Butiki Teas

I was kinda hoarding this, but I felt that I needed a good quality oolong yesterday. I didn’t want anything heavily artificially flavoured or anything tangy. I just wanted something subtle and a bit sweet. I knew right away that this tea would fit that bill.

Mmm so comforting with subtle strawberry and the buttery green oolong in the forefront more and more with each steep.
Resteeped 4.5 minutes

I am glad that I ordered this in case it gets axed to make room for other blends!

Mmmm….I find this tea so comforting. I am really glad that I ordered this one in case this one gets axed to make room for new blends.

The strawberry flavour is subtle, with the buttery green oolong coming to the forefront more and more with each steep.

Resteep 4.5 minutes

Many thanks to Stacy for this wonderful sample! I am glad that I decided to go with this sample.

Dry leaf: smells similar to strawberry green tea ice cream

This is a wonderful tea, light strawberry flavour with lots of green buttery oolong goodness.
It is slightly sweet, very smooth, and slightly floral.
The strawberry taste lingers in the aftertaste.

2nd steep: 90degrees, 4.5minutes, the strawberry flavour is a lot lighter, but the buttery oolong now shines.
The strawberry is still there, especially in the aftertaste.

The 3rd steep will have to wait until later in the day because I have lots of errands to run.

Edit: 3rd steep at 90degrees, 5minutes, still wonderfully sweet, with lots of lovely buttery oolong flavour left. This tea just goes on and on!

And again, Butiki Teas hits it out of the park.

I have been on an almond and caramel kick lately. I just purchased about a bushel of Almond Oolong from Adagio. I love it.

This is nothing like the Adagio oolong. This is a good thing since I now have another delightful almond option.

There is no doubt this is an almond tea when you open the bag or when you steep it. It’s pleasantly sweet and smooth.

As was mentioned in another post, steeped, the flavor is fairly mild. I will brew this stronger the next time around.

Frankly, this smells so good I’d like to take a bath in it. Profoundly yummy.

Ahh! This is so refreshing!

The flavor is unmistakably vegetative, I taste notes of artichoke and kelp, and there is a fair amount of tangy astringency to the cup. It has a citrus-y finish. The mouthfeel is lighter than most green teas I’ve tasted lately, and it’s rather refreshing. It doesn’t feel “soupy” or brothy (and I’m not saying that thicker mouthfeel is bad), and because it doesn’t feel quite as heavy or thick, it seems to really quench the thirst. Very nice. Very nice indeed!

I don’t always love chocolate in tea. That said, this is just delicious.

Very light cocoa and raspberry flavor. It smells divine in the bag and equally yummy in the cup. The big chunks of raspberry are really quite nice.

I finished this off with a very small amount of German Rock Sugar. The tea would have also been fine without it.

I’m glad I bought extra of this. I feel like I had my desert for breakfast.

Thank you Stacy for this sample of the new Tamarind Pop Tea!

It’s going to be 102 in Fort Collins, Colorado today! Happy Summer!

I’m not even going to venture out to the pool…my air conditioner is staying on and after reviewing hot tea…I’m going to start brewing
some iced!

Tamarind
Pods of Tamarind are common in most markets in the S.F. Bay Area where I grew up, and tamarind drinks are also super common in restaurants.(You people in the Western State’s know what I’m talking about!)
Open up a lumpy tamarind pod and there are seeds and sticky dark fruit that is sour when unripened, and sweet enough for flavoring juices or using in pastries much like apricot or peach pulp when ripe. The fruit is good for the stomach and an antibacterial. The origin of the Tamarind Tree is in Africa. Today Mexico and Southeast Asia are the biggest users of this fruit in every day cooking and for beverages. It’s something I have used for sauces when I want a sweet but tangy ‘pop’ in my Thai main dishes but I’ve also had it tucked in a sweet pastry as filling, as a sweet iced drink and as candy!

Review!
The steep time was 3 minutes at 212F in a brew basket/mug which produced a maple syrup colored liquor.

Interestingly, the first sip tasted like a light vanilla maple pancake syrup! Not thick and not syrupy sweet but a little sweet…and delicious, warm and fragrant! The base is black tea but was not dark, malty or cocoa tasting. I did feel a splash of tannin at the finish which was just fine with me.

