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Another Butiki sample from my order. This one definitely doesn’t look like as many hops that were in the Rhubarb Ale sample I tried the other day. I love this base in the Tamarind Pop tea even if isn’t the most flavorful. It’s a unique base that I could crave once in a while (unique – must be a Butiki tea.) I’d have to try it on its own to be able to tell what it tastes like. This one is nice – the base tea, peach flavor (a few pieces in the infuser) and the hops balance themselves out nicely. The hops are still slightly bitter… maybe giving the cup character but maybe just isn’t my thing. The color of the cup even looks peachy. The peach makes me miss the lovely peach oolong Butiki once sold… one of my favorites. So many lovely teas I was able to try (a LOT of them samples that I always appreciated!) I wouldn’t mind trying this blend without the hops. Also, this blend was created by Azzrian (and Butiki)… wherever has Azzrian been?
Steep #1 // couple min after boiling // 3 1/2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

Additional notes: Sipdown of these from Terri a while back! Continuing comparison of all the pearls I have, though they will be sipdowns in most cases. These are amazing. Very intricate: Very dark chocolate but syrupy sweet. Hints of syrup flavor like the unique Red Pearls from PuriTea. But very wine like with hints of fruit, not sure which type of fruit though. Really nice combination of flavors! High up there on my list of favorite pearls… I guess they AREN’T all the same.
Steep #1 // rinse five pearls // just boiled // 2 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

This was an extra from Momo’s sale. I was kind of expecting the worst.. I’m not sure why, as Adagio flavored teas are spot on for me. I happen to like this one. It looks like two types of coconut are used here: the occasional sliver of coconut and the leaves must be infused with coconut flavor as there is a lot. Almost too much! It’s a little like suntan lotion but also like a coconut pie. I don’t mind the suntan lotion when I’m probably not getting enough sun anyway. I’m not sure how old this tea is but it doesn’t taste old… maybe a coconut tea that actually ages well! I love the black base that Adagio uses: a bit of a flavor bite while not quite stealing the show. A lovely copper cup from a Ceylon I actually like. I think all of the Adagio flavors have been tasty to me and they usually have a LOT of flavor.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min

This is my first official note for White Rhino though I’ve tried something called “Kenyan White” in the Butiki teabox that I eventually learned was this tea and I’ve also had this in the Hazelnut Mocha candy blend. I was wondering why the Hazelnut blend tasted so different from the teabox base. I looked up my tasting note for the teabox and it says I waited a half hour after boiling to steep when the instructions for the Hazelnut say to use boiling water. I would never guess to use boiling water for a white tea. To me, boiling didn’t ruin the leaves but it didn’t taste right to me.. it kind of had a plastic flavor… no justice for those lovely leaves! I feel like I ruined my sample now, and that was following the parameters. So I waited a half hour to steep these leaves again. A loose two teaspoons, as this one is tough to measure. Gold and black wiry twisted leaves, sometimes connected like a wishbone! The flavor is much better this time around than the just boiled Hazelnut. If you order this one (or the Hazelnut), I suggest trying to steep it both ways. The flavor is like sweet lemon with a syrupy texture, hints of hay. No fuzzies! It definitely seems like the tea has MORE flavor after waiting a half hour to steep. As a white tea, this is my favorite, but if I’m comparing to other teas like black tea or oolong, is it really that amazing? I guess I was just so surprised that a white tea could be this nice. Three steeps were pretty consistent with flavor though! This is such a unique white tea as I can’t find any Kenyan white teas that look like this anywhere but Butiki. I wish some other tea shops would find some of the sources for Butiki’s teas! This will be another sad loss from Butiki.
Steep #1 // 30 min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // 20 min after boiling // 4 min
Steep #3 // few min after boiling // 4 min

A sample from my last order. With this one, I maybe, just maybe have tried all of their guayusa blends from Butiki except for the plain. I guess I requested this as a sample for just that reason! They’re all delicious – all upper 90 ratings from me (except for Killer’s Vanilla which has an 89 maybe because it just isn’t my thing)! I’ll be especially sad when Butiki is gone because I really don’t see many other tea shops with guayusa at all. I’d really like to stock up with an order at some point but I don’t have too much in the tea budget, especially as I wanted to place a Bluebird order for some time now.

