Featured & New Tasting Notes

90
drank Mi Xian Black by Butiki Teas
6105 tasting notes

I thought this one was long gone, but apparently I still had a cup’s worth left. So, I enjoyed it last night, making this another sad sipdown. Wish I had a bit more of this one, but I’ll definitely be picking up some leafhopper-bitten blacks sometime in the future. So good.

TeaLady441

Oh, this is such a great tea!!! I need to find a replacement…

Kittenna

Let me know if you do!!!

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100

You know, it’s times like this when I am so SO glad that Steepster exists and that I found it. Without Steepster, and all of you tea lovers posting your awesome reviews encouraging me to try and buy more more more (and also, thanks in general to the internet, for feeding this habit by bringing everything that much closer to me)… I never would have discovered this tea.
Or TTC.

Because honestly.

Last night I decided to make a mug of this, I had purchased 5 samples from TTC and recently got them. I am practically on a tea hiatus at this point, i mean i certainly SHOULD be. But I’d had a TTC sample once upon a time and knew that down the road more would be mine, all mine.

So when I cut open my adorably patterned sample bag, I stuck my nose in and inhaled like breathing was going to go out of style and OMG. The scent. INTOXICATING. I don’t even know. So good. I can’t describe.

And then I brewed it up, took my first sip, and it was like happiness exploded all over my tongue. It’s fruity and malty and bready and fresh and bright and SO FLAVOURFUL.

I don’t ever want to live without this tea.

I really need to start drinking down everything I have to reach a point where I only stock my absolute loves. This would be one of them.

I wanted to shout it from the rooftops last night, but there was no one around who would care. There never is, I’m alone in my world of tea love. Except for you guys.

Everyone who hasn’t tried this tea must wishlist it immediately :)
You’re welcome. Trust me.

(PS – I spent like 2 hours just slowly and enjoyably organizing my tea stash yesterday. Of course my online cupboard isn’t really up to date yet, but physically arranging and mentally taking stock of all of my teas (ALL OF THE TEAS) was incredibly calming and satisfying.)

TippysTea

It’s magical right? I have yet to drink a tea that is even close to how awesome this tea is.

Courtney

I’m thrilled I ordered this one. After your note on the Golden Dragon Tippy, I was inspired to order a bunch of black tea samples from TTC. Yes!

Sil

i haven’t had this lot of the yuchi…but it’s a good tea!

ohfancythat

Happy I was able to influence someone’s tea buying! hehe

Yeah it’s super magically delicious

Plunkybug

Do you pick out any of the rose or licorice notes the website describes? It looked good to me up til that point.

TippysTea

No, none of those tastes are present in that tea. It tastes like a big delicious cinnamon roll to me.

ohfancythat

I didn’t notice any rose or licorice at all.
No cinnamon rolls either, but my tastebuds are not that well-honed at this point.

TeaLady441

I haven’t had a TTC tea that I was disappointed with. At this point, I’m pretty sure I could just place an order for any 5 samples and they’d all be golden.

Sil

aren’t you glad i spread the word :)

ohfancythat

YES Sil, I believe you’re the one who sent me a Yuchi Mountain sample at some point, bless your little heart!!

Sil

i actually just really love that they give you free shipping if you just get 25$ woth of sample sizes….as i often just want the sample sizes lol

ohfancythat

yes!! such a great deal.

ohfancythat

I wonder if they’d question just purchasing nothing but sample sizes of this tea… haha

TippysTea

They probably understand it. These teas are not cheap, not cheap at all. We are looking at wholesale prices for some of these teas and at the end of the day we are dealing with very, very high quality teas, processed with great care by very skilled tradespeople. Even wholesale the prices are a little high, but in our opinion, worth it as a treat!

Greg_2tea

Anyone else a fan of the verdant tea of the. Month sampler? Darling little tea company that gets it fresh from China, the teas come from—CHINA!!

