Rose Violet Calendula Oolong

So, confession time.
One reason I love drinking tea, if because it evokes memories of places I have been.
Rarely, do the teas come into my mind as people, if any of you have known me long, you might suspect my deep love for Earl Grey.
Yes, my husband is aware of my admiration, but oddly enough does not feel threatened.
So far, it has just been EG and then Paris by H&S that have brought people to mind.
Till this tea.
The first time I smelt even the dry leaves of this tea I gasped.
She is stunning. In mind, spirit and body.
She is everything I ever wanted to be.
She makes me feel inferior but if I could just drink enough of this tea maybe also a little like her?
This tea is champagne colored (how perfect is that?) and when I drink I truly feel as if I should be sipping this in a champagne flute.
Classy,and always speaks eloquently with a soft smile upon her lips.
This tea is total experience that I recommend highly.
After the first couple of sips this song came to mind, so I will share it with you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AEoUa0Hlso
Now, that you think me insane for creating characters out of my tea, I shall take my leave.
Maybe I will go and try to find our wedding champagne flutes…

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki for this sample!

I drink flowery tea only when I’m in the MOOD for them. The mood strikes me fairly infrequently.

This afternoon, there was (and is) a forest fire in Poudre Canyon. I noticed the air was smelling strongly of smoke. The wind had kicked up and the fire had doubled, making me concerned for the people needing to evacuate. I called my daughter to find out how the air was at her house…“Dirty, dark and soot in the air”, which I had seen from 10 miles away. She was closer to the fire, although not in the hills. Her home and 8 kids are only a few blocks from a reservoir. I felt relief.

I wanted to wipe the smoke away and bring back the Springtime. I had a sample tea that had the promise of flowers. Rose Violet Calendula Oolong. What better time to drink this tea than now.

I steeped the Oolong 4 minutes letting the fragrant buds fill me with the most beautiful heady floral bouquet. The sipping from beginning to end was a delight.

My first impression was of candied violets, not overly sweet or cloying but delicate and very juicy. The taste turned to crenshaw melon and became buttercream…almost no astringency at all present. The floral bouquet filled my mouth and the scent was surrounding me creating a complete experience. My glass cup of the light yellow liquor was filled again and I delighted in the tea. Violet stood out as the distinct floral up front but, I can’t say that there was a primary rose flavor, a jasmine flavor, a calendula flavor…but a harmony of the other floral flavors.

I added a little sugar at the end…trying to imagine a tea party…and the sugar was such a great addition for a dessert tea. I think this is a perfect, perfect tea party tea!

If you would please say a prayer for all the people in the path of fires going on in Arizona and Colorado please and the firefighters too. Thanks!

This is one of the samples I had with my Butiki Order.

I have no words to say how fantastic this tea is…It’s a kind of perfection, a violet and rose perfection.
Of course these two flavours are among my favorites but the way this tea is blended and flavoured is just wonderful.

It’s just so delicate,the kind of tea you are happy to have in the finest china bone tea cup.

I regret now not having ordered 4 oz of it.
I more than highly recommend Rose Violet Calendula Oolong.

Thanks so much Stacy :)

My first Butiki tea, with thanks to TeaEqualsBliss. I was amazed at how dark it steeped…deep purple velvet. It’s not so strong that I feel like I’m eating a wedding bouquet. On the contrary, it’s rich and … well, violety!

It’s been fun to sip and mull over as I enjoy my coolish and quiet neighborhood and watch Six O’Clock Charlie buzz the neighborhood. 6 O’C is a funky little para-glider contraption strapped to a go-kart. I can’t figure out for the life of me how he gets airborne with a puny little two-stroke lawn mower engine, but he looks like he’s having so much fun up there!

Sipdown! Although this hardly counts as it’s a 1-cup sample not even in my cupboard. Also, I only drank 2 sips and gave the rest to my mom :P

I actually rather enjoyed the sips of this that I did have. It’s very floral, but given the name, that’s of course to be quite expected! I definitely caught a large dose of jasmine, along with other floral aromas/flavours, and a bit of green oolong as well (fairly light, though). My mom quite enjoyed it, as I had figured, since she enjoys floral teas, so it may make it into a future Butiki order :) Nothing I’d keep around, but for a floral tea it was pretty palatable IMO!

Through the Looking Glass..

Thank you Bonnie for this fragrant sample from Butiki!

