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Backlog from yesterday/day before:

I’ve had this for over a year now, and visually it hasn’t aged very well – the strawberry pieces are almost black, and I worried that the graham cracker pieces might have gone soggy and started growing mold from our damp climate. Fortunately it seems to just be cosmetic, as it still has a cheerful flavor of summer fruits. Sweet enough to drink on its own, though I liked it better after adding a little agave. I found it a bit weak having followed the suggested 1 tsp (which isn’t that much, given the chunky graham and strawberry pieces), so I’ll probably increase it to 1 1/2 next time.

Dry leaf has that stewed-plum aroma I’ve noticed in a lot of the black teas I like. I had a sniff of the wet leaf after pouring off the liquid, and was met with an ashy smell so strong that I recoiled a bit. The liquor itself didn’t taste of ash, thankfully, but there was a mysterious musky taste that I wasn’t all that fond of. I didn’t strongly dislike it, but there are so many other teas I like better.

I haven’t had the best luck with Butiki straight greens, so I was pleasantly surprised when I took a sip and said “ooh!”
The first flavor I got was butter, followed by a rather grassy vegetal note, a light sweetness, and a wisp of bitterness. (Note: the tea had cooled for several minutes before my first taste, which may be why I didn’t pick up the harshness of other reviewers.) Aftertaste is reminiscent of steamed dark green leafy vegetables with a dryness and more noticeable (but still quite subtle) bitterness in the back of the throat.

Not one of my favorite green teas ever, but I will happily finish off the rest of the bag!

Made myself a cup of this to see if I wanted to order some in the big blow-out sale before it runs out. Unfortunately it’s not on the website anymore, so I guess I’m too late. Waaaah.

Pretty nice tea, though. I’m not in the right headspace to analyze flavors and what not, but it’s one that I was hoping to get a bit more of for gongfu sessions.

The first words that come to mind while sipping this tea are “exotic” and “mysterious”. I don’t know how much better I can describe it than that, but here goes!

I can taste suggestions of the florals and chocolate in Stacy’s tasting notes, but mostly wood and resin and possibly some spice. The overall effect is a bit like discovering a long-lost temple in the jungles of India and smelling the incense and damp tropical wood interior. It’s quite a deep, dark flavor; more savory than sweet, and full-bodied without being overpowering. There’s enough astringency to give your tongue a bit of a tingle, but not so much that it gives you sandpaper mouth.

Very tasty and very intriguing. Thanks for the trip, Stacy! I can only hope that she will continue to guide us to wonderful weird teas like this after Butiki closes :)

Very vegetal, with a rather strong charred note like grilled asparagus or some other green vegetable. Quite similar to what I recall the Rwanda Rukeri tasting like. Pleasant mouthfeel – at the end of the sip, there’s a drying sensation on the tongue, but not so much that your mouth feels sandpapery.

Judging from the African greens I’ve had from Butiki, they may not be my thing. I do tend to like vegetal flavors, but this might be a little much for me!

Okay, this is another Butiki green that’s leaving me scratching my head. I’m getting some grassy, sencha-like, and nutty notes, but nothing resembling smooth, sweet, tart, or fruity. Now that the cup has cooled, it’s mostly charred green vegetables but rather bitter and astringent and not especially pleasant. What is it with my water here? I generally like green tea, but for some reason the unflavored Butiki greens are really hit-or-miss for me.

This is a tasty combination of flavors – it is impressive how much this tastes like a pumpkin latte. But I think the coffee flavoring does something weird to my head, based on my experience with this cup and the Red Queen Cupcake. I probably won’t order any more of this tea (or any of the other coffee-flavored ones Stacy has left), but I encourage anyone currently on the fence to try some of this before it runs out!

I was really happy Stacy introduced this flavor after the Peach Hoppitea ran out – I’m not a beer drinker, but I found the sample that came with one of my long-ago Butiki orders to be really interesting. I guess that sample had been sitting around for a while when I got around to trying it, because what I’m drinking now tastes WAY more heavy on the hops. It’s maybe a little intense for me, even after sweetening, but I’m still intrigued. I’m almost done with my cup now, and I still can’t quite put my finger on this tea – some sips seem mostly peachy and somewhat mild, and others pack a hoppy wallop, as though the two main flavors are competing for dominance. But that’s far from a complaint. I’d like to see what someone with more beer-tasting experience has to say about this one.

I’m not sure this will become one of my favorites, but it does leave me in awe of Stacy’s blending skills. She is a treasure, and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to taste so many of her creations.

So I tried being an adult and drinking this without any additions. It was okay when I was sipping it in between bites of my breakfast, but on its own it was a tiny bit overwhelming. I didn’t taste any of the interesting flavors I normally pick up from Stacy’s straight teas; what I got was basically generic Black Tea and made my head feel funny. I think CTC black tea (aside from maybe Ceylon) without milk or sugar is probably not for me, but I probably will give this another try to see if I can get anything more from it.