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100
drank Laoshan Black by Verdant Tea
3294 tasting notes

Sometimes when I first start sipping LB I wonder why I love it so much, especially if I haven’t had it for awhile. Of course, the aroma is awesome, but those first couple of sips are always a little weak. And then the layers of flavor start to build, sip by sip, & I’m in love again. I hope there will never be an LB sipdown, at least not for any length of time!

Sil

haha it’s awful when it happens…

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40
drank Blueberry Jam Organic by DAVIDsTEA
737 tasting notes

Got a sample of this from EmilyGee! Have wanted to try it…that DavidsTea fan group on FB makes me wanna try tons of their teas because apparently they are amazing.
Well…
That’s definitely not the case in my book. xD
Just like with every other tea company, I seem to only like a few xD
I had high hopes for this one, but of course it was dashed when I took a sip of it. The steeping aroma smelled really sweet and fruity.
But the black tea base totally overruled. Wasn’t sweet at all. I didn’t even over-steep and it was just bland. Tasted faintly of blueberry but that wasn’t enough. Bummed out this wasn’t as good as everyone says! :( Glad I tried though. Thanks, EmilyGee!

Flavors: Bitter

Sil

if it makes you feel better i’m with you on this one…i don’t understand the love everyone has for it

OMGsrsly

I think I loved it because of the smell and also because it was so sweet when I got it to go. But I really don’t care for stevia, and I also don’t care as much for this tea anymore.

Sil

i like the blueberry tea from uh…….. crap well now i’ve forgotten. It’ll come to me eventually

Isserly

Hi! Can you post a link to the davids tea fan group? I can’t seem to find it!

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87
drank Li Shan Black Tea by Green Terrace Teas
15019 tasting notes

GCTTB

I pulled this one out of the box to try today because it’s been a while since i had it and i wanted to see if my first experience with this one was repeatable. Turns out, it was. This is an excellent tea from GTT and one that need to go on my wish list now for a future purchase! Honey notes are really tasty in this one!

Anlina

This is one of my favourites. I wish their teas all came in smaller quantities. Maybe a Canadian group order when the dollar sucks less?

Sil

that would be good! :)

OMGsrsly

Yes! I want 50g of this one, I think. :)

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I’m drinking this tea at the moment so that I can have a just for me moment. I’ve been very busy with: 1) Kickstarter stuff (seriously, unless you are exploding kittens, it’s hard work!); 2) blog stuff (getting all my reviews in place so that I can ‘retire’ and get our new sisters on board, plus getting the blog in order for them to get started); sampling/testing teas and flavorings.

Which is to say that I’ve not taken a lot of time to just sit back and enjoy a tea that is neither for a review or for me to test out for potential teas for the all-new 52Teas.

So, I decided to take a tea moment for me now and try this tea. It’s been beckoning me for a while.

And it’s good. I am not usually a big espresso fan. But it works with the melon. The espresso adds a roasty element to this, making it taste almost like roasted cantaloupe which I’ve never tried but based on my reaction to this blend, I’d say it’s probably quite delicious.

The black tea has a Oolong-like texture to it that I’m liking with the melon notes. It’s a very tasty … very unusual blend. I like.

Spencer

Oh gosh, the Exploding Kittens…

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95
drank Praline Horizon by Butiki Teas
737 tasting notes

Got a sample of this one from AllanK in our swap. I didn’t know what a praline was so I never picked it up and All I heard about it from people was that it was gonna be nutty, so I passed.
That was a mistake.
I regret not buying this so much!
It’s absolutely delicious!
It’s bold and rich. The main flavor is a creamy caramel. The base tea gives it a strong malty flavor which I love! Has a tiny bit of nuttiness, but not much at all.
It’s not bitter at all, and while it’s very rich it still has a certain sweetness from the caramel flavor.
This was so much better than I thought it would be. It’s crazy good. If this were available still I’d stock up on it. Seriously so so good!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to try this incredible tea, AllanK! Another win from Butiki!!