I have been on a bit of an Oolong kick lately and decided to traipse down the path to the rose garden this weekend, inviting dubious glares from passers by. I cared nothing for their snide commentary and instead reveled in the aroma and texture that surrounded me. Yes, this cup is floral, fruity, sweet forget-me-nots awash with all the delicate nuances of a proper variety-hour garden show, but that’s not to say it wasn’t quite good in its own right. In point of fact, I’ve yet to try anything connected to Butiki that I wouldn’t gladly drink again in the future. While this one would certainly require an almost Mad Hatter sort of mood for me to fully appreciate, there’s clearly nothing wrong with that every now and again when you find you’re following the rabbit down the hole!

This is the first rose tea I’ve ever had that actually TASTES like rose. When you put your nose over the edge of the cup in the process of taking a sip, you smell rose. OOLONG is an excellent choice as a delicate and ridiculously expensive essence like rose should be paired with a delicate tea that will complement and not overpower it. That shows a profound understanding by the Artist who blended this.

The teas with rose that I have tried up to now have all just had a few petals thrown into black tea. They get swallowed up in the blackness !

This is a stunningly beautiful, delicately nuanced tea blend. It calls to mind lace on a wedding dress, or wings on a butterfly… I could wax poetic over this tea.

Smells strongly of rose and violet upon opening the package. Steeped liquid is light yellow and delicate. Very floral taste yet not overpowering. This is totally a garden tea party tea. I am not a huge floral person except for jasmine, but I like this a lot. I think I taste violet more than rose but the rose is still present for sure. I will keep this on the list for next time I order from Butiki. Another win for Stacy. Perfectly balanced and lovely. I’m glad I requested this sample and thanks to Butiki for offering samples!

Sadly, this marks the end of samples and new teas. I’m trying to drink down my cupboard and actually figure out what I want to keep around all the time. So… this may be the last review for awhile. :) I shall have to live vicariously through the rest of you!

When I placed my order with Butiki, I was invited to pick some samples and was intrigued by this one, as I have not previously had rose-flavored tea. I confess I’m at a disadvantage when describing this tea because I have no idea what violet or calendula taste or smell like, but the rose has a strong presence both in flavor and scent(not overpowering though)and the jasmine is in the background. I prepared it as instructed and had my husband try it first before I added my usual sweetener. Once in awhile I am very much in the mood for a floral tea, and today is one of those days. This is delicate but flavorful, and the floral notes held up to three steepings to my surprise. As usual, I prefer it lightly sweetened, no surprise there, but it is nice unsweetened too. My husband prefers unsweetened tea and he enjoyed it too. So this is a win win for both of us.

I’m a little wary of floral teas, so I thought I probably wouldn’t like this sample. Wow, was I wrong!

This is a masterfully blended floral symphony. The jasmine, rose and violet all come through in perfect balance with the oolong (I don’t know what calendula tastes like, but whatever it is works!) It is so fresh and delicate, and not at all overpowering or perfumey. This is THE perfect tea for a tea party. Or for just taking some time to yourself to unwind.

If you like floral teas or are on the fence about them, then you have to try this one! I don’t know how Stacy does it, but she makes teas that I thought weren’t for me the ones that I find myself craving!

This is a tea I’ve wanted to try for a while. It was so sweet of LiberTEAS to include it in my Christmas Swap box.

Does anyone else do this? I heat my water while I’m blow drying my hair. Then I pour it over my tea to steep and go back to getting ready. Sometimes I forget my tea. AND then over steep it by 10 minutes. GAH!! That’s what I did this morning with this tea. Bummer. I can tell it’s a great tea, so I look forward to my next brewing. I hope I don’t mess it up again.

I’m having one of those wonderful nights where my husband is taking some interest in my tea shelf and he chose this one at random for us to taste together. I have been reading wonderful reviews about this one recently so I am super hyped to be finally tasting it.

Upon opening the little bag I experienced such a wonderful floral smell, a magical blend of rose, jasmine and violet. It was very fresh smelling and very pure/natural. The oolong is a fresh dark green colour that has been cut into little balls and the flower petals add a touch of fun in the colour schemes.

Once brewed the soup becomes golden in colour with a desirable floral fragrance of which the rose and jasmine are the most prominent. It has a somewhat Turkish Delight vibe to it.

After his first sip my husband said that this tastes like “a flower shop” or “a big bunch of flowers”. It’s very simply put but he is correct, the first sips bring out the flower flavours and it’s not until a couple of sips later that you can taste the slight sweet and nutty oolong in the background. It’s a strongly floral blend but the rose and violet is exactly why I bought this tea in the first place so I can say it truly lives up to it’s name.

