know you love a tea when you push it to the multi-steep max. I’m glad I opened the Yunnan White Jasmine sample as my second Verdant Tea. I feel like the leaves are being patient and kind with me, despite my prior apprehension about working with them.

I remember my sister making me a virgin Pina Colada in a blender as a kid when we were in Kauai. The creamy coconut and sickeningly sweet pineapple were almost unbearably rich- it’s one of those things that I feel needs something strong, like rum, to balance it out.

Why do I bring up that story? Well, despite that both it and this tea are related to Hawaii, the dry leaves remind me exactly of a Pina Colada. Luckily, unlike my virgin milkshake, Hawaiian Dream does possess that cutting strong addition that prevents it from being nauseatingly sweet. The black base is noticeable once steeped- in the odour and during mid-sip.

It’s not very astringent, and the pineapple, along with a little coconut, carry the cup. I think I may be noticing the sweet pineapple slightly more but it’s a close thing.

The one thing that prevents me from enjoying this tea to the max is the fuzzy and dry mouth. I still like the idea for the flavour combination, however, and I can’t complain about the dry leaf scent. Maybe this would taste good as an iced milk latte or slush.

Side Note: Ingredients have a tendency to settle. My coconut pieces were all at the top and I had to mix it all up.

Today this tastes… floral, creamy, and banana like.

I haven’t been using enough leaves. I need to buy a gaiwan and don’t have my gongfu pot here, but maybe I can try short steeping the rest of my sample in a measuring glass.

I like this a lot but I need to try my other samples from Verdant Tea and work on my steeping skills before I pick up more!

Edit: So far I’ve gotten four good solid steeps out of my meager serving of leaves, after reducing the water. The fourth is the creamiest and sweetest yet, with even a hint of pepper. This tea has held up well to my unintentional abuse.

2nd Edit: Made it to fifth steep and I bet there would be a sixth if I left it for around 10min. This one tastes like pines- which remind me how much I love that spruce pop (Christmas trees in a cup). Still a good dose of Jasmine left and lots of silk.

Western Style. I should stop drinking tea at 2AM. School habits die hard.

First sip: It tastes like solid ordinary green oolong to me. although, I shouldn’t say that, as technically I have only tasted ONE straight oolong up to this point.

Second sip: Whoa! Did my Dad take some of the butter that he had just melted for the popcorn and dump some into my teacup? It’s extremely buttery, and there’s something like honey but softer and more floral. After experiencing that I went and double-checked the online write up of this tea and it mentions honeysuckle notes? I don’t remember what honeysuckle tastes like but maybe that’s what it is.

I’m still unsure how to describe oolong but soft buttered spinach sort of covers this one. I’m also getting something “freshening” mid sip and in the aftertaste. Apparently there is also a cinnamon note but my dead tongue only gets a hint of it if I take a gigantic mouthful and imagine hard enough.. It’s dominantly sweet butter.

Second Steep: Consistently tastes like the first steep. Buttery body and a sweet finish. The brothy “texture” continues to be thick like melted butter too.

Wow! I honestly bought this for the inclusion of “sparrow” in the tea name. I wasn’t anticipating much- I definitely wasn’t expecting to love it on first steep. I guess I’m a sucker for butter, cream, or anything that so much as mentions birds. This is definitely as delicate and mellow as a “sparrow’s tongue” and the small, scrunched up dry leaves further painted that image too. I checked Butiki’s website and apparently this tea is on sale for 33% off until January 18th. I may have to take advantage of that next week.

Finished up my sample (sipdown?) and I don’t know what I did but it turned out excellent! Something involving a rinse, a measuring glass, and a mug with a steeper/strainer.

Besides the burnt redwood, which is toned way down today, the vanilla and jasmine are the most prominent (and delicious). Next is the a buttery vegetal texture and an aftertaste of berry/fruity sweetness. Everything is creamy. It’s still an intensely complex cup but it’s allowing me to enjoy it today.

This tin of rooibos is one of the “originals” from my initial first purchase at David’s Tea. Age has not weakened its resolve to invade entire rooms with its “stench” whenever I prepare it- it may even have made it stronger!

Despite owning this for over year I still have yet to figure out if I love it or merely tolerate it. Coconut and monstrous lavender carry both the scent and flavour profile. Sometimes that comes off as yummy creamy, floral, and mint-like, other-times it simply makes me nauseous in a soap and perfume guzzling way. I wonder what would happen if I bathed in this olfactory titan.

Although I have mixed feelings on the taste, it never fails to make me nostalgic of my first days of loose leaf purchasing. Back then I bought 100g tins of everything and was on a mission to obtain every tea and tisane that even mentioned coconut. If it weren’t for my obsession with coconut, the whispers of a delicious coconut tea at Murchies, and the continuous “sold out” status of said tea, I would never have begun exploring in the first place. My love of coconut and tea are deeply connected to each other.

Today, I find myself enjoying this rooibos blend. When it’s like this I always wonder why I don’t drink it all the time. I’ve yet to try other lavender blends but this one has always made me curious to try more.

Still unsure about this tea but it would feel so wrong not to have it around after our long history together. It’s odour would always be noticeably absent. :(

Simply pure silk. The finish is floral glory.

I butchered my second steep of this, western style, and forgot about it for over ten minutes. Minimum harm except for a drier mouth.

This soft and gentle cup is the best jasmine tea I’ve tasted so far. Huge points for not making my head spin.

Lingering aftertaste is faintly fruity.

I randomly chose this as one of my samples. Thank you Stacy and Butiki Teas!

