Raspberry Truffle

5 AM I awoke too early with a splitting headache from a cloud of smoke that desended to ground level from the High Park Fires. Uh!
I put on some clothes and walked a down the street towards the hills but stopped part way realizing that there were no hills to be seen. The smoke was too thick and the end of the block was invisable.

Again, my head throbbed…I wanted tea!
I had some new tea from Butiki that I had never sampled. The reviews were too good to resist. Raspberry Truffle certainly sounded more cheerful than the dirty smoke-fog.

Butiki Tea’s ingredients are first class. Organic, Vegan. This has chocolate, dry raspberries, and Kundalay tea. Notes of cinnamon and just sweet enough not to need sugar.
There is a creaminess that reminds you that this tea doesn’t taste like cake or pastry but a real chocolate coated, raspberry filled truffle. You know, the kind of candy that you sneak and eat by yourself savouring each little bite with delight. “Oh thiF is soooo gooB,” you say, with a muffled mouthful of gooey truffle dripping from the corners of your mouth and sticking to your fingers!
You understand why this tea is popular. Imagine drinking that truffle experience without the guilt of overindulgence (or the calories!). Yes!

I feel better, but…it would be good if you would send prayers for the firefighters and the displaced people here! Thanks!

(I’m sorry if my reviews are bad, right now I’m having a hard time with them…please understand it’s hard. Thanks! Doing my best.)

NUMMY! I am not big on chocolate teas but Stacy of Butiki won my heart with this one!
So huge chunks of berries which means once the tea has lived out its life I have a SNACK!! Haha.
Then these wonderful vegan chocolate nibs which you just have to be NOT tempted to eat before brewing so they can melt into the steep!
A WONDERFUL base that DOES show through the flavorings which are quite well balanced!
I was sitting there sipping then making this obnoxious sound with my mouth doing this smackedy smackedy tap tap sound motion in order to get all the flavor out of the chocolate which also enhanced the base flavor – I know its SO not necessary but I was trying to REALLY get ALL the flavors as I am considering this base for a blend Stacy and I are working on together (run on sentence? Perhaps!)
AN E WAY …. my daughter thought I was insane – but then I am. So what?
Its great.
I love it and that is coming from someone NOT big on chocolate teas!

After a long morning of hard work, I decided to relax and enjoy a dessert tea. Raspberry Truffle is definitely a cold weather tea. Unlike my favorite flavored teas of the summer that are light and flavored so that the tea is not as noticeable, this tea base definitely has a presence. The raspberry truffle flavor doesn’t mask the taste of tea but complements it.

The leaves of the Organic Kundaly base are medium sized chunks and thin twisted dark chocolate colored leaves that mingle with the mini chocolate chips and dark pink raspberries. The leaves have a sweet raspberry and woodsy cocoa aroma that is intoxicating. The wet leaves are a bit more uniform and mahogany in color. Pink pieces of fruit and melted chocolate are noticeable. The aroma is a sweet raspberry that finishes almost woodsy. Slight citrus notes can be detected. The liquor has good clarity and is reddish amber in color and has an aroma of cinnamon, raspberry, and cocoa. I started off drinking this tea without any sugar. Raspberry Truffle has a lightly woodsy flavor that develops into dark unsweetened cocoa and a slightly sweet but tart raspberry. The raspberry lingers and mingles with the cocoa flavor. After a few sips I decided to add a little bit of brown crystal sugar. The sugar intensified that flavor. As I sipped the tea I noticed that it now started out with a light creamy chocolate flavor that developed into a sweet raspberry that lingers. Notes of wood and citrus can be detected.

I can’t believe I didn’t try this the moment I opened my Butiki order. Seriously, it’s so many things I love put together! Chocolate and raspberries and black, oh my. However, after a bad experience with Adagio’s Raspberry it wasn’t a flavor I really wanted to go at again for a while. It’s a shame, but sometimes a bad cup can temporarily “ruin” a whole type of tea for me—like after an icky green, I don’t want any other greens for a week or so.

I was feeling chocolatey the other day though so I decided to finally give this one a go. I love the huge chunks of raspberry and chocolate chips, it’s nice to see right up front the ingredients listed. The chips are teeny tiny though and my cup brewed up surprisingly clear (a pale amber, clearer than I expect from even a regular black), so I was worried there wouldn’t be a big chocolate punch. I was so wrong! This is REALLY chocolatey, not just in taste but in feel as well. It’s kind of heavy rich and and you can almost feel the chocolate coating your tongue.

