94
drank Mi Xian Black by Butiki Teas
676 tasting notes

Thank you Stacy for this juicy tea sample!

I can understand why Stacy stocks this tea so that she has plenty on hand for herself! It’s really good tea!

This morning, when I saw the words ‘Black Tea’ on the sample packet, I casually picked it up thinking, "OK, a nice Black Tea for my morning kick in Le derrière ".

The leaves were long and beautiful. Chocolate brown twisty fingers.
With such dark leaves the liquor was lighter than I expected,
very clear and fragrant, with a scent like apricots and honey.

Before tasting my tea I went to the freezer and took out a few of my prized dried California Apricots (the plump ones that are hard to get ) and cut them up to gather the aroma. ‘Sniff’
The scent was the same as the tea!

I took a sip and the black tea was honey apricot without any maltiness. The mouth feel was rich and full even though you would have imagined at first that the tea was light as a feather.
The smoothness hides the slightest tingle of astringency as the tea cools. There is plenty of juiciness and sweetness, but it’s really all about the golden apricot honey which is hypnotic and swishes you away.

Being raised in Northern California, Apricots were plentiful and never cold packed like the kind you find in the stores today.
My mom (Pat) canned them, grandma (Lolita) made jam, and I picked them off trees to eat fresh, made desserts, and froze them for my kids as popsicles.

Before Silicon Valley was ‘Silicon Valley’ it was agricultural and had orchards and Canneries. Sunkist, Del Monte, S&W, Hunts, Libby’s, and Marianni’s all were there, and in the Summer the teens from my High School worked cutting ‘Cots’.
(Yes, there were no McDonald’s jobs because in the earlier 1960’s there were almost NO fast food restaurants!)
You cut ‘Cots’ (apricots) and got blisters on your hands for minimum wage, and were glad for it! If you were frugal, you might earn enough in a Summer to buy a $100-$200 used car!

Years later, (1980’s) across from the Apple Computer World Headquarters in Cupertino, I noticed an acre of huge drying flats of apricots laying in the sun at Marianni’s Cannery. The old and the new were side by side (and now gone).
A last remnant of what was once a lush valley of 100,000 that had been replaced with concrete and a population of over a million people.

Some have never tasted an apricot fresh off the tree when the sun has ripened it with a blush of red on the skin. The sweetness at just the right moment is juicy and bursting with life.
Try to stop at a stand where they are fresh if you can.

This youtube is somewhat bizzare, shows a 1955 film of Silicon Valley agriculture (a silent movie with soundtrack). Makes me want to cry because it’s gone! I lived for 12 years across from a Prune orchard and vineyard which are part of a freeway now. http://youtu.be/-PacfbdTIms

This tea for me was one reminder of my childhood and I want pass this kind of flavor memory forward like my family did with me.
One of the reasons that I love the organic farms and buying local!

Thanks Stacy! (I know Stacy tastes PEACHES but I taste APRICOT)

Daisy Chubb

Fresh apricots on the tree! Peaches and apricots are my fondest memory of golf courses in the Okanagan! That area is by far my most favourite place in Canada and the US!

Bonnie

Oh my! My grandpa had a partnership in a golf course and owned a golf cart company. He got to do his dream job, a Scot going from one golf course to another…one was Pebble Beach.I went to the course before I left and took pictures not knowing if I’d ever see it again. You should take pictures too. I’d like to see your favorite place.

Azzrian

Thanks Bonnie – your story reminds me of my childhood. I had horses and our pasture backed up to an apple orchard. The apples were so plentiful that hundreds would drop off into our pasture – WAY in the back by the fence line. Our horses would eat them up and we would find those that had recently fallen and were not crushed or black and eat those up. We would take rides to the back line and collect bags full of them and take back to the house.
Nothing like tree fresh fruit no matter what kind it is.
I miss those days too.
Luckily – the family who owns the orchard still owns the property and home there and the orchard is still going strong!
I just no longer have access to the apples. lol

Bonnie

Wish I had some of those apples too, for apple pie and spicy cinnamon applesauce and apple everything! (oh apple tart!)

Butiki Teas

Bonnie-What a story. Thank you so much for sharing. You brought me back to my childhood. I grew up in a town with mostly dirt roads and farms. They are now all housing developments and schools which makes me a bit sad. I must say, I relate things a bit more to peaches than apricots. Our area has a lot of peaches and a wide variety of them. There are these “doughnut peaches” here that are named that because they are short and fat in the shape of a doughnut. They only appear at farmer stands for 1-2 weeks at the beginning of the summer and 1-2 weeks at the end of the summer. They are super juicy and sweet and remind me of this tea. Apricots in our area are not as common. I have yet to have a great apricot but your story is making me want to seek one out. :)

Bonnie

I’ve seen the doughnut peaches. I lived further north up by Chico, California (2 hours north of Sacramento) in the 1990’s. They grow peaches, and kiwi’s there among other fruits.
My mother always canned Freestone peaches which I loved the best. Apricots are wonderful off the tree but what you get in the stores isn’t how they taste ripe and fresh. It reminds me of the difference between bag tea and loose leaf!

