Butiki Teas

Going through my pu’erh box this afternoon, I found this sample disc from mercuryhime which is ancient, oh well, at least it’s had more time to age… :)

I’ve been trying to make an effort to drink more of my pu’erhs. Shu is especially nice s an after lunch drink, where it seems good for your digestion and it’s early enough that I don’t have to worry about the caffeine keeping me awake. This disc is good because it doesn’t have any post fermentation flavor that you sometimes pick up with shu. I am getting mostly cocoa in my cup & I will enjoy a few more steeps of this today. Farewell Butiki…

This is a really nice puerh, thanks to Mercuryhime for the sample!

I put the entire disc into my Xiying teapot, but instead of following the instructions I did two steeps at around 30 seconds. This is a lot lighter than I thought it would be, but I like it. It’s earthy (of course) but with some gentle cocoa notes and a mild sweetness. Pretty good!

So the second two steeps got quite a bit darker and now I am picking up on the tobacco notes but still getting chocolate-y ones, it’s a very rich and mellow tea, I’m enjoying it a lot… no fishiness or odd off flavors here. Yummy! I would consider buying some of this someday…

I’m having an angsty day as I listen to this song by Thirty Seconds To Mars. I guess I’m not too old to be gothy and angry… :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yvGCAvOAfM

Big thank you to Bonnie for this sample.

I am really not in a tasting-note writing mood at the moment, so I apologise, especially to Bonnie, who sent me this lovely tea. I honestly don’t know where to start, I am just brain-dead today. I blame the zombies in town when I had to go in to do some shopping. Yes, the zombie apocalypse has hit Beverley but no one noticed. Hmm, anyway, enough whinging.

The leaves look great with all the colour. I only had a little leaf so I made it in my smallest gaiwan, which was fun. I really don’t use that one often enough. The tea was very pleasant. It felt light and mellow. The oaky flavour was there, as was a light floral note. I’m not sure about the honey though. The lack of honey notes is probably more a lack in my tasting ability. Overall, a very nice tea that I would love to have in my pot again.

Pumpkin is a hard flavour to get right and there’s only a few teas that manage it – most just cover up the flavour (or lack thereof) with spices. And while there is a bit of spice present (there was a huge chunk of cinnamon bark in this scoop) the blender was smart enough to let the other flavours do the talking and only making the spices strong enough to accent them. This is such a smooth, creamy tea, the only thing that’s missing is the sweetness of the cream brulée – a bit of it is there as the tea cools but it could be more prominent. I think I’ll add some honey next time to see what that does.

Yay, finally a pumpkin tea that tastes like pumpkin – which seems to be a difficult flavour to recreate as plenty of good tea blenders have tried and this is one of the only ones that in my opinion to have done it sucessfully. But there’s more to this tea than just pumpkin, the rest of the tea is smooth, slightly sweet and nicely spiced. The spices aren’t being used to cover up a harsh base or the lack of pumpkin flavour – they’re just a nice accompaniment. All around a tasty treat.

Sip down? WAHHHHH!

Okay, that bike ride I did earlier killed my legs. It feels like I’m walking with noodle legs! I wanted something sweet, but decided on some gaiwan time while I cleaned the kitchen (but secretly waiting for the mailman who has my tea order).

Yum, very clean, light vegetal and buttery! I’ll have to buy more! The dredges of this tea was very fuzzy! Fuzzy dragon feelers! /hug

I went to the LA farmers market as part of my anniversary outing! Looked like it was gonna rain the whole time! Though, last year it rained really heavy after the ceremony!

I got a nice glass gaiwan and cute owl cake pan
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=559128980784078&set=a.517063994990577.124981.516160198414290&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=559129794117330&set=a.517063994990577.124981.516160198414290&type=1&theater
OMG must make Owl tea cakes!

and I got home just in time to have a round of tea before I cut myself off caffeine for the evening! So, running Dragon Feelers though my glass gaiwan, which is ouch, hotter to deal with. I’m tempted to knit some gloves (cute owl cables?) with little non slip finger tips for gaiwan use! That be so geeky!

Dragon feelers? So far so good. I think I like the western brewing better as the flavor is stronger, but this is still good. Very green beany today. They are entertaining to watch in a glass gaiwan!

Ugg, steak tartar for dinner.

Okay. I’m nuts about this tea. Cough medicine never hits my stomach well, so I just wanted a nice, buttery sweet tea this morning. Didn’t take me long to pull out my bag of Dragon Feelers! Doh, I should of ordered more on my last Butiki order, I’m running a little low.

And since I’m still sick, I’m in a wacky mood. I did a blog review for this tea, and had some fun on photoshop. http://oolongowl.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/dragon-feelers-by-butiki-teas-tea-review/
would you drink little steeped dragons (if they weren’t hurt in the process)?

I don’t know whether it was drinking a buttery tea this morning (Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast, 52 teas) or just my overall weirdness, but I while I sat at my computer working, I began CRAVING dragon feelers with a raging passion that cannot be denied.

