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I bought this from Ost in her stash sale, thanks dear! I can’t help myself when it comes to Taiwanese black teas, or Butiki teas in general. The leaves of this tea are much smaller than the other Taiwanese teas I’ve had from Stacy, I imagine because this one is a different varietal (not Assam?). They do have a similar look – jet black and twisty. Dry scent is sweet and fruity, maybe plums along with other dried fruits.

Whoa, when brewed this tea smells very dark and fruity with a touch of molasses. The taste is also mostly fruit to me, but in a dark and syrupy concentrated way. I can definitely taste plums/prunes along with some other dried fruits. The fruit is accented by a mixture of deep, rich molasses and a bit of lighter honey with a little bit of a floral note. I can taste a slight yeasty tang that reminds me of sourdough bread, and it definitely adds a bit of interest.

Overall, this is a nice enough tea, but I think it’s my least favorite of Stacy’s Taiwanese blacks so far.

Aw, sad sipdown…

I really really want to order more of this one before it’s all gone, but I also want some more Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha and it’s out of stock right now… So I need to decide whether it’s worth it to me to pay shipping twice and get this now or wait and have it possibly be gone. Hmm…

This was one of the free samples included in my Han Xiang Ecological Tea order on AliExpress. I’m not the hugest fan of floral teas, but jasmine can be an exception to that rule. These pearls look and smell like others I’ve had – the scent is strongly sweet and jasminey. I set the timer for 3 minutes but I didn’t hear it go off because the TV was too loud… So I’m not sure how long it steeped. It came out lovely though, so I guess it’s hard to oversteep this tea.

Now, it may have just been a while since I’ve had a jasmine tea, but I’m enjoying this one immensely! The jasmine is pronounced but still very lovely and sweet. There seems to be a fruity note that’s similar to apricot, not sure I’ve experienced that in a jasmine pearl before. I can only taste the green tea slightly, it’s quite mild and sweet and melds nicely with the jasmine. Overall, very tasty and appreciated! :)

I bought this one during Stacy’s birthday sale, and it’s been sitting in my cupboard, waiting to be tried, ever since. Now that I’ve reached my cupboard goal of under 100 teas, I’ve been going a bit crazy with drinking Butiki teas for the past couple of days… :P Butterscotch is one of my absolute favorite flavors, so this one was a no-brainer when I was making my order. The White Rhino buds are huge and beautiful, half golden and half dark. There are also a lot of flower petals mixed in, I assume for visual interest? Dry scent is very sweet and candylike, primarily butterscotch but I can smell a hint of mocha too. I imagine Stacy giggling with mischievous glee when writing some of these instructions… “level teaspoons” for this tea… not exactly possible. :P I just kind of guestimated what two teaspoons would look like.

Yum! Brewed, this tea smells very similar to the butterscotch disc candies that I love so much. I can also smell the hazelnut and a bit of coffee. I must say, the flavor was much lighter than I was expecting, since I had heard White Rhino described as somewhere between white and black teas. The butterscotch is definitely the main attraction, and it’s perfectly dead-on for butterscotch candies. The texture is very creamy and smooth, and I attribute that to the nuttiness from the hazelnut flavor. I must say, I don’t really detect any coffee or chocolate, but I definitely don’t miss it. The base tea itself is rather silent as well, though I do catch a bit of grain and I’m sure it contributes to the creamy texture.

I can imagine this being delicious and decadent with a bit of sugar or even a bit of soy milk, but I’m currently trying to abstain from adding things to tea. Still delicious au naturel!

On a side note, this is my 400th tasting note! Woo!

So now that I’m under 100 teas, I seem to be going on a Butiki rampage without even noticing it… This is a much-beloved tea that I hadn’t tried yet so I figured I should get it over with and see whether it lives up to the hype! The leaves are the lovely creepy tree branch variety – large, long, and twisty, and jet black. The dry scent is sweet in an almost caramel way with some honey and a bit of stonefruit or something similar. I wish there was a weight parameter for this tea, as it’s extremely hard to measure in teaspoons. I think I may have overleafed but it’s hard to tell having never tried it before…

The brewed aroma still has those strong sugary caramel notes, along with sweet potato and a bit of dark fruitiness. Happily for me, I can also taste caramelized brown sugar and a bit of caramel, especially in the end of the sip and aftertaste. Yums! This is a very rich tea, with nice dark dried fruit flavor along with some molasses-like richness. There is a point in the sip where it’s almost bitter but not quite, I’m not sure if this is from overleafing or just part of the dark cocoa flavor that’s also present.