I took another bigger drink…and again there was the vanilla flavor
which was very smooth. The flavor puzzled me. I was expecting something sharper and more acidic instead of this smooth vanilla syrup tea with tannin.

(Stacy often says that some tea’s benefit from adding a little bit of raw brown sugar crystals…and I had purchased some from her…so…)

I added the sweetening at this point in my tasting.
The improvement was evident. The tannin receeded and the fruitiness began to wriggle free.
My tastebuds grabbed for the newly detected dry fruit flavors. A mix of membrillo (quince paste) with peach and apricot leather and one little tangy ping. This ping was the sour fruit that says TAMARIND and can be nothing else in the World. All of this fruit flavor was followed by the vanilla that lingered for some time afterward.
The cup made sense at this point. The fruit was ripe tamarind. The addition of just a bit of sweet was the unifier that was needed for the tea to be at it’s best.

I let my cup cool all the way down. Still Good! This tea will be great iced!

Another ‘Sabroso’(tasty) naturally flavored and unique tea from Butiki!

This is my first tea from Butiki. Wow.

This is the lightest, creamiest tea ever. It’s really lovely both in the bag and in the cup. The smell of cantaloupe is pleasant and soft and this carries through into the taste.

No sugar is necessary for this. It’s delightful all on its own.

I’m going to try a 2nd steeping and am looking forward to all the other goodies in the box.

Well done.

Note: the 2nd steeping was as good as the first. I just steeped a bit longer (4 min). Added a small amount of german rock sugar. Very good.

Sipdown. It’s a crappy morning here for weather, snow in April….yuck. Seriously winter, we are done with you :(.
I really enjoyed this tea, the pumpkin wasn’t as “in your face” as a lot of other pumpkin blends.

Steepster, stop eating my notes…I know I reviewed this one within the last month but the note is gone. Oh well.
I think age has had a bit of an effect on this tea because it it a lot lighter than I remember it being. Or maybe it’s my memory that is fading! ;) The pumpkin is still there and I get a bit of the creme brûlée. I won’t have any problems finishing this one off anyway because it’s still tasty.

Sipdown today.
I really enjoyed this lovely black tea. It is creamy and I really enjoy it with a couple of little bits of crystal sugar. The pumpkin is possibly a little more subtle than I would like, but it was delicious and warming on this crazy cold day.
I will likely order more of this in the fall!

Mm, I needed a little bit of extra sugar today and added a few pieces of rock sugar. Wow, this makes the pumpkin and cinnamon really pop! So delicious

This tea was delicious sans additions this morning. Nice and simple, but the pumpkin was almost too subtle.
I made a Butiki order today and would have ordered more of this, but I now have tonnes of pumpkin milkshake. But maybe I need both! Comparison coming soon!

Mmm, I had this yesterday with a bit of brown sugar and milk. This tea is like a pumpkin dream that is light and airy with just a touch of spices and burnt sugar!

I like to overleaf this a bit. Makes the flavours pop a little more. I added a little bit of rock sugar and it really brings out the sweetness of the brûlée. Delicious

Yum, just what I needed this morning for my sore throat. Light pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It doesn’t disappoint.

Thank you so much Stacy for this sample!

This smells lovely. I am definitely getting nutmeg in the smell.

I love pumpkin teas! This was really good. It was a little light on the pumpkin flavour but it was good anyway. There was a little burnt sugar background. The nutmeg is present and tasty as well.

I might have to get more of this, it would be great in the fall.

Thank you Stacy for this Tea!

This is the first review of one of Stacy’s new tea’s.

About a month or so ago, I was chatting (PM) with Stacy and told her that I thought Butiki should/could create a Pineapple Oolong Tea. I noticed that many people on Steepster enjoy pineapple but seemed to have a hard time finding that taste in a tea that they really liked. I tried to buy a highly reguarded pineapple tea myself but it was always unavailable. I pushed poor Stacy a little, she thought it over, did her amazing flavor magic, and here is the result…Flowery Pineapple Oolong!

I was waiting for the Post all this morning…where’s that Butiki Box?!
Watered the plants, cleaned house…and finally…the Post arrived!
Ripping open the package, then beginning the brewing of my pot of tea was one fluid movement. (There should be a program called ‘Dancing with your Tea’ because I would win!) I had fresh spring water in my electric kettle…so swoop, heat, pour water in the teapot…done.

