Butiki Teas

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I had this one this morning as I was finishing up my essay for finals today. I have to say I didn’t taste the vanilla anywhere. I definitely found the mint and the lavender. It took a little while but after a few sips it grew on me. It’s a very calming yet energizing tea! Thank you Shelley_Lorraine for this sample.
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8809052547
I stopped by the little bakery again and couldn’t resist but buy these.
Salted caramel and coconut lime.
I will be away this weekend at the lake with no Internet I will have a lot to log when I get back :)
I stopped to pick up a few drinks and I think I maybhave found my new favorite drinks.
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8809097521
Have a great weekend everyone.

This is the other tea I’ve been drinking today, besides the Ceylon Spring. Been resteeping both and taking it slow. It’s Friday.

Not much to say except Cantaloupe is a tricky one to spell. I keep trying to type it as Canteloupe and then I wonder why there are no entries.

Perfect tea for a rainy morning on the express bus. Love this tea because it’s so meaty, not in the sense that it tastes like meat, but because it’s so strong. It just says “Bam! I’m tea! And I’m here to start your morning”.

Honey notes hit me first today- very sweet! And then it got kind of woodsy,earthy, vegetal. Love it.

This tea is nothing short of amazing. The tangerine citrus taste is apparent and there’s an underlying creaminess that works so well with the guayusa base. The guayusa adds a certain subtle earthiness to the background. I’m really enjoying this as my morning tea today. I may have to order some in my next Butiki order.

For those unsure of guayusa I highly recommend this as the guayusa taste is quite subtle compared to the other flavours. I quite enjoy guayusa, but with these flavours, I don’t mind that the actual guayusa base is subtle.

Sipdown! 779.

I keep craving this one, and lucky for me, based on the facts that a) it (was) stored in a plastic baggie, b) there was only one cup’s worth left in said baggie, and c) I chanced across it tonight while migrating baggied samples downstairs and airtight packages upstairs to encourage sample drinking, I get to finally satisfy that craving! Wooooo!

If you like flavoured black teas… this tea would be an excellent purchase. Just saying.

Wow, this is an amazing oolong! I’m so thrilled I ordered this.

Again, tonight, I wasn’t quite in the right mood for oolong, but the first sip of this quickly changed that. I haven’t had too many oolongs to date but this one is unlike any of the ones I’ve tried. They’ve all been great, but there’s something different about this one that makes it special. I’m on my first steep and I’m excited to see what subsequent steeps will bring.

I am IN LOVE! I love love love love love this tea. It amazing just black, its amazing with a little of sugar and its amazing with sugar and cream. Everything about this tea I love.
The cinnamon, the nutmeg, even though there isnt much pumpkin flavor in there i still taste it and love it. The color is beautiful too!
I HIGHLY recommend this! I am already on my 3rd steep and its still going strong.
One I will definitely have to buy and keep in my cupboard. Thank you Shelley_Lorraine for this delicious sip!
http://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/arkansass-teen-birth-rate-high-dropping-rest-us

Tea #5 of the day. I’m on a roll. Lol!
Wow. Fluffy leaves of awesomeness with fuzzy balls of something and pretty flowers. Lol. I’m always amazed at the quality of the leaves in Stacy’s teas. So much fluff in this one. I’m very glad I just got a new set of measuring spoons with long square ‘bowls’ since it made measuring this tea out alot easier than trying to estimate if I got enough in the round bowl. Lol.
Dried this smells like watermelon which astounded me when it first arrived. When brewed the tea had the same smell along with a very light colored liquid. I almost thought the tea hadn’t brewed at all it was so light, but then, I’m used to the darker colors of oolongs & blacks.
It tastes the same as it smells, especially after a bit of sweetening. Just a bit though since I didn’t want to overwhelm the delicateness. It’s kinda flowery which I guess is from the white base, though I’m not at all familiar with white teas, so I could be wrong.
It’s like drinking the juice that’s left over after you’ve finished a big slice of watermelon, mixed with a light floral back taste that’s almost more aroma than actual taste. Astounding and something I never would have expected in a tea.
Very nice and light. Something to enjoy when I want something different.

Sipdown! 779. This is a generous bonus sample from Stacy at Butiki, sent along with my last order.

I kept the infusion time a bit lower than recommended as I dislike any sort of astringency, and I definitely think it was a good choice in this case. Not saying that the tea would have been astringent with a full 3.5 minutes… but that I achieved a perfectly smooth cup! Uh…. which is now gone actually, because it’s pretty darn tasty and I just downed it in like 2 minutes.

This tea is a close second to Premium Taiwanese Assam for me. It’s missing the chocolate, and the raisiny notes are quite subtle, but it has the same overall deliciousness and smoothness. So pretty much, it just tastes like a less complex version of PTA, which makes it quite delicious. I see that it’s actually more expensive than PTA, which kind of blows my mind, since I’m pretty sure I prefer PTA, but it’s certainly an amazing tea, so I can understand the price. Apparently I’m all about the really expensive black teas (probably has something to do with quality equating with lack of astringency and such).