Anyway, this is the usual amazing guayusa. No actual apricot as far as I can tell, but the flavor is there (not overpowering, but noticeable). It pairs very well with the guayusa, though I seem to say that with every Butiki guayusa blend…maybe because Butiki KNOWS what to pair with guayusa. I don’t know how natural an apricot flavoring it could possibly be, just added to the leaves. I like the other guayusa blends just a bit more though.
Steep #1 // 20 min after boiling // 4 min steep
Steep #2 // 15 min after boiling // 4 min

I took some of this from the Lewis & Clark tea box before it went on its way. I love the other gold tea I tried from MzPriss’ Unflavored tea box so much that I HAD to buy some (the Imperial Mojiang Spring 2014). There you go tea companies: a sale from a traveling tea box.

The leaves here are somewhat curly but also somewhat sickle shaped. I definitely did NOT steep this the right way somehow, as there was a plastic-like scent. I’ll have to work with it. I took a few teaspoons out of the tea box as there was SO MUCH there! The steeped tea actually has a muddied gray color. The flavor at the top of the mug is like tomato soup, then there is some sweet potato. There is a lot of starchiness. Maybe that somehow reminds me and other tea drinkers of sweet potato on its own? Or the starchiness is the sweet potato flavor? The second steep tasted exactly the same, so I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. But it seems like this cup should be so much better than how I steeped it.
Steep #1 // 2 tsps.// 9 min after boiling // 3 min steep
Steep #2 // 8 min after boiling // 2 1/2 min

Thank you Marzipan for including this with the 52Teas mystery grab bags we split! The seems like the perfect autumn tea. Keemun with apple and cinnamon. The apple here is a little like red apples, not a dessert apple flavor, if that makes sense. But there is something here that could remind me of actual pie. Just enough cinnamon, much like an apple pie, not like the amount of cinnamon that would be in a cup of chai. The keemun isn’t tough enough for me though – very light, even with a teaspoon and a half. To be fair, I steeped for a short amount of time since I tend to do that with 52Teas to get as much flavor as possible before the base takes over. The second cup was steeped more traditionally, but the strength of the keemun wasn’t there. Not a bad blend, but I would have liked more flavor both from the tea and the flavors. I seem to drink many cinnamon teas in a row so my other teas aren’t ruined by the cinnamon left over in my infuser.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 tsps. // few min after boiling // 90 second steep
Steep #2 // half mug // just boiled // 3 min

Thank you for the samples, GoodLifeTea! Another blend with the same name of a different company I won’t name… That blend is one of my favorites so I can see where it’s going. The black tea base has plenty of cinnamon and orange. Not enough cinnamon (or the type of cinnamon) to compare to the other though. The other has such a sugary type of cinnamon, I’ve never tasted it anywhere else, it’s tough to compare. This cup is nice though. The black tea is on the lighter side… the color of the cup is a light brown, even after steeping for five minutes. This type of blend could really use a tougher black tea. But the combination of the ingredients is lovely for autumn or winter, as the orange and cloves make it a not-quite-chai.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 5 min
http://www.goodlifetea.com/collections/top-10-selling-items/products/hot-cinnamon-spice-tea

Additional notes: Sipping this favorite. The magic of this one is what is like pumpkin pie filling in the blend. I’m not sure if it’s still made that way (my pouch is older), but describing it as “pumpkin spice” does not do it justice! That just sounds like the spices that go in pumpkin pie, but those are there too. Canned pumpkin filling!! It’s not in the description and you can’t really see it in the picture. The tea just tastes a little squashy/pumpkin. So good.

This is the last one I haven’t tried yet from Janelle (sent a while back). Thank you! Not a bad tea but the flavor seems a little faded.. probably my fault. The bergamot seems more like lime. Not a ton of berry flavor. The black tea is medium strength. Not bad for a Ceylon base.