The raspberry is subtler, coming in at the end of the sip with a hint of berry sweetness. It’s definitely not as strong as I thought it would be, and I was surprised (but pleased) that chocolate seemed to be the dominant flavor. Well… that might be a bit inaccurate, since I think the base black was the dominant flavor. It’s strong and at the very beginning of the sip it’s all you taste. Personally, I like when you can pick up all the nuances of the base tea—if you’re going to do super heavy flavoring, it doesn’t really matter what you use, but with this tea (and all the Butiki blends I’ve tried) the base really shines and compliments the other flavors. Definitely one of the best chocolate teas I’ve tried!

Wow, does this tea ever look wonderful in the bag! Huge pieces of dried raspberry, lots of chocolate… mmmmm.

Steeped, it smells like a chocolatey black tea. I’m really hoping the raspberry comes out, because I’m not getting too much in the aroma!

..oh man! This is good! I can definitely taste both raspberry and chocolate, although neither is overpowering, and I can taste a great, just slightly astringent black base supporting both flavours. It’s also almost… creamy, in a sense, which helps reduce the tiny bit of astringency. I wish I could taste a touch more raspberry, but I have to say that this is far beyond the similar chocolate/fruit flavoured blacks from DavidsTea. Really delicious. I’m not hugely into these sort of flavoured teas for the everyday, so probably won’t pick any up, but would definitely recommend this to to those who like to start off (or end) their day with a fruity, chocolatey, delicious tea.

Thanks again to Stacy for this sample!

ETA: Re-steep is very light. No astringency, but perhaps a longer infusion would be better. There are some cocoa notes and a hint of raspberry, but that’s it. Still will finish it, however.

I am in the middle of packs and packs and packs…for the move and ooooooh I found a wonderful parcel among the parcels…. I re-dicover the box from Kansas …the one I received from our lovely Azzrian full of tea samples! This is Christmas after Christmas again !

I decided to taste this one …because of raspberry my favorite fruit.
J’adoooooooooooooore les framboises.
This framboise is really natural and delicate, absolutely not tart.
Chocolate is really not my madeleine in tea but I have to recognize the 2 ingredients work perfectly together and the chocolate doesn’t overpower the tea base neither the raspberry flavour.

I appreciate this tea, really and would be happy to taste it again but I am not really in love with despite all its qualities.

I was expecting more framboise (but as said before I love too much framboise)
I love so much framboise I can’t say rapsberry …the French word is more romantic to my ears inversely to pumpkin (the French word citrouille is just so…incredibly weird !)

A very good Butiki teas job

This is my first Butiki order, I was so excited to receive this today in the mail that I tore into it immediately and started my kettle!

Thank you so much Stacy. I didn’t even ask for this sample, so I was surprised to find it in my package! It caught my eye right away, those chocolate chips with real raspberry chunks!

Colour: nice amber brown

Taste: creamy light dark chocolate with light raspberry. So delicious. This tastes really “natural” if that makes sense.

I can tell right now that I am really going to like Butiki teas!

VEGAN and Gluten Free Chocolate Chips, folks!!!

Stacy is a RAWKin’ Girl! LOVE this!

I received a box from Butiki today and jumped right in! As you can see this is my second tea from her box!

This smells identical to a Raspberry Truffle! Amazing!

Taking a look at the loose leaf mixture you surely CAN see generous amounts of both VEGAN chocolate chips AND Raspberry bits! I LOVE THAT FACT!

The color of this is medium brown with gentle orange-reddish tones. I still can’t get away from this aroma and how wonderful it is!

As the sip first hits my lips and tongue I can taste the plump raspberry – berry, sweet, and a tad tart but certainly in a good way! Then I can taste the CHOCOLATE!!!! It’s chocolatey, smooth, sweet, and creamy. The creamy flavor lingers and meets at the end with the raspberry. The aftertaste is a slight dark chocolate taste rather than the milky-chocolate taste I got at the beginning. I like this change-up!

I’m seriously in LOVE with this! OMG!

For some reason, I thought I drank this already, so coming across it was quite nice. I dedicate this to the very polite chocolate shop bear, aka my spirit animal: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/bear-with-sweet-tooth-bre_n_1754082.html

I knew I was going to like this when I put it in my infuser. Chocolate chips! Big dried raspberries! I don’t understand why I haven’t ordered this one yet just from the smell in the bag of the sample.

