Organic Mao Jian

Thank you Amy Oh for this sample!!!
I must dislike artichokes. It reminds me of them, very much so and I’ve never really had an opinion on them. My palate is somewhat neutral on that front.
So… I want to like this tea, I really do. I can tell that it’s super high quality, and it is so very smooth! And buttery! Goes down like silk. But I just don’t like it.
Well it’s more of a love hate thing actually. Like a train wreck you can’t look away from so you keep going back for more… keep going back to this trying to figure out what it is about this tea that mystifies me so!
Perhaps it’s how artichoke translates to tea that I don’t like. That almost makes sense to me. Almost.
This is my second time brewing this. The first, I went a bit longer, maybe two-three min. This time I steeped for about a minute. Perhaps brewing temp would make a difference?
Rating: 70

I have a major case of the munchies tonight. And I’m doing everything I can not to munch, LOL! So, it’s tea time!!! Somehow, I missed trying this tea when I bought a boatload of Butiki Teas a few months ago. Whoops! Well, I get to try it now! :)

Even after all this time, the dry leaves still smell very green. They’re long, paper thin, crispy, dark green curls. The brewed tea aroma is rich, buttery vegetables. Yummy! I’m not gonna’ lie, I used more leaf than was recommended. I do it every time! I can’t help myself! I just love strong tea. ;)

And this certainly is strongly flavored! Well, it’s unflavored but it has a lot of flavor. You know what I mean! :P Gosh, I sure do love smiley faces today. I guess I’m just happy and in the mood to emote! The wedding is swiftly approaching, and I’m getting more and more excited with each passing day. It’s going to be AMAZING! Probably more amazing than this tea, although this tea is pretty darn good.

I’m so impressed with Butiki Teas. The lowest rating of the thirteen teas I tried was 72. The average rating was 83. Five teas scored in the 90s, and one tea even got a 100! This tea is remarkable and uber delicious. I love the butteriness. I haven’t eaten real butter in about 4 weeks. So, this tastes almost forbidden. ;)

Mmmm, it’s almost creamy but not quite. Buttery is a better description. And it is sweet too. I love sweet! Fresh, crisp vegetables dripping hot butter. YUM! I love this! Go get some Butiki Teas right now. Seriously, you will not be disappointed. Flavored or unflavored. White, green, black, or oolong. They’re all amazing!!

It is everything the description promises. A sweet and mellow green tea with vegetal notes a bit like artichoke notes with a sweetness like clover and hay. The instructions said 180F and 2/5 minutes but I let mine go more towards 3 and it was still fine. I am enjoying it this morning. The brewed leaves smell almost floral in nature.

I relaxed with a couple of pots of this tea this evening. It was delicious! It didn’t have much kick to it, but it was nice and mellow. It was slightly sweet and it tasted lightly of veggies but it wasn’t as much as some of the green teas I have tried in the past.

I could see having this to drink daily when I wanted a green tea but I didn’t want an overly complicated one. I think this would go great with just about any meal. I also think it would go fantastically with a small dish of red bean ice cream.

I only have a little left, enough for one more cup probably, so I’m going to save it for when I have some time to enjoy it. On one of my days off! First steep at two minutes and second steep at three minutes with water that just started to make some noise in my kettle.