Flavors: Caramel, Malt, Nutty, Sweet

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100
drank Milk Oolong by Mandala Tea
217 tasting notes

I’ve been meaning to do a Mandala order for sooooo long… But with Butiki recently closing all of my money the last few months seemed to be leaving my pocket and doing a very fast and very happy jig over to Butiki… And then one day…. Dexter posted some pictures of some amazingly beautiful and unique walnut tea trays Mandala had recently acquired and I knew my time of avoiding an order to save my credit card was over!!

This tea has been on my wish list FOREVER!! So of course it had to sneakily be added to my tea tray order (along with so many other goodies!) and of course I tore into the bag as soon as my order arrived… Well as soon as I’d stoped drooling over my new tea tray… (Thank you so much again for sharing your beautiful find Dexter!!!). The dry leaf scent of this tea is unbelievable!! I’m talking coconut milk mixed in with a rich , heady condensed milk scent! And the taste? Mmmmm, I’ve died and gone to tea heaven! The milky flavor doesn’t quit, steep after steep, it’s still present, just more subtle as the tea morphs from creamy and nutty to a more floral flavor right at the end.

This will be my milk oolong yard stick from now on, the tea that I hold all other milk oolong in comparison to! I hope I can find something else that’s just as good, but if not, I’ll be more than content with this little gem never ever leaving my cupboard!!

Dexter

So happy that you ordered one and love it!!! I love mine too… :))

DeliriumsFrogs

Those trays are so beautiful. Honestly, “beautiful” just doesn’t do them justice… they’re jaw-dropping gorgeous. :D

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drank Farewell, Butiki by Butiki Teas
15019 tasting notes

this one is..interesting. oolong. and it smells really oolongy. but brewed, not so much. i don’t want to give anything away for anyone who wants to guess on the mystery teas. This one is interesting but not quite for me haha

Kaylee

I will happily take some of it off your hands if anything in my cupboard interests you. :-)

Sil

if you loved it, would be happy to just send it your way regardless. would rather it hits a home that loves it :)

Kaylee

I haven’t tried it yet, I’m just excited about it based on the descriptions that have trickled out so far. I love oolongs and melon.

TeaLady441

Strange!
I forgot I had the second mystery tea! I should try that soon!

Kittenna

How did you get this one?! I’d love a taste if possible. I thought you were only getting the other.

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Strawberry coconut latte today! Whee!

This tea is actually really nice. I should take it out of my “out” pile and start drinking it more.

(So maybe this isn’t a sipdown!)

In other news, there’s a tea event happening March 15 in Vancouver! I’m hoping to do the black tea tasting with a friend. We’re waiting till tomorrow to buy tickets though…

Anyone else interested? I’m trying to support tea ventures in Vancouver, but these places really aren’t that great about getting word out. :/ I’ve linked the tickets page and the FB event page below.

The extra tastings are:
Black tea education: 11:30 am-12:15 pm
Semi oxidized tea education: 12:30 am – 1: 45 pm
Green tea education: 2:00 am – 3:15 pm

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/the-finer-palate-of-tea-tickets-15426373699

https://www.facebook.com/events/697751203679839/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
DeliriumsFrogs

Again…I totally wish I was a Vancouver friend of yours… This seems really fun!

Dexter

I’m not a Vancouver friend – but really trying to get the pieces of my world to fall into place so that I can do this…. (cat sitter – if I can find a cat sitter, I’m 90% in….)

OMGsrsly

Aww! I wish you could come too, DeliriumsFrogs. And Dexter, if you can come that would be so cool. :) I do understand about cat-sitting though. I need to find a good person so I can go visit my Gramma again.

Dexter

My across the hall neighbor is my first choice – she’s awesome and it’s easy for her to just pop in. I have a really good friend who would do it, but she’s on the other end of the city – harder for her.

Dexter

(and holy crap are hockey tickets expensive in your world…..!!!!!)