Overall, this is tasty but I’m not convinced that it warrants its high rating. I definitely enjoyed the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black much more. Ah well, to each her own. :)

This was one of the free samples included with my order from Han Xiang Ecological Tea via AliExpress. I was unsure of what to expect from this one, not knowing whether it’s a smoked lapsang or not. Turns out, it doesn’t seem to be smoked. The leaves are rather small and very dark, almost black. The dry scent is somewhat musty with raw grain and hay aromas. I did my usual 3 minute steep.

Once brewed, the tea has a very roasty aroma combined with grain and molasses, and a hint of dill. The taste is much the same. It’s a very robust tea with a strong dill presence that I’ve found in several Fujian teas so far. It’s quite roasty and reminiscent of coffee because of that. I am reminded of a strongly flavored rye or pumpernickel bread because of the combination of grain and dill notes. Interestingly enough, the aftertaste is distinctly raw peanut, like the Spanish kind with the red skins.

Overall, very flavorful and what I would call “manly” tea. :P

I lied! This is my last sample from Dinosara, teehee. She included this one as a freebie bonus sample, thanks dear! The leaves are long and twisty, and quite brittle. The color is dark chocolate brown. Dry scent is somewhat sweet with a fruit element. I did my usual “black tea” 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

The brewed aroma has very strong honey notes, yum! There’s also a bit of malt and some fruitiness there. Hmm… I’m unsure what to say about the taste. My first thought it “this tastes like black tea”. It reminds me of plain ol’ unsweetened iced tea, and I’m not really sure how to describe that flavor other than just “black tea”. There’s a little bit of a grain element and a touch of honey comes out in the aftertaste, but for the most part it’s tea. I’m not sure if I’m missing something, but this one is not impressive to me. :P

Hooray! I’m having this tea in celebration of getting my cupboard down to under 100 teas. As of right now, I’m at 99! :D I am expecting a few teas but I will continue to sip down some things, so hopefully I’ll still be under 100 when those get here!

This tea is so yummy. I’m having a really hard time not adding sugar, since I know it would really push the chocolate flavor over the top… It’s an addiction. :P Holding strong though!

This is the last tea from my ripe puerh sampler from Mandala. Visually, looks similar to the other cake samples. It’s one big chunk and the leaves are dark brown. Dry scent is somewhat sweet and woody with a bit of pond or fishy smell. I did a 15s rinse and then 30/45s steeps. I then went back to 30s, hoping it would change the flavor a bit. I think this one is just not for me. :P

Brewed aroma was quite earthy and leathery with the slightest bit of vanilla sweetness and that characteristic woodiness that I’ve found in the other puerhs as well. Taste-wise, I found this tea to be somewhat less complex (and less enjoyable) than the others in the sampler. It mostly tasted earthy and woody with mineral and smoke notes to me. There was also a heavy leather flavor to it. The vanilla and sweetness poked their heads out a time or two, but not enough to make me want to drink any more. I guess this one is just too robust for me! I’m a sweet gal! ;)

Another of my samples from Han Xiang Ecological Tea this morning! I must say, these leaves are very beautiful. They’re long and thin and quite stiff, they almost remind me of pine needles or slender twigs. The color is about half golden and half black. Dry scent is a bit sweet but not much else, which I’m finding a lot with black teas. I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

Ooh, the brewed aroma is an interesting combination of sweet honey and dried fruit with savory, almost smoky meat scents. And I find that the taste follows along those lines as well! The beginning of the sip has a lot of dark, syrupy dried fruit flavor, maybe raisins and figs? Then in the middle, the smoked meat savory flavor comes to the forefront, and it stays there for the rest and into the aftertaste. Intermingling between the two are notes of honey and rich molasses which unexpectedly help to bring everything together. Yums. :D