Wow, this is incredible. The base tea is nice and earthy, and its followed up by the sweet chocolate and raspberry. I can’t help myself…it needs agave just out of curiosity.

I think I liked it better before because of the earthiness, now it’s sweeter and more like a raspberry chocolate bar. Though, really, there is nothing at all wrong that.

The only problem I have with chocolate teas is I always still want more chocolate after I drink a cup.

Actually, as it cools, it really gets more like a truffle than just a lowly chocolate bar. I need more of this now!

This came as a sample in my latest order from Butiki – thanks for the sample!

I was in the mood for something decadent. We got some bad news that my sweetie’s department is getting eliminated and we are both very anxious. I might have to cut back on tea spending for a while… boo

I steeped this at the recommended parameters – 210 F for around 4 minutes. I like the base of this tea but I felt like the flavoring was very light. After reading the notes I decided to add a bit of turbinado sugar and some soymilk. That seems to have helped bring out the flavor a bit. Perhaps if I had more to play with I could try using more leaf but I wasn’t terribly thrilled with this, although it is not altogether unpleasant or anything. Instead of a truffle it’s like a light dusting of cocoa with a faint peep of a raspberry….

Thank you Stacy for the sample of this yummy tea!

First off, this tea looks like a valentine! Pretty raspberries on a bed of black tea, with the cutest mini-chocolate-chips ever! I wanted to eat them, but I only got a sample, so I made little Terri (my inner child) behave & wait.

We (me & little Terri) brewed this one as directed, inhaling the waftings of chocolate & raspberry. She kept saying, “is it ready yet?” while we were blowing & blowing so we wouldn’t burn our tongue…then sipping. The tea base is strong enough to support all the players, but not so strong as to overpower them. All of the flavors are so nicely balanced, & my addition of stevia (just a pinch) really made the whole cup sing!

This is a tea that I want to swirl around in my mouth, like a somalier, & in doing so it made my mouth water, it was juicy! The underside of my tongue tingled from the raspberry, the chocolate rolled over the top, so that my tongue became a Truffle! Yum!

Thank you, Stacy, for this sample!

This tea does everything except outright transform into a solid Raspberry Truffle upon steeping. The candied raspberry center that has seeped into the surrounding sweet and creamy chocolate walls is something I can taste very vividly. Yet, despite that convincing profile the cup still manages to be all tea- and a smooth and mellow one to boot. This is delicious. I missed not having new Butiki teas to try.

Out of curiosity I added some milk to my first cup and it tasted as if I hadn’t added a thing. It’s the same level of creaminess with or without milk. Sorcery and witchcraft! I’ll pick up more of this one day.

I’m amazed at the dry leaf! The aroma is strongly raspberry, and there are a TON of freeze-dried raspberry pieces and chocolate chips in the blend. I’ve never seen a tea so chock full of ingredients!! It’s almost a ridiculous amount of generosity. Almost. ;)

I usually try a new tea straight before trying it with additions, but I’m really impatient right now. So, I’m just going to add skim milk and Truvia from the get go. I usually enjoy black tea better that way, and I’m ready for this dessert tea treat!

The brewed aroma is mostly black tea and raspberry. First sip…mmm this is good! I probably should have tried it without additions first, but it’s too late now! It’s very sweet and cocoa-y with the raspberry adding a nice complement to the cup. All the flavors are very balanced in my opinion. It’s equally dark chocolate, raspberry, and black tea.

I’m not a huge raspberry truffle fan though. I’d have preferred coconut truffle or caramel truffle or milk chocolate truffle. Maybe even cherry truffle. But the tea can hardly be blamed for that. As a raspberry truffle tea, this one is hard to beat. As others have mentioned, it does possess a nice creamy quality.

It’s also very strongly flavored! There’s nothing subtle about this tea. Granted, I used an extra ½ teaspoon than recommended. I can’t help myself; I’m a rebel. ;) This truly is yet another stellar tea from Butiki Teas!

Raspberries are my favourite berry so I was automatically sold on this tea. My Grandma has always had her own raspberry patch, so back when I was living near home, summertime meant raspberry everything. Raspberry jam, raspberries and cream, and after all these years, I never got sick of them. So very appealing, this tea is.