OMGsrsly

Yeah, I don’t do hockey much anymore. Mostly because of the cost, but also due to the stupid riot mentality of fans here. :/

My nice neighbour is taking care of my bad neighbour’s dog already, so I don’t really want to ask her to take care of my cat as well. And as far as other people who aren’t terribly allergic, my friend isn’t around as much now and the kid won’t leave the house to come care for my cat. Last time it looks like she forgot to feed him one day. :/

Fjellrev

I would totally come but the last couple weeks of March will be really busy for me. Hell, I was going to go to Van for a concert a few days before that but I’m not comfortable with the idea of going to the Rickshaw. :/

OMGsrsly

It’s a lot nicer to walk with someone in that part of town. Especially late after a concert. I get it.

Fjellrev

Yeah, it sounds too risky, even if I were to call and wait for a cab.

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86

Mmm a delicious Yunnan as my first cup of the lunar new year. This is a delicious tea – rich, almost boozy, with lots of malt and sweet potato notes. Somewhat broth-like and a bit meaty-savoury, with a hint of cocoa at the end of the sip. Super smooth. Absolutely wonderful.

Flavors: Alcohol, Broth, Malt, Meat, Smooth, Sweet Potatoes

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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It is -5 here at the moment and the expected high may reach +8. Out of curiosity I checked the weather in Alaska. As far north as you can go it is still warmer than here. The southern part of the state has temps in the 40’s. sigh.

Grabbed a hot bowl of oat meal and this Yunnan tea. The dry leaf had a chocolate and tobacco aroma. The orange brew was baked brownies, honey, and malt. Just a gentle bite around the edge of the tongue. Very comforting. I just may survive this frigid day now.

Sil

haha that’s kinda funny :)

Stephanie

Excellent day for oatmeal and yunnan dian hong! I am not enjoying this cold either :(

K S

Sil, just guessing, it must be much colder up your way. I’m being a whiner.

Sil

it’s apparently 3, feels like -15F ? I know we have antoher extreme cold weather warning but i always feel like those are a little silly, having grown up in alberta where we often had -40F weather in winter lol

TeaTiff

Alaska has that wonderful body of water surrounding it to keep it more moderate. Us folks in the great plains just have the cold wind! I was a little surprised by the cold this morning. It has been so warm this winter relatively.

TeaTiff

Alaska has that wonderful body of water surrounding it to keep it more moderate. Us folks in the great plains just have the cold wind! I was a little surprised by the cold this morning. It has been so warm this winter relatively.

K S

I keep trying to remind myself how much milder our winter has been than last year. We just got our first real snow (10"). Last year we were buried all winter. Still, the cold is killing my knees. March is just days away. Come on spring.

carol who

+1 It’s soooo cold. I’m in IL and the weather is about the same as K S in Indiana. I’m baking some sour dough bread and chocolate chip cookies. I have two slow cookers going – pot roast and chili. Keeping warm and toasty surrounded by good smells. Ahhhhhhh.

K S

We have a slow cooker of chili going right now as well. It is making very hungry. Not sure I could take all those baking smells on top of it – but I sure wouldn’t mind finding out. Dang it. Now I need a hot chocolate chip cookie.

Sil

oh man…yes please!

carol who

Luckily they seem to pretty much get to the delicious smell stages at different times. Bread was rising, made cookies and chili and pot roast into slow cooker… no smell from crock pot yet. Bread baking after the cookie smell pretty much gone (And most of the cookies gone) then bread smell and last the crock pot. Kept the house smelling good and warm and toasty all day. Lots of tea has been drunk today!

Anlina

I was dating someone who used to live in Winnipeg and then moved to the Yukon. He’d regularly text me to let me know it was warmer there in the winter than it was here :P

Sil

hahaha

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1

Darby was nice enough to send me a sample of this one! Glad I got to try it finally! Tastes a lot like the other chai from Verdant that I tried. Except instead of the creaminess that I liked in the other, it kinda tastes like dirt. 0_0
I’ve never had a chai that tastes like dirt. Didn’t over-steep it at all. So no idea what’s with that. xD
Still glad to have tried. Thanks, Darby!

