Butiki Teas

Avast, Mateys! It be “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. I’m drinking this sweet brew and trying not to call my patients dirty landlubbers Yarrr!

Still kind of disappointed I missed the Butiki sale due to vacation, but I still have enough of this to last me a little while, so I can’t complain too much. :-) I’m on my 4th steep of the morning. It went so well with the buttermilk scone I had for breakfast. See other notes for details.

I didn’t sleep well last night, so I went for one of my favorites this afternoon during my 3 o’clock “it-should-be-naptime” tea break.

Still one of the sweetest, maltiest, lightest teas I’ve had. I love it!

Oh how I love this tea! I’ve been drinking so much Laoshan black, I needed a lighter alternative this morning, so I stuffed this in my bag quickly before I left the house for work. I’m very glad I did! This was perfect for this morning’s craziness at work. I still can’t get over how sweet this tea is naturally.

Had this earlier today because I had stayed the night at a friends house and had brought this with me. Yummy as usual!

Disappointed with both new teas I tried today, so I went for something I know I love! Black tea right before I go to bed? Sure, why not? :-)

I can’t get enough of this tea! It seriously goes with everything too. I drank it with breakfast and it’s buttery qualities paired well with my eggs and croissant. I had a second steeping while eating an orange and it brought out the tea’s fruity side. Then I drank a third seeping as I did my core workout this morning. My brother also tried this tea this morning and liked itI may have to get more of this tea soon. :-)

Not quite so tasty when drinking it from an old travel mug with plastic top, but still tasty

This tea just blew my mind! It’s everything I like about black tea with none of the things I don’t like. I steeped 4 teaspoons in 16oz of water for 3 minutes in boiling water. (I like a BIG cup) with my large teavana infuser.

The first sips were bold and malty with out the bitter aftertaste I find in a lot of teas (I also am discovering I’m probably steeping most of my teas for far too long.) I was thinking at that point that it was good. I stepped away for a minute or so and it had cooled a bit. OMG! It gets even better as it cools. It feels soft and buttery in the mouth. And there’s things going on that I don’t have the tea vocabulary yet to describe. I don’t even think I’m going to try at the moment. I am thoroughly enjoying my second steeping of this. (Yes I drink a lot! I just came back from a 6 mile run so I gotta hydrate somehow.)

Thank you greenteafairy for this sample.

I really like that the Butiki teas are not over-the-top with flavoring. When coffee was my preferred beverage (and I do still appreciate a good dark roast), I never like flavored coffees and I never added cream or sugar. Along the same lines, I initially drank only unflavored teas before joining Steepster. After reading so many positive reviews about dessert-type teas, I thought that they might be alright. So far the best I’ve tried come from Butiki. Stacy seems to know how to create a blend that retains the qualities of the base tea rather than smothering it in flavor oils.

As for the Cider Guayusa, its pretty good. I can’t say that it’s my favorite as I’m not terribly into cider in the first place, but my husband is wild about this tea. He doesn’t have an account on here and likely won’t consider getting one, but he did write up a tasting note that I can share here:

“This [whatever it is called] is nice. It has a nice soft Apple flavor and it generally smells like it tastes, and it smells absolutely wonderful. It’s delicate, and very natural tasting with a nice pleasant aftertaste. Of all the teas my wife has had me try, this is definitely my absolute favorite.”

I got a sample of this one a long long time ago and finally had the presence of mind to steep it up today. There is enough there for two cuppas so I have half of it in a filter bag as that stuff looks too fine for my filter. I hate when floaties escape into my tea!

The aroma is fairly strong with cinnamon dominating. Cinnamon isn’t my favourite part of a chai but I do appreciate the necessity, so on we forge. I went through a mega chai phase about two years ago but really lost my taste for it somewhere since then. I am not sure what happened, though I suspect I put too much milk in it at some point and it was ruined by association. I am not a milk drinker and never have been. Blech.