It was a long 4 minute steeping! ‘bing’

The liquor was pale yellow and steaming with the scent of orchids and tropical fruit.

I took a sip…and Oh Stacy! The flavor was the softest pillow of pineapple resting on a bed of sweet fragrant white orchids. The tip of my tongue tasted some pineapple tang. That tangy taste was from the perfect blending of natural pineapple bits and Oolong tea leaves.
This was super juicy and super creamy…even…yes… an exotic experience that transported me to a cool Island Beach lined with Palm Trees. Relaxing! Ahhhh! (Where is that Old Spice commercial guy?)

There was a little temptation that I gave in to.

Reaching into the steeping basket…I picked out a piece of pineapple and chewed on that one piece slowly… while sipping my tea. It was almost sinful…(but not)… it tasted so good!

I added sweetening, and my cup came alive with pineapple goodness. (Stacy suggests raw brown sugar crystals).

You could almost make this a cocktail worthy of Rum and a decorative umbrella! Chilled this tea doesn’t get bitter! OH…the possibilities are endless!!!

Another little thing I do with melon or acidic fruit tea’s (like pineapple) is place some sea salt in the palm of my hand (just a little), taste the salt…then drink some tea. The flavor of the fruit POPS.

My 2 cents worth:
It’s important to let tea companies know what we, the consumers, are interested in drinking. They often listen. Butiki is one of the companies that is customer oriented and listens to us. There are others that do the same. Hooray for them!!!!

Great job creating a fabulous tea again Stacy! Stupendous!

http://youtu.be/-MRMqsP9Kb0 The Pineapple Song

Got my package in from Butiki today! This is the first one I tried. The leaves are dark green with some lighter ones and are slightly curled and twisted with a nice grassy-beany scent to them.

I brewed this in a smaller cup (about 5oz) but not actually gaiwan style. The wet leaves were a brighter green in color and the aroma was the same but with a creaminess to them. The infusion was creamy greeny goodness and pale in color.

The taste was at first a hint of something floral and juicy, it was creamy/buttery yet it remained crisp. Reminded me of buttered peas and beans. It had wonderful vegetal notes of green beans and asparagus. Perhaps a hint of spinach, but that could have been from my lunch earlier.

At the tail end of the sip I did get sweet corn on the cob that Bonnie got, but it wasn’t as prominent for me, it certainly didn’t make any less better. Definitely a good green tea and a good intro to Stacy’s teas.

I’ve been saving this sample from Butiki (thanks Stacy!) for the perfect day.

Today was the opposite of a perfect tea day. Not in a bad way! Just not ideal haha – I’ve been taking tea to work every day but it’s been a huge travel mug of various black teas. Every day for the past 2 weeks! This morning I had 4 minutes to make tea, and I know I didn’t have time to boil the water all the way to 212 AND wait for it to steep! I searched in my dwindling sample drawer and pulled this one out.

The reason it wasn’t ideal was that I wanted to sit and savour this tea, not throw it in a teasac and run! But throw it in a teasac and run I did! The water was around 170, because the bus ride is a half hour long and I didn’t want to torture the poor tea!

Well now I’m at work and the liquor is a pale gold. The smell is sweet strawberry and buttery green oolong – no mistaking it for anything else imo. The taste echoes that. Wow this is glorious – smooth and savoury, no additions needed. The quality of the oolong is so apparent with every sip – there is not even a hint of bitterness. The strawberry flavour is also expertly blended – it doesn’t overwhelm, instead the flavours mingle together like a perfect match. Instead of chocolate dipped strawberries, it’s strawberry dipped oolong.

I could drink this forever, and in fact – I will be making a Butiki order asap so I can drink it forever – as well as other flavoured oolongs and that watermelon dragonwell, hello!

I needed a bit of an energy boost this morning and this certainly did the trick. The apricot is subtle and slightly sweet, with that earthy grassy Guayusa base.
I have to admit, Guayusa isn’t my favourite base, but this is a decent tea.

Edit: chilled, this tea still has those light apricot notes, but seems sweeter somehow. I think I will drink this tea chilled from now on.

This smelled very apricot-y.
Taste: this is strongly apricot, but also very earthy from the guayusa. It is fairly sweet. The earthiness is fairly strong, but it is a nice flavour.
I am certainly feeling energized after drinking it!