333 Tasting Notes
This is a nice morning blend—the flavor is, as the description says, a bit more robust than your average bagged EB, but the profile is similar. It’s bold in flavor without being too strong or astringent. I don’t know that it’s enough of an improvement over, say, Twinings EB (UK only; the US version is no good IMO) to justify keeping in stock, but I am enjoying it.
This is a super drinkable and fairly mild green. I’m mostly getting spinach, but it’s much subtler than in, say, your typical sencha. I’d never had straight Bi Luo Chun prior to receiving this in my mystery box when Butiki was closing down, but it’s definitely something I’ll seek out in the future once I’ve finished my current stash.
This is my second last untried Butiki blends, I think. Yes, I know it’s been a year… but pu-erh gets better with time, right? Anyway, I think I’d put off trying this one because I suspected I wouldn’t like it—it came in my mystery box and certainly wasn’t something I would’ve chosen for myself, not being a huge fan of either smokey teas or Butiki’s coffee flavoring. And it does smell overwhelmingly smoky, both dry and while steeping. The taste, thankfully, is much lighter. There’s still quite a bit of smoke, but it’s not overpowering, and the pu-erh base comes through nicely. What I’m not getting is the coffee, but that’s very likely due to the tea’s age (and probably not a great loss, given my above comments about coffee flavoring). This isn’t a standout for me, but it’s quite drinkable. Still, I think I may try to rehome it—I’m moving to London (!!!) later this year and have way more tea than I’ll be able to either sip down by then or take with me, so much as it pains me to part with teas I enjoy I think I’ll be trying to do a stash sale of some sort soon.
I’ll preface this by saying my steeping conditions were less than ideal—a takeaway cup was involved. That said, I didn’t love this blend. The base seems like it might be a Chinese green, though it’s also reminiscent of the Thai green base in MF’s Lune Rouge. The fruit flavoring tastes generic and slightly of bubblegum. Now that I’ve had a few fruity greens from MF, I don’t think they’re a particular strength of the company. I should probably just accept this and go with other kinds of flavors in the future.
Does what it says on the tin. Thankfully this blend uses the good kind of rooibos: just woody, without tasting medicinal or tobacco-y. The vanilla is natural and fairly light. Especially for a caffeine-free option, this makes for a pleasant, simple cup. I suspect there’s probably something comparable out there for less, but I wouldn’t mind having this one again at some point.
Another sample from Cameron B. This one reminds me a lot of MF’s Macaron, which is a favorite of mine. It’s sweet and bursting with berry flavor, with a hint of what I think is apple in the background—not authentic apple, though; more like a really good green apple-flavored hard candy (specifically, like these tiny Italian candies they used to sell at Trader Joe’s). This one I probably will stock up on at some point.
This was a sample from Cameron B. It’s quite fruity, and it reminds me a bit of Paradise iced tea. Like with Paradise, it’s hard for me to pick out individual flavors, but I’m thinking there might be some peach? Mango? It’s good, but given that there are similar blends that are cheaper and more readily accessible I don’t think it’s one I’d buy. Still, I’m glad to have had the chance to sample this one.
This is lightly vegetal, with hints of fruit (cherry?)—it reminds me a bit of sakura sencha, even. There’s just a hint of smoke in the background to mix things up, too. This is a really nice tea, and I’ll be sad when I use up my stash. If anyone knows of another tea like this one, I’d love to know.