Flavors: Dirt, Spices

OMGsrsly

Oh now you’re getting the dirt tea flavours as well as wood tea. :D

Ost

I know, right? XD I’ve only had that taste in one other tea before. xD Haha hope it doesn’t happen too often xD

OMGsrsly

So many chinese black teas taste like dirt to me! I’m going to a black tea tasting in March so that should be funny. I’ll be sure to take notes. :) (It just means more laoshan black for everyone else!)

Ost

Oy that sucks! Hopefully you will like a decent amount of black teas though-that would be depressing if you didn’t like most of them! XD

OMGsrsly

IDK, it’s a tasting so I’m treating it as a learning experience. I’m fortunate I won’t have to buy each of those teas in order to try them. :D

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90

Oh my god, I forgot how good this tea is. In fact, I don’t think I appreciated this the first time I had it as I do right now.

It’s so rich and nuanced, with more flavours than I recall picking up on last time. Cocoa, sweet potatoes, malt, baked bread, flowers and bergamot.

I’m raising my rating and I think I need to restock this when my sample is done.

Flavors: Bergamot, Bread, Cocoa, Flowers, Malt, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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62

Tea time! As it’s late I will pick this Rooibos blend. Shooting star, how cute!

I open the packet and am met with a thick, medicinal scent with some sweetness that mimics almond. Not unpleasant but rather …well…odd.

It’s steeped scent is much different. I smell sweet apple sauce with almond, very sweet but also very nice. The apple is rather strong considering, and it’s more apple sauce than apple.

Flavour is thickly Rooibos with a mild, sweet apple after taste before the Rooibos takes control again. Further sips bring out the almond sweetness though it’s still very much in the background of the Rooibos, of which seems almost smoky/smog like.

It’s not as sweet nor pleasing as it’s raw scent though it’s drinkable. It’s a rather medicinal Rooibos which I am not a fan of, well not a fan of Rooibos in general but this is darker than I can usually bare.

Flavors: Almond, Medicinal, Rooibos

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 10 g 20 OZ / 600 ML
Jude

Smog! Let’s add it to the flavor list! lol

KittyLovesTea

I agree, if sweat can be on the list then so can smog!

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93

I decided to take this one out today and give it a whirl, I guess I still wanted sheng but something a little less aggressive than the Repave and this certainly fits the bill. This morning I am getting some flowery and clover type notes, with only a hint of bitterness in the finish. I haven’t had this in a while and it seems to be aging nicely in my closet. ;)

If anything it reminds me a bit more of a white puerh than it did in the beginning. Very nice and pleasant overall. :)

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec
boychik

Don’t know why but I didn’t like it much. Everybody loves it except me. Maybe I should revisit ;)

TeaBrat

I feel that way about the Repave ;)

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84

I was so close to making another order with ATR yesterday to take advantage of their sale, but decided to postpone it until next time so I can catch up with these other samples, plus I’ve been moving around a lot and not even sure where I should send it. And who knows, maybe our Canadian dollar will strengthen a little bit by then. Fingers crossed, eh?

Intentionally saving this as one of the last ones, it smells very desserty, like Brioche-level desserty, but despite having figs and sesame, I actually get cherry almond out of this more than anything else, perhaps due to the slivered almonds in the dry leaf. It’s toasty and sweet at the same time, but not an artificial or overwhelming sweet.

It definitely delivers in the flavour. I get cherry almond notes but not figs nor sesame. I’ll shake the packet next time I have a cup to see if it’ll help. But the base is smooth and the flavour profile goes well with light cream. This tea kind of reminds me of Rainbow rooibos, but in a way, this is even better since I’m personally a fan of black teas more so than rooibos. That said, I can see myself getting more of this. Well done, ATR!

Maddy Barone

That sounds soooo nummy! I keep adding to the list of tea places I want to order from. This is BAD for my budget! LOL

Fjellrev

Haha yeah, this place can be such a bad influence sometimes. Double-edged sword. FWIW, I really enjoy ATR’s samples. They’re really generous in size and it’s a great way of trying their stuff without committing to larger sizes/bigger orders. :)

Maddy Barone

I really like it when a tea company will allow us to buy small samples. I hesitate to order 50 grams of a tea I’m not sure I’ll like.