I held out until I was finished my work and stormed to the kitchen. I went all out too – steeped up a small pot worth instead of my usual single mug and I’m drinking it out of a nice tea cup (nice to me, it’s from Daiso and I paid $1.50 for it).

Now I’m rocking out ChthoniC (Taiwanese metal band of screechy goodness) while gently sipping this light, crisp, butttery sweet pea tea. With that said, I’m having an awesome Sunday afternoon.

So, I tend to buy flavored/blended teas and I love finding some interesting combinations or it to taste like other things. Straight up tea I drink once in awhile, and of course, is the teas I first started to drink.

Now, I saw Hesper June review this tea – I took a look at the pictures of the tea and was all “OMGWTFBBQ is up with the look of this tea! I NEED TO TRY IT!” as it looked like if I saw a few pieces of this tea on the floor of my kitchen I’d flip out in fear. So when I got around to my butiki order, it was in the cart.

DRY: Not much of a scent, but what I can tell, smells like green tea :P yeah, that’s awesome. The appearance is another story: little fuzzy fishes from a chinese herb stores? little fuzzy bugs? UGG! The stripes on the leaves is kinda cute though. However, the little fuzzy buggers were pretty big and tricky to stuff into my teaspoon.

STEEPED: A beautiful light yellow/green cup with a buttery veggie smell. The crazy dragon fuzzies steeped look liked overcooked mini green beans. No more fuzzies.. wahh I’m going to be drinking fuzzies!
I was a little worried as the instructions were for boiling (used to low temperatures for green) but did boiling water anyways.

TASTE: Clean, light, and buttery. The veggie taste is very light, but what I can make out is more on the sweet side like a fresh pea. Refreshing. No tart, grassy or bitter taste. As the cup cools, the tea becomes more crisp and sweet.

WHO’D DIG THIS TEA: Green tea drinkers that wanna be schooled! Peeps who love a cup that is light and refreshing.

COMMENTS: This tea is fab! Dragon Feelers like “the ugly duckling” of tea – looks kinda scary, but steeps into delicate, buttery magical tea. Yep. Now I want to drink more of it. Maybe now I have the courage to touch the leaves this time.

Thanks so much Stacy for this sample!

Tangerine isn’t my favourite fruit, but this tea has been getting such good reviews, I wanted to sample it.

It is really good, citrusy tangerine that doesn’t taste fake. Sweet and smooth. And it really gave me the kick that I needed because I stayed up untill after 1 am last night finishing book 3 of Game of Thrones! Oy, why do I do that to myself? Haha

I resteeped this and put it in the fridge to chill. It was weaker, but still good!

Sipdown :(
I will miss this sweet, creamy, vanilla honeybush. Especially as an eggnog or regular latte. It made a lovely dessert in a cup.

Brewed strong as an eggnog latte treat, because I deserve it after a frustrating week. My baby has just not been herself all week. But she was back to her happy self today! Here’s hoping she stays that way!

Anyway, the tea was super delicious tonight!

I thoroughly enjoyed this tea tonight with some vanilla almond milk

Enjoyed a cup of this tonight in all it’s sweet vanilla smoothness

Mmm….nice and creamy dessert with a tiny bit of hazelnut creamer. I don’t know what’s up with my addiction to creamers lately. They are so unhealthy, I gotta kick that habit.

I decided to treat myself tonight and make a latte.
I heated up some milk and added a tiny bit of butter pecan creamer that my Mom left in my fridge.
WOW! This is amazing…ah!….I looked on the website and it doesn’t look like this is available anymore :(. Apparently, I haven’t been on the Butiki website forever. I guess it’s time for an order!

Vanilla! One of my favourite flavours, so very much looking forward to this one.

Vanilla cream for sure….so creamy and sweet. But not overly or sickly sweet. The vanilla tastes real, like actual vanilla beans instead of gross, fake flavouring. I think Honeybush was a very good choice of base for this tisane (even though it says rooibos on the bag!). Probably the best vanilla tea I have had to date!

Sipdown
This was one of my favourite teas. Jasmine is usually the only floral flavour that I really enjoy in tea, but this one was delicious! I was good hot or iced.

950 notes!
This is always a pleasure to drink, one of my favourite teas. I think this is from August 2014 and it is losing its flavour but you better believe I will drink every last drop of this beautiful tea.

I love this tea so much. I like it best with a tiny bit of crystal sugar. It is sweet and smooth without being vegetal. The pineapple is just the perfect strength.

I am so glad to have this back in my cupboard!
I cold brewed this over night earlier in the week and it was delicious. Sweet, and buttery oolong. With just a hint of floral notes. Delicious!

My dear friend, it is time for us to part briefly. I will see you again, because I can’t go for too long without you in my life.

Enjoyed this hot and cold so far this week. It is stunning both ways of course.