ETA: Second infusion is pretty tasty as well, following the same parameters and probably 6 oz. of water. Still very similar to PTA, but missing the almost desserty aspect.

This is a tea I may stray from every so often, but I always go back and remember why I loved it in the first place.

It welcomes you back with love. No bitterness, no fuss; just smooth, sweet and wonderful.

A solid straight shooter.

So I’ve learned a lot with tea. I learned a lot about the sorts of blacks I like, that I enjoy white tea, that I essentially don’t like green tea — as in enough to keep in the house, if offered I’d happily drink a cup — except for a couple exceptions, that I’ve almost completely lost my taste for flavored teas (though something about that Foxy Roxy Banana Walnut Treat is addictive. I greedily drank through that ounce and wish I had more. What did you put in there Stacy? Haha, just kidding), and that so far my limited experience with oolongs has been a positive one! :)

I’m also discovering that I’m not a big fan of Darjeeling teas. Which is okay, I’m super glad I tried them! I definitely don’t regret taking the chance and ordering some, because even when it turns out I don’t like something, the experience is still fun. That said, this one seems to be the exception because I actually did really like this one!

Since it’s an oolong, I steeped it loose in a 12oz pot and then strained it. The flavor was quite nice, I definitely tasted the pine needle, and I picked up on a pleasant fruit note that was quite juicy, though I didn’t identify it as melon. (I drank this blind and then looked at the description to compare) I tasted more going on too in this cup, but clearly my palate isn’t quite sophisticated enough to identify what each flavor was, and it was ever so slightly floral at the swallow.

Second infusion was also lovely. The fruit receded and had a nuttiness that was still sweet from the pine and floral. This probably could’ve gone further than a second, but I had to rush to work. Overall this was a lovely cup, and I’m already scheming to try another oolong or two come June :)

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oh snap i’m probably speaking too soon but think i found my butiki green.
the dry leaves smell super duper. and the taste is cozy nutty and a little vanilla smoothness. it’s like it’s IN the tea leaves though. ya know? just a whole new creature.
i did two steepings of course.

thanks so much Shelley_Lorraine! i have enough for a second cup and very pro packaging too!

I’m still not completely sure I was in the mood for an oolong, but alas, I brewed this one up anyway.

Initially I only tasted oolong tea, which albeit, is delicious, but I was hoping for more strawberry. A few more minutes passed and as it cooled a very subtle strawberry taste came out. Just enough to taste it in the background of the oolong. I’m quite enjoying this so far. Just steeping a second steep now.

I stopped at a little French bakery after my finals review this morning and picked up some delicious macarons! I’ve NEVER tried them and have been wanting too forever just never knew where to get them and me being a baker have ALWAYS wanted to bake them. So finally I splurged!
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8784778263
The flavors I picked up: Pistachio, Raspberry, Lemon and Lavander.
So why not have the Pistachio one with this cup of tea!! Paired perfectly! The tea had the nuttiness of the pistachio and the macaron had the sweetness of the pistachio ice cream part. I love pistachio Ice cream and this tea did not let me down. Definitely a good idea to pair it with green tea. I loved it and thank you Shelley_ Lorraine for another amazing mystery swap choice!
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8784790537

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I got a sample of this tasty treat from Sil. Thanks for sharing!

This tea is juicy and jammy and yummy. The hibiscus provides a refreshing tartness and nothing more. Balanced and tasty. Great iced!

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Brewed this as recommended today, and am definitely getting green tea-like flavours. I love how the liquor isn’t a typical tea colour though, kind of a strange purpley-greenish tone. Very unique. I apparently have more of this left than I thought, as I forgot that it only requires 1/2 a teaspoon per cup… so I guess I have about 8 cups left. So much tea!

I just realized that I haven’t been adhering to the recommended brew temperature. I was brewing this like most oolongs at ~195-200. I did try a shorter steeping this time. I did 2min30sec this time for 3 tsp of leaves in a 20oz pot.

It is sweet now without the musty characteristic from before. I wish the sweetness was more pronounced though. I might up the rating after I try a 170deg steeping, we’ll see.

Sipdown! 782. The rest of this is for Sil.

I will admit that my tastebuds are a bit compromised right now, as I just consumed a deliciously huge amount of garlic/ginger/soy/lime marinade while eating a marlin steak. Nom nom nom. So my mouth kind of tastes like GARLIC, but even so, I can taste the delicious banana of this tea, such a real, banana chip flavour (shocker – this tea contains banana chips!) Yum. While I don’t think this is going on a must-have list for me, I can see myself attempting to nab a bit more in the future, or splitting a small amount with someone. Mmmmm!

Oh no getting down to the bottom of my bag :(
I love the subtle flavour of this tea. Creamy eggnog—yum. Will have to add it to my list of things to order (lets see if I can hold off til June!) Oh well at least I still have some Pistachio Ice Cream left :)

Yum. As always, Butiki is amazing.

I was so excited for this tea in my most recent order and it did not disappoint. The black base tastes like a breakfast tea – which I love. And the banana flavour is clearly there, yet subtle, and not at all overpowering. The walnuts are a nice taste in the background.