Steeped, I get cinnamon in taste and burn, with some gingery/nutmeggy baking type flavours. There is a bit of heat, but I am not really getting the cardamom which sometimes balances chai out for me. The black tea base is also pretty assertive. I know it is blasphemous, but I don’t really like assams and the ilk. Their strength of flavour is interpreted by my tongue as bitterness, even with the most careful treatment. Then it needs milk, which I don’t like. Hmm, I guess I just figured out why I don’t like chai. :)

Anyway, this is a perfectly respectable chai and if you are a chai fan it will likely impress you. This might make a good latte (which interestingly I do enjoy, if it isn’t too milk heavy) but that is beyond my skills. I’ll just keep sipping.

The accidental pairing of Banana & Keemun

Soooo, being a big fan of The Banana makes me quite critical and hard to please when it comes to recreate its taste.

I have encountered only one banana tea that I truly enjoyed, the others end up tasting weird to me.

One day, I was drinking some Keemun tea while eating a very sweet and ripe banana. I thought, hey! That’s pretty awesome, they taste incredible together!

Then I decided I wanted to have fun and pretend I could make my own blend. I soaked some walnuts in a Keemun infusion then added some mashed banana and a little nutmeg. Beleive it or not, it was tasty! ( but of course the texture was awful, unless you like banana grime floats!)

I started wondering how come Butiki didn’t have a banana tea to offer, cause if someone can do it right, it’s Almighty Tea Alchemist herself, Stacy!

So I emailed her and told her about the accidental pairing on Banana Keemun and my own concoction. Turned out she was already working on a banana blend! She told me she had tried a few blends so far but was not completely pleased with the results, so she gave the Keemun a shot!

The rest is history :-)

So, am I biased when it comes to describing this tea? Of course I am! But the fact that I am is so irrelevant…just try it and see for yourself! It is fantatic!

The dry blend looks amazing as always. Lots of walnuts and pieces of sumptuous freeze dried bananas! I am loving the sweet natural banana taste, and paired with the walnuts, it’s an instant cupboard classic!

I love the fact that the taste of walnut isn’t overpowering. I’m glad she didn’t put any nutmeg, it would be too much. Her Keemun makes it just the perfect base to bring it all together. And it re-steeps pretty well!

Thank you so much Stacy for giving me my perfect banana cup and making me part of that process, it was so much fun! Whenever I have a conversation about customer service, I mention you cause you are the standard in my opinion. At this rate, I think your business will unstoppably bloom, like a big blooming tea flower!

But I hope not too much though…selfishly, I wouldn’t want to lose that proximity you so graciously offer :-)
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ETA: Well, this was good while it lasted…but I’m afraid it’s all gone now :-( So long Foxy Roxy, till we meet again. Don’t want to tease too much, but this little tea just got better and better, such a nice and soft creamy bananarama delight, let’s just see how long I can resist another Butiki order!

I finished off my sample of this one today. It’s not bad, but it’s not for me. I am glad I had the chance to try it, though. And there are more than enough Butiki teas that are on my must-order list, it’s nice to have at least one that isn’t.

I drank this way too fast to even taste it this morning. I think that’s probably a good sign, because I don’t gulp shitty teas… but I want to hold off on rating it until I can give it another taste.

I got a very generous sample of this one from shakirah1984, and I am so grateful. I love almonds, and it’s so nice to have another Butiki tea in my cupboard. Yum!

Smooth middle-weight tea. Lots of notes going on—other reviewers have described them better than I can. Pear, oak, walnut, a dusting of cocoa. Complex but not aggressive, elegant but not fussy. This is one of the few black teas I like without milk and sugar. This is a tea I’d like to have around all the time.

Backlog from a few days ago.

This one’s losing a bit of its strength for me, but it still was pretty good once the cup cooled down. I love that it’s got the raisiny notes of an assam but still has such a bright taste – like a ceylon, almost. It takes the best qualities of both, for me.

Gah, so sad that I’ll never come by any more of this… :(

I must have underleafed this one yesterday because it was unfortunately pretty tasteless and watery. As it cooled I got a little more flavor but it was nowhere near the bright citrusy ceylon and raisin notes.

Luckily I have more of this, though I do need to hoard it – it makes me so sad to think I’ll never get to buy this again :(.

It feels SO GOOD to be getting back into my morning tea routines! It’s like coming back to myself!

