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So the little baggie of Hello Sweetie was in a bin that also contained this tea, which I believe was a generous share from Indigobloom! My hopes weren’t high for this one, again, both age/storage and the fact that it didn’t smell like much. However, in true Butiki fashion, there is surprisingly some flavour left here. There’s a pronounced herbaceous/fresh note, presumably the cilantro, and a background of juicy/fruity flavours (this has likely faded. I’d never identify it as mango; it’s quite light). A bit of cream tying it all together. I really am quite surprised that this isn’t a total wash. There is a touch of potential staleness, but it could also be the cilantro. Oddly, the best part of this tea may actually be the aftertaste; that’s where the fruitiness and cream really shine.

Looking for a tea to sip down tonight, and to my utter surprise/horror, I found a sample size (2 cups) of this. I had/have a 2 or 4oz bag somewhere, but can’t recall if I finished it, lost it to the mice, or if maybe I just have yet to encounter it, but I was reasonably certain that even if I did find it, the coconut would make the tea a goner. I was positive that would be the case with this sample, as it’s likely older than the purchased bag, AND stored more poorly, but shockingly… it smelled ok? So I brewed it up, and am currently basking in the sheer joy of this delicious tea. There’s something not quiiiite right about it, I can’t put my finger on it, but for the most part, it is absolutely perfect. In fact, it’s possible that there’s nothing wrong at all here, and it’s just a difference between this sample and the bag of it I had (which I savoured many times at work, and was pretty well-acquainted with). So this is a big win for tonight, because I thought I’d seen the last of this one. The final cup will probably be sipped down within a week, because I’m not waiting on the coconut to go bad when the tea is miraculously still so good.

Annoying, another unrated tea! There are a handful of tasty Butiki flavoured whites that I could never keep straight; I liked some better than others. This falls into that category, so does Butterscotch Mocha Candies, or whatever it was. Anyways, this was tasty enough, though I’d never guess irish cream or butter crisp. Just, white tea with yummy desserty flavours.

Oh hey, another unrated Butiki…

Anyhow, this was yummy. I have no clue what it is. Darjeeling? It was light and flavourful. No astringency. Need to pay more attention next time.

In other news, the baby has been asleep for four hours straight. This hasn’t happened in a month. Not expecting this (he usually wakes up three times in that span), I have been awake this whole time. Unsure if I should be sad or pleased. Also unsure if I should go to bed now, only to be awoken rudely in 15 minutes… or wait, and have him sleep the night through or something. Ugh, unpredictable babies!

In an effort to tackle those coconut teas, I pulled this one out over the weekend. (I admit, I was horrified to realize it had coconut. Don’t think I was aware of that until I read the ingredients while perusing one of the 52teas bins.) Luckily, the coconut is still ok. However, either I brewed this incorrectly, or I had a contaminated mouth, because I couldn’t really taste any mango or cream, which seems surprising. This tea is not that old. I think the resteep had a bit more flavour – since resteeps of greens are usually duds, I take this as a sign that I drank it at a bad time, and it was actually good, I just couldn’t tell. Anyhow, will have to start a “greens and coconut” basket and put this in there for expedited sipdown.

Not actually sure I had even tried this tea before. I believe it was a freebie in one of the final orders. Anyhow, I don’t think I’m a big fan – it didn’t taste off or anything, but it was a little on the side of mariney/fishy. I should have written this note while I was drinking it, so I could write a bit more, but it was definitely a different type of green, and also definitely not my preference. Will drink again, but may try and send this one elsewhere.

And here I thought I was drinking another dupe of one I’d had a week ago – nope! That was Pistachio Horizon, this is Praline Horizon. Surprisingly, Pistachio was better (I thought I loved the praline flavouring more). Not that this was bad, but there was more flavour from the latter. I’d never be able to guess which was which if you brewed them side by side, though. I also screwed up and both oversteeped AND overleafed this one, so that might have caused some fixable problems. Anyways, nice to know I have 4 crimson horizon-based teas (well, 3 – the grapefruit one will go to a better home). Also nice to know this was not lost to the mice. I had a significant moment of sad a couple days ago when I was perusing a couple of my 52teas orders from years past, and saw a couple teas that I recall were heartbreakingly lost to the work mice. In addition to Butiki’s Pistachio Ice Cream, 52teas Calico & Black Cat tea (OMG I didn’t ever even rate it! I may have to retroactively do so. I enjoyed it.) and the reblend of Cashew Turtle. Ugh, my heart. I shouldn’t lie; it was no moment of sad, I’ve actually been mourning those teas full-time ever since I remembered. On the plus side, at least the blender is still active, so if I was sad/desperate enough, I could at least try begging/pleading!

Sipdown! 72/365

This tea suffered a bit from bottom-of-the-bag syndrome, I think. Tasted a little stale; I don’t remember if I previously remarked on that. I bet it was great when it was fresh – the raspberry was still pretty good. Very juicy/real raspberry instead of artificial.

Badly stored; this tea was never quite the winner for me either. It has definitely lost flavour, but is fine to drink, with subtle spicing. Just need to be careful with the base IIRC, as it gets astringent quickly. I did fine with this brew, though, so had a perfectly enjoyable cup of tea.

Sipdown! 71/365

Yikes! I’m dangerously close to not even having one sipdown per day! I need to dig into other boxes of samples, and put away the ones I have out – they just don’t interest me right now, I guess. Anyhow, last night was wicked with the baby, and I needed to try and stay awake using caffeine today. Who knows if it worked, but I’m still alive and it’s almost time to sleep, yay! So made up my third latte out of this packet. Made a conscious effort to mix it better, which paid off, and added maple syrup for sweetener and coconut cream (less than previously) for… well, honestly, just to use the darn stuff up. It’s been in the fridge far too long. The result was good; I drank the whole cup mindlessly.