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It was actually a tad sunny here this afternoon, so the kids and I played outside. The little man had his jeans on backwards, orange rain boots, and his blue fleece coat on, unzipped with no shirt on underneath. And we played in the front yard for all the world to see. You see, the mailman would be arriving any minute. I had been waiting all day for his arrival. And it was close to 4pm at this point. When we saw him coming, all three of us ran to meet him.

Our mailman is not your average mailman, he’s straight out of sesame street. Knows all the kids names, what’s going on in the neighborhood, loves to chat endlessly. And I normally enjoy it, but today I wanted to grab my package from him and run inside to get tasting. I was as nice as I could be under the circumstances, but my first order from Butiki was in my hands, and I had things to do.

I had a pretty decent selection to choose from, but enjoy flavored black teas in the afternoon, so I went with the pumpkin creme brûlée. Smelled a lot spicier than I expected, but I never tip my nose up to a little extra spice. I steeped it a little longer than the suggested 2.5 mins, but I like my black teas pretty strong. Then I added a very slight amount of brown rock sugar per the websites instructions. I’ve tried brown rock sugar on a number of occaisions, but I just really love raw honey in my tea. So after a few sips trying to drink the tea the “right” way, I caved and added my honey and a splash of steamed milk and a dollop of froth. My first thought as the tea went down, “Holy crap, I just love tea.”

This is a really great flavored black tea. Not perfumey at all, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. I love the spice and was surprised at how spicy the tea remained after a second steep (with no milk or honey in the second cup).

This will definitely be taking up residence on my shelf. I can’t wait to try the next one!

Emily M

What other teas did you order, if you don’t mind me asking? Adding this one to my list of “to buy”’s. Sounds yummy!

TastyBrew

I’m a samples junkie so I ordered samples of:

Pumpkin Creme Brûlée
Almond Indulgence
Tamarind Pop
Creamy Eggnog
Pistachio Ice Cream
Potato Pancakes & Applesauce
The Killer’s Vanilla
Winter Fire

Looking forward to trying new teas all weekend!

Emily M

Nice! I look forward to your reviews. I’ve had the Creamy Eggnog and the Pistachio Ice Cream before, but the rest are ones I haven’t tried yet. Hope you enjoy them! =)
I’m also a bit of a samples junkie. It’s a good way to try a bunch of things out without committing to them.

TastyBrew

Yeah, I go nuts on the upton site since their samples are generally only a $1. One time bought about 30 $1-$3 samples of all their single estate assams to try and find the “ultimate” one. I would try two head to head every morning. I prefer one (Halmara Estate CTCBOP) that’s not too well liked around this site, but to each their own!

TastyBrew

*Halmari not Halmara

Emily M

Yeah, I also place big sample orders from Upton. It’s so easy and cheap, I just can’t control myself!

TastyBrew

Totally!

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Emily M

What other teas did you order, if you don’t mind me asking? Adding this one to my list of “to buy”’s. Sounds yummy!

TastyBrew

I’m a samples junkie so I ordered samples of:

Pumpkin Creme Brûlée
Almond Indulgence
Tamarind Pop
Creamy Eggnog
Pistachio Ice Cream
Potato Pancakes & Applesauce
The Killer’s Vanilla
Winter Fire

Looking forward to trying new teas all weekend!

Emily M

Nice! I look forward to your reviews. I’ve had the Creamy Eggnog and the Pistachio Ice Cream before, but the rest are ones I haven’t tried yet. Hope you enjoy them! =)
I’m also a bit of a samples junkie. It’s a good way to try a bunch of things out without committing to them.

TastyBrew

Yeah, I go nuts on the upton site since their samples are generally only a $1. One time bought about 30 $1-$3 samples of all their single estate assams to try and find the “ultimate” one. I would try two head to head every morning. I prefer one (Halmara Estate CTCBOP) that’s not too well liked around this site, but to each their own!

TastyBrew

*Halmari not Halmara

Emily M

Yeah, I also place big sample orders from Upton. It’s so easy and cheap, I just can’t control myself!

TastyBrew

Totally!

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Bio

I love tea. And I love beer. I spent my twenties thoroughly enjoying all that beer has to offer but now that I’m into my thirties and a stay at home mom of 2 little kids and 1 big kid, I spend more time enjoying tea.

I joined steepster in Feb 2013 and it’s crazy how much my tastes have changed since joining. Before, I liked cream and honey in all teas and loved mostly dessert blacks. Now I almost rarely drink them, but enjoy them from time to time. What I love more than anything are straight rich black teas, Fujian, Laoshan, Rizhao, etc… I also love pretty much any black tea that the little leaf hoppers have gotten their teeth on.

I’m still not too into the green/white/oolong varieties. I keep trying to but my tastes are evolving pretty slowly on that front.

Overall, I just enjoy tea. Something about it that just settles me.

Location

Portland, OR

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