Fjellrev

Exactly! I mean, I wish more companies would realize that they would actually make more money if they offered smaller sizes. You’re more likely in the long run to have people come back for more.

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Having a delicious cup of this now, while I’m working on posting a garage sale on our website. This tea is so amazing. It’s tasting very powered sugary today. I’m really wondering how this would taste mixed with our PTA. I bet it would be delicious. I never got around to it but I always wanted to do a Butiki Breakfast Blend with this tea, PTA, and our Mi Xian Black. I think I will make a blend for myself.

DeliriumsFrogs

So excited to see the garage sale. :) (I love my tea set I bought from you off your garage sale). And, a blend just for yourself sounds absolutely marvelous and tremendously well deserved. <3

Butiki Teas

DeliriumsFrogs-It’s mostly going to be left over tins, thermoses, etc but I will be posting a few items from my house. There is a really great teaware set that I will be breaking up. I’ll post a sneak peek on instagram. :) Also, there will be those necklaces we made but never did anything with.

Butiki Teas

Oh yeah and a few cupping sets.

DeliriumsFrogs

Those awesome tea vial necklaces with the little cup charm?!?!?!?! I loved those!! (i’d have to grab one…)

Butiki Teas

DeleriumsFrogs-Yes! Those are the ones. If you want one, let me know I can always hold one for you. We only have 3 and I would like to keep one for myself. We have Hello Sweetie, Citrus Dream, and Almond Indulgence. I’m waiting to hear back from the person that made them about pricing. I’m trying to convince her to keep it low.

Ost

When are you going to put up the garage sale items? Like this week? Also would it be in the day or night time? Asking because I have work this week xD

Butiki Teas

Ost-Not sure yet. I was thinking about posting to our official Facebook page a little bit at a time before doing the website post since it takes more effort to post on the website. Are you looking for anything in particular?

Here is what we will definitely be posting:
3 small cup sets, 2 cups each. Different sets
1 glass tea pot
2 8 cup pyrex measuring cups
These cups: http://instagram.com/p/zOPOnnlfKU/?modal=true
2 bombillas
5 cupping sets (white cup and steeping vessel)
1 small cup (oc Japan)
1 large tea dispenser (this is maybe 12 cups, stays hot 24ish hours)
1 large metal thermos
1 paisley gaiwan
tins-so many tins
2 magnetic tea displays
unsold teaware (not a lot but tea jars, and yixing cups with white ceramic on the inside)

Sil

oh man..those necklaces…hello sweetie!

Butiki Teas

Sil-I was looking at the Hello Sweetie more as a ‘break in case of emergency’.

Sil

I will be waiting with baited breath for the pricing on those. Heh

DeliriumsFrogs

I’m with Sil…. those necklaces!!! :))))

DeliriumsFrogs

I’m totally wanting to yell, HOLD ONE FOR ME!, but I don’t want to be all greedy and grab one before anyone else… (honestly, I love all your teas, so it wouldn’t matter at all which tea was in the vial)

Butiki Teas

They are a little more then I would like. They are $15.99 and come with a chain.

DeliriumsFrogs

Ahhhhh! I really love them, but I should probably hold off… They’re so perfect, though! (I can’t ever find decent tea jewelry…)

Sil

Do you still have the pics handy Stacy? Pretty sure i’d still love one but my memory is a little foggy.

Kaylee

Welcome back Stacy! Hope you had a wonderful trip!

Now about that tea dispenser… How much do you think it will be?

Butiki Teas

Sil-let me email you a pic. I’m trying to find the really nice pics my friend took but do have the charm one readily available.
Kaylee-Thank you so much! I did, it was so wonderful. :) The dispenser will probably be $8 + shipping.