The scent of the dry leaf is incredible. It smells like a bar of high quality dark chocolate with pieces of dried raspberries dispersed throughout. And I really mean dark chocolate here.

I find that as soon as I steep this, the raspberry goes away a bit, at least in aroma.

Milk makes a huge difference with this tea. With milk and a touch of vanilla agave nectar (that I’m trying for the first time), Raspberry Truffle turns into a smooth milk chocolate tea with hints of raspberry woven throughout the whole experience. What I really appreciate about this tea is that it’s real raspberry here, not that fake juice crystal raspberry that you sometimes run into now and then.

Without any additives, it’s like a whole different ballgame. The sharpness from the dark chocolate is so sharp that it sightly mimics coffee. I also don’t taste any raspberry, so ultimately, I think this is a tea that I’d personally prefer to drink with additives. If I went back in time and told myself that someday you will be drinking tea with additives, I’d fall over in disbelief.

Awesome job, Stacy! You’ve captured the sophistication of a fine raspberry truffle.

This is another sample from Sandy. Thanks!

I love the level of chocolate in here. The raspberry seems to come in right behind it and feels quite natural. I’d swear there is some sort of nut in here as well. The nutty flavor is faint enough I am having a hard time identifying it. I’m also getting a cream flavor as well. This is spot on for a raspberry truffle. The base is smooth and well behaved.

Thanks to Will Work For Tea for this sample. This tea cements the fact that I need to order from Butiki. Fabulous tea. Creamy, fruity and sweet.

This is one of the many tea samples sent by Bonnie! Thank you, Bonnie! This is my first Butiki tea ever.

First, the aroma of the tea seemed primarily raspberry but we were eating Pinwheels and Pepperidge Farm cookies at the time! As i lifted my cup, i could have sworn I smelled roses! More than once as I sipped I was just sure of it. The base is smooth, very good, not astringent. The raspberry flavor seemed more subdued than the scent, but that may have been the cookies. As the cup cooled a little, the chocolate flavor came out more.

This was delicious, and I will be serving it again in half an hour to my new Moroccan friend! She did say she wanted to try more teas!

Thank you so much, Bonnie! This was delicious!

Sample from my Butiki Order.
I am hitting the black teas pretty hard this morning.
Another lousy night of sleep and woke up with a pounding headache.
Thankfully, the Earl Grey took care of most of that, but I am feeling like I want some dessert.
So, this tea appealed to me.
Once I smelt the dry leaves, I had to run over to the Butiki website and see what was in this tea, because I kept getting a violet flower scent.
There is no violets in this tea, so I don’t know why smell it, but I also smell the raspberry.
It smells like sitting in the garden after a rain, its lovely!
Light red in color.
I do not get chocolate when I taste this, but more of a creaminess.
This tea is very yummy.
Might just have to add this to my list I am preparing for my next order!

Unfortunately my morning is not going very well, nothing serious but it’s my husbands birthday party tonight and now the food, alcohol and party supplies will not be delivered. Now with a lot of house cleaning and set up I need to find the time to go out and buy everything I need and get home before my husband to set it all up. Urgh…..busy day.

The only thing that can calm me down for the time being is to try a naughty sounding tea and how naughtier can you get then this raspberry truffle?

Whilst raw the tea looks delicious with a good sprinkling of chocolate chips and bright red raspberries which compliment the dark twisted brown leaves.

Smell once brewed is sweet and fruity with smoky chocolate tones. The colour is dark brown. I am not including any sugar for the first sips.

The fragrance is stronger than the taste at this point, the raspberry is subtle and slightly tart but sweet at the same time which balances nicely. The chocolate chips are not very noticeable but I believe I can pick them up in the after taste. I might try a longer steep next time and see the difference.

Adding in sugar now. Much sweeter now (of course) but in a nice way, the raspberries are not tart at all now but still remain fruity and raspberry tasting (slightly sour) and the chocolate is now more like chocolate in a weak way. Taste wise now with all of the ingredients together it does taste very similar to a raspberry truffle.

I’m being alerted now that even more things have gone wrong….it truly will be one of those days today for me. Good to know that I have around 10 cups of this left ….looks like I’m going to need it.

Great job again Butiki.

1 tablespoon for 247 ml

Very smooth. Raspberry taste and slight tartness near the end. Chocolate pudding like notes throughout. Black tea makes a nice base. Savoury-like taste.

Thanks to Kittenna for passing some along to me!