I am in love with this blend, it’s so simple yet so elegant. I feel as though I have the same floral warmth from this tea as I do when I have jasmine green pearls (which I adore).

Q. What do Butiki Teas and Charlie Sheen have in common?
A. They are always WINNING.
Yes that’s right this is yet another winner for me :)

This is my first order from Butiki Teas. I’m always in a search for a perfect rose tea. This smells like a delicate mixture of rose and violet with a hint of jasmine.
It’s light and floral and tastes like Marzipan which is good thing as far as I’m concerned.

Thanks LiberTEAs!
This is pretty and quite flavorful! I can taste the Calendula a bit more than the Rose Violet and I think that is just fine and dandy! This is good hot or cold!

Wow! This is a fantastic Oolong – so much better than I anticipated. I love floral teas as it is, but, I really didn’t expect such a beautiful harmony of flowery flavors with this tea. It is so soft and beautiful. Such a delight!

This is a nice, round, floral tea. I am not familiar enough with oolongs (yet) to really describe the base properly, but the floral aspect is both dominant and pleasing. The dry leaves smell like roses and, well, tea. The serving looks small, but the leaves unfurl beautifully in hot water. The brewed tea has a more delicate rose scent that I am really enjoying. It reminds me of rose perfume. The initial taste is also very rosy, though the jasmine comes out more as the tea cools. Unlike most of the other reviewers, I’m not picking up the violet at all. Oh, well. This is pretty awesome as a rose tea. Thanks to Stacy at Butiki Teas for the sample.

I’ve been excited to try this tea, as I love floral teas. The oolong leaves are somewhat rolled up with flower petals incorporated around them. The try leaves have a wonderfully pungent rosy-flowery smell with an underlying fruity aroma. The tea brewed up into a very pale yellow liquor, and the jasmine now takes the forefront in the aroma, with the rose underlying it. The flavor is very floral and perfumed, and if you don’t tend to enjoy floral teas this one probably isn’t for you. The first flavor that hits me is the rose, with the jasmine on the latter part of the taste. I’m not sure I can really pick out the violet and calendula individually, but they are certainly contributing to the overall flavor. There’s an overall very faint sweetness to the tea. I’m definitely enjoying this one, and can see ordering some more!

How lovely! Drinking this tea is like smelling the scent you get when walking into a flower shop- minus the allergies! :-) I would almost say it smells/tastes like potpourri, but I would hate to make that comparison because I’ve always hated potpourri, which is kind of soapy, overpowering, and makes me sneeze.

At first this left me wondering if there was really any taste going on. As I kept sipping and as it cooled, I got a tiny little blossom of flower fragrance. As I got to the bottom of the cup, I imagined a whole garden of flowers erupting into glorious bloom! This really brightened my morning, which started out rather rushed and late. Perfect for a spring morning!

Smells more like rose out of the bag, with an afterburner of violet and honeysuckle and jasmine. Just like a summer picnic in the park.
granted my only exposure to calendula is in a soap from woodsprite organic… so maybe i’m missing it.

Probably a bad idea to write this note after I finished a very oversteeped pot of oolong and ate a bunch of grape tomatoes. Yet here it goes anyway.

Soundtrack of the evening has been a lot of memphis blues, but i switched to a more modern folky tune to pair better with my cup of liquid summer. this is a very light floral tea and makes me crave the wind.

it may just be the tomatoes, but all i get is a silky honeysuckle and rose hybrid baby that leaves a lingering violet trail. floral teas and i are involved, so overall this is a great tea to finish up my evening with. everything is very light and delicate, so your tongue has a few thin layers to sift through to get everything out of it- lots of candied petals to taste!

song of the moment that helps your summer transportation experience- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoKzyr4zMNE
this works too- though this is more of a summer roadtrip tune http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXFvSE7GBbs

happy sipping people! and don’t forget the sunscreen.
(also steeped this about 15 degrees higher than instructed, just because it’s an oolong and my 203 degrees is standard for most of my oolongs. i compromised.)

I received this as a sample along with my order
nice, floral..roses, jasmine..is that calendula I’m tasting as well? I’ve only smelled it as a candle scent. Nice light Oolong. Tasty.
it blends so well,,,I taste it all-no competing flavors, slightly sweet
my sample is gone….