Kaylee

Can I lay dibs on the dispenser now?

Butiki Teas

Kaylee-Absolutely. Here is a pic: http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/butikiteas/media/Garage%20Sale/BigThermos_zps46319c9e.jpg.html?o=9 Still interested? Send me your zip code. If I remember correctly, shipping probably wouldn’t be too bad. I saved one for myself. They are great. I use them at parties and potlucks.

Butiki Teas

Sil-Let me know ASAP if you would like a first crack at the necklaces. Will be posting them today but can hold one for you if you are interested.

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90
reviewed Brewing Basket by Finum
894 tasting notes

I love almost everything about these filters. I have two mediums, and they fit perfectly into all of my cups, mostly 8oz, some 12. There’s lots of room inside for leaves to expand fully, and the superfine mesh is wonderful – only the very finest dust escapes. You will never find stray rooibos needles or fannings in your cup.

There are two things about these baskets that make me unable to rate them 100.

I find them aesthetically pretty blah. They’re very functional but not very beautiful.

And, the plastic frame traps smells more than all metal brew baskets. I find that with flavoured teas, it can be very difficult to get the fragrance out enough for it to not taint my next cup of tea, even with soap, bleach and soaking in hot water. The smell does fade fairly quickly if the basket dries completely, but it’s a pain.

Still, these are awesome brewing baskets and I haven’t found anything better.

DeliriumsFrogs

Yup. The smell trapping thing. I still love my finum, but I hate that it does that sometimes… I’ve also noticed that if I use strong smelling dish soap, that soapy smell can get absorbed. Even with that, though, I do love the thing. lol

ohfancythat

Are these better than the metal ones from Davidstea??

Sil

so weird. I’ve never had a problem with smell contamination. I own 5? of these. whatshesaid – imo yes.. but if you ever want to buy these and the cad $ stops sucking upton is generally the best pricing out there…but maybe not anymore with the exchange rate :(

Anlina

I haven’t tried the infuser from DAVIDs, so I’m not sure how fine the mesh is on those. The Finum has mesh that’s as fine as woven fabric, so pretty much nothing escapes.

I bought mine from Amazon.ca – a two pack for $19, and I have Prime, so no extra shipping. Upton definitely has the cheapest base price I’ve seen, but with the exchange rate and shipping maybe not the cheapest overall for Canadians.

OMGsrsly

The Finums are way finer than the metal filters from DavidsTea. :) I don’t have a Finum, but I have Takeya pitchers and they use this kind of mesh.

Jennkay

I just bought one of these off Amazon this week. Thanks for the heads up about strong smelling teas!

ohfancythat

hmm. I haven’t really had too much issue with Davidstea’s metal steeper… I think i would rather have a few errant floaties once in a while than have to worry about a plastic steeper that absorbs all the smells of every tea I drink.

although – denture tablets probably would work!

ohfancythat

well, i was on amazon checking them out and now I want one. I’m too easily influenced. PEER PRESSURE!!

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85

This arrived in my last sniff, sniff Butiki order as part of the mystery package and I was over the moon. I LOVE PURPLE TEA! Not fussy about which type as long as it’s purple.

The leaves are rather small and dark, not completely purple coloured but almost, with some brown there too. They smell grassy yet spicy and floral.

Once steeped the resulting liquid is dark honey coloured and matches it’s raw scent nicely.

Flavour is of medium strength with grass, peony, chestnut and plum with some astringency and sweetness. Also is a little dry at times. Despite the touch of astringency it is very easy to drink, it’s even creamy at times and slips down very well.

Green tea is not simple, in my opinion you have the grassy and light greens, you have the dark almost toasty greens, you have the umami Japanese greens and you have the super sweet Cloud Mist style greens. That is the basics of what I go by when it comes to green tea. This Steamed Purple Green is in between being grassy/light and dark/toasty. Think of it as lightly toasted grass that is neither too dark nor light and that is the basis for this green. Plus with the added flavours, makes this one a winner for me. Not perfect but damn fine!

