donkeyteaarrrraugh Send Message

This was a sample from Butiki, and if you’ve read my reviews before, you know I have a tendency to have “weak” luck with Butiki samples! Even this time, knowing that I usually use too much water, I seemed to do it again. What I was able to get out of this tea were faint notes of fig, a tad of raisin and a bit of earthiness…like the skin of sweet potatoes. I here by swear that I will NOT make a Butiki tea from a sample without having 2 samples to combine in my cup. I’m sure there’s some magic here, but mine was too watered down to grasp it….

Bad lady had a second cup of caffeinated tea this morning…. another Lupicia, as my small Butiki stash has runneth out and I wanted something other than Harney today. So I went with Lupicia’s Au Lait. I’m pretty dang sure that this is a ceylon blend, as there is more astringency than I typically like and the back of the package says “Origin: Sri Lanka”. :) When I first “upgraded” my tea, I found this to be a wonderful tea, but now that I have figured out what teas I truly like, I’m afraid this one won’t make my list. It’s bright and tasty, but that dang astringency sits on my tongue and in my tummy like a wet bed sheet. This blend is made especially to handle milk well (which is usually the hallmark of a tea that I will love) but due to the blasted astringency, I won’t be ordering again. If you like ceylons that take milk well, I’d give this a try.

I’m quite surprised that there aren’t more than 5 reviews of this tea, as it seems such a standard Assam offered by a well known upscale tea purveyor! Lupicia is the first “fancy” tea I explored when I broke away from the standard low grade teas I had drank my whole life…. You know…. Tetley, Trader Joes, PG Tips, Tazo……them sorts. Silonibari is a nice, smooth, middle of the road quality Assam tea. No surprises here. No huge notes, no blast of astringency, just a solid, good tasting tea. With tea, like wine, it seems you always get what you pay for. I’m happy paying what Lupicia asks for this Assam. As another reviewer stated, it’s a reliably good tea when you’re at work and can’t control water temps or steep times like you can at home. Agreeable and recommended tea.

There was a heaviness to this tea this morning. I detected lots of bottom notes, but nothing light coming to the top. There is a heavy maltiness, the weight of raisins and some nuttiness (closer to walnuts than almonds)…. I think I would have preferred a bit of top note in this tea, but I really do like the fact that there is not much astringency. Perhaps this is a fickle tea that needs a perfect steep for the subtleties to rise to the top…..(that would mean I am looking at pilot error for the tea not bringing more to the table)…. Stacy, is this a tea that you need exactly 8oz of water for? (as I may have used 10-11 oz) If so, the lost subtleties are my fault! Will try again soon!

So today I made this tea in my Finum .8 tea infuser pot. 2 healthy teaspoons…I have a tendency to use a bit more tea when the leaves are more in tact, because my Polish logic says that there’s more air in the measuring spoon if the leaves are in bigger pieces, so I need to use more tea…. who knows if I’m correct or not, but today’s teaspoons led me to a nice, low astringency cup of assam, with a nice malty taste and a bottom note of raisin and sweet potato. At least that’s what my mouth is telling me. I’m not getting the baked bread note that others have mentioned as much as the malt from this cup (well, 2 cups, but don’t tell my doctor) but that’s fine. This is a well balanced tea that doesn’t leave my tongue feeling all dried out after drinking it, which I love. Drank with rock sugar and 1% milk. Handled them well. So far, one of most refined Assams I’ve had….but I’ve only just begun!

Another Butiki sample that I fear was a bit too scant to truly relish the cup as intended, but still worthy of a review. I can smell soy sauce in the dry tea, as well as raisins. There is a sweet smell too….kind of like powdered sugar donuts. Weird, but true. Since I add milk and honey to all teas I drink, I can’t speak to the honey notes that a few others have mentioned, but this tea does have a vague vegetable taste to it…a bit asparagus, but a bit sweet potato as well. It certainly is complex! After my first few sips I’m still getting the the sweet potato and raisin, which isn’t a bad combination, as I use chutney (raisins included) on sweet potatoes and curry sauce often! The sample measurement didn’t hold up to my milk and honey very well, but that might change if I had a healthy teaspoon of the tea to use. Will combine 2 samples into one cup next time to see if I can get more info….I’m somewhat intrigued though!
Update! I figured out EXACTLY what the sweet note smells like! Anyone buy Cadbury mini eggs for Easter in the dark blue bag? That’s exactly the smell in this tea!

This is a lighter tasting kenyan than my “usual suspects”….which was good for today, as I had a bummy tummy when I woke up this morning. I steeped for 4 minutes, and the nice bread-y aroma was immediately apparent. There wasn’t alot of body to this tea, but the flavor was really nice. It is a nice alternative for the african tea drinker when you don’t want a WALLOP and you’d prefer a nudge.

Ok, so here I am, back at this tea again today. I seem to be fascinated by it. Again, steeping (briefly) in the cup, and on the first taste (with honey and milk) there was a surprise of asparagus-y note, but then it faded into the cup and I swear this is one of the smoothest cups of Kenyan tea I’ve ever drank. I’m rescinding my “malty” tag from yesterday….it’s mostly wonderful yeasty bread notes in this tea. I’ll be using this for another cup or two (something I never do), hoping that the caffeine was all in the first cup and I can continue on without wreaking havoc on doctor’s orders of 1 cup of caffeine a day (fast heart rate)….. thank you Butiki for the wonderfulness in this cup.

The first sip of this tea (with milk and honey) gave me that asparagus taste that other reviewers mentioned….. it hit after the other flavors of the tea left. But my second sip didn’t bring the asparagus…it brought more of the bread….which makes me happy. (this is starting to sound like willy wonka’s gum that is a whole meal that bloats Violet Beauregard up like a blueberry! Salad and bread so far!) 3rd sip and I’m having trouble finding the asparagus…thank gourd. I think this is a great bready-tasing tea in general. It was frightening to see how quickly the water darkened in my teacup in just 1 minute 30 seconds, but apparently the depth of a tea’s flavor doesn’t equate to how long it steeps. (can you tell I’m a newbie?) After reading the other reviews, I thought I’d go dump the bag in the lunchroom at work even before I tried it, (scavengers/carrion) but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to recommend that if you don’t like asparagus, drink this tea with milk and a touch of honey… it’s bready and lovely without all the carbs!