Butiki Teas

One day I will have to try a fresh picked apricot. :)

Terri HarpLady

Thanks for this review Bonnie!
I have a sample (from Butiki, thanks Stacy) of Mi Xian Black that I’m planning on enjoying tomorrow morning probably. I love love love peaches & apricots, so much that I have one of each trees in my backyard (along with an apple, cherry, & a variety of berries). There is nothing like homegrown!

Bonnie

I look forward to hearing what you think Terri.

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Comments

Daisy Chubb

Fresh apricots on the tree! Peaches and apricots are my fondest memory of golf courses in the Okanagan! That area is by far my most favourite place in Canada and the US!

Bonnie

Oh my! My grandpa had a partnership in a golf course and owned a golf cart company. He got to do his dream job, a Scot going from one golf course to another…one was Pebble Beach.I went to the course before I left and took pictures not knowing if I’d ever see it again. You should take pictures too. I’d like to see your favorite place.

Azzrian

Thanks Bonnie – your story reminds me of my childhood. I had horses and our pasture backed up to an apple orchard. The apples were so plentiful that hundreds would drop off into our pasture – WAY in the back by the fence line. Our horses would eat them up and we would find those that had recently fallen and were not crushed or black and eat those up. We would take rides to the back line and collect bags full of them and take back to the house.
Nothing like tree fresh fruit no matter what kind it is.
I miss those days too.
Luckily – the family who owns the orchard still owns the property and home there and the orchard is still going strong!
I just no longer have access to the apples. lol

Bonnie

Wish I had some of those apples too, for apple pie and spicy cinnamon applesauce and apple everything! (oh apple tart!)

Butiki Teas

Bonnie-What a story. Thank you so much for sharing. You brought me back to my childhood. I grew up in a town with mostly dirt roads and farms. They are now all housing developments and schools which makes me a bit sad. I must say, I relate things a bit more to peaches than apricots. Our area has a lot of peaches and a wide variety of them. There are these “doughnut peaches” here that are named that because they are short and fat in the shape of a doughnut. They only appear at farmer stands for 1-2 weeks at the beginning of the summer and 1-2 weeks at the end of the summer. They are super juicy and sweet and remind me of this tea. Apricots in our area are not as common. I have yet to have a great apricot but your story is making me want to seek one out. :)

Bonnie

I’ve seen the doughnut peaches. I lived further north up by Chico, California (2 hours north of Sacramento) in the 1990’s. They grow peaches, and kiwi’s there among other fruits.
My mother always canned Freestone peaches which I loved the best. Apricots are wonderful off the tree but what you get in the stores isn’t how they taste ripe and fresh. It reminds me of the difference between bag tea and loose leaf!

Butiki Teas

One day I will have to try a fresh picked apricot. :)

Terri HarpLady

Thanks for this review Bonnie!
I have a sample (from Butiki, thanks Stacy) of Mi Xian Black that I’m planning on enjoying tomorrow morning probably. I love love love peaches & apricots, so much that I have one of each trees in my backyard (along with an apple, cherry, & a variety of berries). There is nothing like homegrown!

Bonnie

I look forward to hearing what you think Terri.

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Bio

Colorado Grandma 73 3/4 as of January 2022

Grandmother to 10. (we all drink tea!)
I began teatime in the Summer when my children were little. We took a break from play for tea and snacks every day. My children loved tea time.
There are several tea houses close to my home and a Tea Festival in Boulder. Fort Collins/Loveland is a bit of a foodie area. We are famous for breweries (Fat Tire is one brand).
Rocky Mountain National Park is 40 minutes away.
Our climate is semi-arid with LOTS OF SUN AT 5000 feet. (Heavy Winter snows start in higher elevations). Lived my until 2010 in Northern California.
I am very involved in my local Greek Orthodox Church. Recently I ignited a group for racial reconciliation.
I suffer from Migraines and Light sensitivity.
My family is Bi-racial (African-American, Scots) and Bi-cultural.
I’ve worked at a Winery, was a computer tech, been Athlete and Coach, Vista Volunteer. Love healthy food! Love travel and have been to Scotland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Malta, Peru, Croatia, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska.

Location

Loveland, Colorado

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