Intense and simple, I don’t think I’ve had a mint tea that’s this potent. There are two flavours: mint and milky green oolong- both of which give everything they’ve got. They meld together impressively, and I have a hard time discerning where one begins and the other ends.

I was going to write up a quick note before I went onto a second steep but I’m glad I didn’t. The flavours are never as cohesive in the first. Not so prevalent in the first cup, I’m actually getting the sensation of eating authentic mint leaves on the second go!

I could see this being a perfect accompaniment with a mint friendly savory meal or dessert. The finish is oolong creaminess and the aftertaste is pure mint leaf. Spicy peppery note is very faint near the finish.

Buttery Dragonwell and citric grapefruit together!? I must be dreaming because this is too good. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for existing! This is my new favourite tea.

The beautiful dry leave scales have a very potent sour grapefruit smell and they initially both excited and worried me. After steeping, the scent becomes less tart and more like a sweet white grapefruit. The flavour is exactly that, with a smooth and delicate and restrained vegetal base. It’d like I’m consuming the most divine grapefruit to ever step foot inside a cup. Yes, I’m aware that grapefruits don’t have feet that we know of… Second steep was equally amazing.

Third steep sees a toning down of the sweet grapefruit and a greater focus on that buttery vegetal Dragonwell that I enjoy most of all. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a tea so dearly. I’m extremely pleased with myself for randomly choosing to go with 1oz of this.

I adore the honeydew melon Melona, a kind of Korean ice cream bar, and this amazing tea tastes near identical to it, except I may like this more. Even though I was drinking this straight I felt guilty about it- I kept thinking to myself “haven’t I had enough cups of ice cream already today?” I couldn’t, and still can’t, believe that this delicious tea isn’t loaded with creamy calories. Its milky richness and green fruitiness is a real treat.

While I don’t mind the addition of soy or dairy milk, The teas I most value are the ones where don’t have to add a thing. This is one of those sought after cups that wants for nothing. It’s mind blowing how leaves, hot water, and some flavours (all vegan in this case) can create an ‘image’ as luxurious and sensational as cream. Never fails to impress me.

I won’t ramble on because I’m a clumsy writer and others have described this tea in greater loving detail. However, if you like fruity ice cream and haven’t picked some of this up already then I can’t give a stronger recommendation.

Initially, I had this very looong, like giraffe neck or elephant trunk long, note rambling on what I thought I was tasting. Luckily for universal sanity, I decided to scrap most of it. Yes… this is the shorter version. Shock and awe.

When I ordered from Verdant Tea for the first time I randomly picked a bunch of sample sizes so I could meet the free shipping quota. Except for a few, I didn’t read any of the ingredients or the notes here on steepster. All I can say is that it was a very big surprise, like redwood big, when I got a whiff of this. It smells like scorched vegetation- burnt and sweet. It made me recall the odor of Palm Spring’s dry desert lands.

First steep: I was intimidated by the scent so attempted to do a hybrid kind of short rinse with two cups. I mostly got a hot woodsy flavour, some jasmine, and a hint of basil. I don’t see this noted anywhere else, but I experienced an almond nuttiness too, which I really liked. The complex profile manages to be smooth, sweet, and creamy.

In the second steep I was able to smell the juniper in the wet leaves and liquor. In the third and fourth steeps I could distinctly taste the juniper berries and the “tree-ness” tasted less cooked. I didn’t get any lemony citrus notes until the fourth steep, which became cold after I forgot about it for hours. It’s sweet and “oily”, with dabbing of vanilla and white leaf creaminess.

I steeped this and Cantaloupe & Cream four times each throughout the day. While C&C was consistent this cup never stopped evolving. There was so much going on in this tea that it overwhelmed my pitiable little brain. Despite that I really enjoyed the experience. This is very unique!

Thank you for the generous samples and the speedy shipping, Stacy! I ordered from Butiki back in the beginning of November, when all of those horrible events happened. Unlike the amazing service I received, I was extremely slow on getting to my parcel; it actually became a Christmas gift.. Anyways, I cannot express enough how impressed I was with everything. I’m a nervous shopper so it meant a lot!

Chamomile is one of those things that I go to when I want stomach equivalent to a warm blanket hug- does that sound strange? These peculiar smelling yellow flowers are my go to herb for sleep and stress related troubles. I can’t describe what chamomile tastes like but it can be sweet, smooth, soft, warm, and a tad creamy in a mild floral way.. that’s on the vague side.

The fruity tart ingredients, particularly the goji berries, allured me to this particular blend. It was the sweet and sour creamy profile that won me over. I think I’m detecting mostly apple flavour and goji berries, with shades of citrus. The tartness is subtle in a fresh juicy manner. Clean and comforting- what more could I ask for before going to bed for the night after a long day? The fruit and floral notes are impressively full despite my being economic on the leaf measurement.

I think this just nabbed the spot for my favourite chamomile blend. I’m glad I was able to get a sample of this! Already thinking about the amount I should buy and the theoretical pretty tin I will put it in.

This teabag was included in my parcel from ToiToi.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this one will be making my shopping list. The peach is decent and bears a familiar fuzzy quality but it comes off rather artificial and “splenda-fied” midway through. Although it isn’t bad, the base doesn’t seem as “filled out” or brisk as the Dilmah bags either- and they’re both supposed to have a Ceylon black base.

My peach Ceylon from Silk Road has this one beat by a long mile, as far as the peach taste goes, but I appreciate getting the chance to try this!