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Today sucks. Butiki makes me feel better. Alas, this blend has faded quite a bit. It was one of my favorites, but now the flavors are very muted when the tea is hot brewed per package instructions. So I cold steeped the last of it. There was a lot of powder in this particular package, which seems to have helped amplify whatever taste was left. Cold steeping sure worked better than the hot brew. The coconut is mostly gone, but at least I got some nice tart strawberry flavor this way. Sipdown. Nothing lasts forever.

This actually ended up being one of my favorites from Stacy’s last few batches. It seemed like an odd combo at first, but the mix of coffee and cantaloupe actually works. Really well. Alas, the flavor has definitely faded over time so it’s just as well that this is a sipdown. It was always good for at least 2-3 resteeps, each one gloriously juicy and coffee/nutty/chicory-ish. Sad it’s faded and gone but glad to have tried it.

Mmm. Thanks to greenteafairy for sending me a sample of this one. This is a tea-sad sipdown. I enjoyed this one brewed hot with a touch of brown crystal sugar. I’m not getting much hazelnut flavor, but the juicy raspberry and creamy butterscotch flavors are lovely. Nom nom nom.

Butiki sipdown! I wasn’t a huge fan of this one, actually. The pear tasted very artificial. Hot brewed, it was just unpleasant. But, this made for a decent cold brew. The artificial-ness was toned down and the candy sweetness was more palatable. Basically it tasted like liquid pear and jasmine hard candies, which is gross in a hot tea but decent in an iced tea on a hot day.

How have I not written a tasting note for this one yet? It tastes like marzipan and maple syrup. I can identify the note that’s supposed to be waffle, but combined with the almond flavor it just comes out as marzipan. Which is one of my favorite kinds of candy, so this is a total win for me. I can’t distinguish the base tea. Rather than assert its own flavor, it kind of chills out in the background to support the marzipan and maple. The sip ends with a slightly dry afterfeel and lingering maple syrup note. I can’t fathom adding sugar to this – it’s already just the right level of sweet for me.

Stacy, I miss your tea-blending genius!

I have the best office mate. I made a comment about being bored with my office teas, so he surprised me by bringing in three new boxes of tea. Adorably, they’re all flavored Lipton teas and he thought they were “fancy”. I opened this one first.

Honestly, this is not nearly as bad as I expected. It tastes like blueberries and green. Nothing actually fancy, but perfectly drinkable. The flavoring falls comfortably between totally natural-tasting and sickeningly artificial. It would probably make a decent iced tea. So thanks, office mate!

Thanks again to Angel at Teavivre for the sample! I finished this one off as a tea soda – hot steeped the whole sample pack in a gaiwan, poured it into a glass, and topped it with seltzer. It came out simultaneously light and flavorful, which is just what I needed on a hot day. The leaf holds up well to a resteep too. I ended up getting four refreshing glasses out of it. Sipdown!

I could have sworn I’d reviewed this tea before. I recall not being too fond of it when I first bought it. It seems to have benefited from age, though. The sweet-tart raspberry and nutty cashew flavors are just right. Evenly balanced and natural tasting. This makes me think of raspberry thumbprint cookies in the best way. Nom nom nom.

Nope. Nope nope nope. I got a sample of this in a Lupicia mailer. I decided to try it out without looking at the ingredients so my impressions would be unbiased. Right off the bat, as soon as I opened the wrapper this smelled unpleasantly medicinal. Like cherry cough syrup. It tasted like artificial cherry until I checked the ingredients. Now it tastes like apricot (which isn’t one of the ingredients either), but still medicinal and just… off. Thankfully, this one’s a sipdown!

Thanks again to Dustin for sending me this lovely blend. It’s bready, malty, loveliness. Not a lot of chocolate flavor per se. I thought it was just because Butiki blends are starting to lose flavor, but looking at my last tasting note it appears this wasn’t especially white chocolate-y to begin with. I love the depth of this one, though. And of course it holds up to multiple steeps and a splash of rice milk quite well. Sipdown!