Plus thanks to trying this one last week I also know it re-steeps rather well.

Flavors: Chestnut, Flowers, Grass, Plum, Toasted

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 2 min, 15 sec 5 g 20 OZ / 600 ML
DeliriumsFrogs

I have this coming with my last Butiki order, and I’m really excited to try it! I’ve never had a purple tea before… You have me even MORE excited to try it now. :D

KittyLovesTea

You are in for a treat!

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10" of snow fell on us yesterday and the temperature is hovering in the single digits. I’m not complaining as I’ve seen what Boston is dealing with lately. Trivia – I looked up the Fahrenheit scale. You know what it is based on? Neither does anyone else. There are some guesses but the truth has been lost. 32F being the temp water freezes is the only point of agreement. Just glad I don’t have to go outside where the amount of snow is higher than the temperature.

Needed something to warm me up. This is perfect. Well it was, cause now its gone.

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So, my mom picked this up for both of us and then read reviews and was worried that it might be awful, but it’s actually pretty good! I followed her recommendations, based on what she read: 2 teabags (I used a 12 oz. mug), add milk and sugar. It tasted like a strawberry milkshake. No real chocolate to be found, but hey, that’s still pretty good for a rooibos. Yes, there was some rooibos flavor, but it wasn’t too strong. Oh, and 5 minutes does the trick. Glad to have another caffeine-free option in my cupboard. Thanks to my mom!

Dkcox50

Seems pretty pleasant but will have to try the two bag version next time. I used one bag with about 6oz water, milk and sugar.

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100
drank Alpine Punch by DAVIDsTEA
1379 tasting notes

NOOOOOO …. I just finished the last of this tea :( My beloved Alpine Punch is no more. They say it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all, but those people did not experience the yumminess of A P.

Sil

i noticed you’re looking for more…is it because it’s a pain to get in the UK or you’re just trying to be good and not buy more tea :) If it’s a pain to get in the UK, i may be able to help

KittyLovesTea

Unfortunately for me Davids Tea do not ship outside of USA and Canada, so I have to rely on the kindness of Steepster-ites. I would be grateful if you could swap some with me but please don’t put yourself out in order to get some.

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91
drank White Night by Mandala Tea
4170 tasting notes

Thank you so much, Beorhthraefn! This is an odd little white tea. The leaves are actually white, green, and black in color, all very long & wiry. The description says this one almost changes to a black tea with age, so I was hoping I could save half the sample for later, but there was enough for one steep session. The flavor is great, similar to a bai mu dan at first, while the flavor is lighter: hints of sweet lemon, very very sweet. Subsequent steeps remind me of BUTIKI’S WHITE RHINO. Possibly my favorite white tea, and I would imagine many people would be looking for a replacement. Try this one! Anyway, the flavor gets a little more difficult to describe, it smooths out, becoming a little darker, losing the citrus. Maybe hints of dried grass. I really like this one… I wish I could describe it better. Happy to have tried this one, but I would have loved to try it later. Hopefully Mandala is still selling this one when my White Rhino runs out.
Steep #1 // 30 min after boiling // rinse // 1 min steep
Steep #2 // 25 min a.b. // 1 1/2 min
Steep #3 // 20 min a.b. // 2 min

Anlina

I haven’t had White Rhino, but you might also check out this tea – it sounds like it’s similar, and it’s a really amazing white http://steepster.com/teas/what-cha/48460-kenya-premium-white

tea-sipper

The leaves of the What-Cha look similar to the Mandala. And it looks like the What-Cha and the Butiki teas are both from Kenya. All three are probably very similar!

Garret

Hi! thanks for writing up your experience with this one. I love this tea and we reserve a whole bunch of it from the grower each and every year. It is also spectacular brewed up grandpa style in a tea thermos. It is perhaps my favorite tea brewed that way. Give it a try with a 1st infusion of 5 to 8 minutes. Delightful. We have plenty more of this and as long as they are growing it, we’ll have it!
Grateful,
Garret

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