Backlog from this morning, and continuing on in my mourning of the Butiki shop closing:
This is the assam that acts like a ceylon, to me. It’s got the rich earthy assam but there is also a citrusy brightness that I love from ceylons. The best of both worlds.

This is a tea I DON’T usually have with milk, just a touch of sugar and even that’s not TOTALLY necessary. It’s my ideal breakfast black – well, between this one and my precious East Frisian blend.

Lovely, and another one I’ll miss when it’s gone…

This is a backlog from a few days ago.

Yup, still fantastic. I hate realizing this as I have one or two cups left. Well, it couldn’t have happened at a better time. Black Friday’s coming and it’s also payday so this will be bought. :)

PS – Is anyone using the steepster beta app for the iphone? I like the look of it but I can’t figure out how to post notes in it yet. Maybe it’s not a possibility at this point?

Good thing I checked that you can resteep this because it was too perfect to not have more than one cup.

This morning I made french toast (with my own homemade bread – that was soooo good) and wanted a nice breakfast tea to go with it. I feel like there are some times when you pick a tea and the stars align – it is the most perfect cup you could ever have. That’s how this tea was today.

First steep: 2 tsp., 3 minutes, 10 oz. water, 1 tsp. sugar.

Like I said, perfect. The smell of a black tea freshly brewed is one of my favorite things. Purely malt and earthy comfort. The sugar brightened this up so much that it had the citrusy brightness of a ceylon, almost. This cup was so smooth I was sad it was over. Hence the resteep.

2nd steep: about 4 minutes, no sugar this time.

I got more of the raisiny astringence with some cocoa notes and a slightly weaker brew, but that just made it mild enough that I could drink it with no additives. The lovely heady black tea smell was weaker too, so a little of the magic had gone, but it was still close to perfection.

My boyfriend and I are going to be spending Christmas with his family this year and they have a Breville one touch (we bought it for them because I love ours so much). I’m thinking I may put together an assortment of teas for them to enjoy, and if I do make that happen this will far and away be included. Hmm.. maybe I should put a list together and start getting on that….

Prepped according to the below parameters – 2 tsp. leaf to 8 oz. water as per package directions.

The last few nights at work were rough but I don’t go back in until Thursday night at least. Sometimes I wonder what I was thinking, becoming a nurse. I love it but I’m such an introvert that I get positively drained after a few shifts and need the time to recover.
Speaking of introverts, I discovered I’m an INFJ recently. Anybody else know their MBTI type?

I say all this to explain why I’m drinking a strong cup of this malty, chocolate wonder now, instead of going straight to bed. It is so smooth, rich and comforting. Something about the smell of a freshly brewed, good black tea just relaxes me, and this is no exception. Strange how a tea can manage to be both calming and energizing simultaneously – but this one does that.

Just what I needed for right now…

5 g. leaf, 500 ml. water, below parameters. No additives.

In a nutshell: smooth, malty unsweetened cocoa powder with a peppery bite at the end of the sip and a thick honeyed texture as it cools. The liquor is mahogany, with no sediment since the leaves themselves are so long and spindly. I got the boyfriend to give it a shot because it meets his criteria of not being a dessert tea.

He liked it. Well at least, after he took a sip and handed me back the cup he said “what is this?” in a tone that indicated he would like to recreate some for himself. The beauty of this is that it’s a breakfast tea I can have without milk or sugar – between this and East Frissy I’ve it covered I think!

I am debating whether I should go to sleep now or not – I’m pretty awake despite the fact that I worked all night..

I figure if anything can keep me going though, it’ll be a strong breakfast tea. I love strong breakfast teas. Bold malty chocolate teas. The leaves look like an oolong, spindly and unbroken. Really they remind me a lot of dan congs but the smell of them is much heavier – very earthy.

Chocolate chocolate chocolate. That’s mostly what I get. Occasionally a breadiness, interspersed with something a little brighter that I can’t quite describe. I think it’s what most are calling fruity and if I’m hard pressed I could say its raisins, but I still feel like there’s something else there that I’m not putting into words. It’s definitely a perfectly chewy, full bodied tea.

It reminds me most strongly of my favorite East Frissy, except with bonus cocoa notes.

I’ll have to resteep this and see how it does….