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On my first Butiki order a little while ago, I had had this as a sample. Circumstance made it a not so great sample. I was preparing it a little bit too close to when I was supposed to leave for work, so I couldn’t quite steep it properly and kind of had to dash out. Turns out I was running late, so I had to QUICK GULP IT DOWN before my shift started, and then when I came home, the used leaves had been tossed, so I didn’t get to try it again. During the hurried burning mouthfuls, I sort of vaguely thought it seemed fairly good, so I decided to go ahead and order some to have it properly.

I’m really glad I did. :) It’s very juicy and sweet, and yet it’s not thin either. It’s smooth, and has a bit of a thick feeling in your mouth which I love. It’s thinner than say Premium Taiwanese Assam, but considering how fruity this is, it has a hefty body.

Like Bonnie, I actually taste apricot rather than peach, but either way it’s very sweet. It takes milk well, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend adding sugar. It’s naturally very sweet on it’s own, but that’s a good thing! You know you’ve found a good tea when the thought of adding stuff to it is almost laughable.

One thing that’s interesting about this tea, is that it’s not roasty, smokey, astringent or even extremely malty. Yet it’s clearly a black. It’s very unique from any black tea I’ve ever tried!

I can definitely see what people mean about the honey like flavor. This tea tastes like the filling of an apricot pie, piping hot with a drizzle of honey to bring out the sweetness of the fruit. At the swallow, it’s the apricot like flavor that lingers. Delicious!

I had a really fantastic walk this morning. :) If it wasn’t apparent before, I can truly see that Spring is here now. Throughout the entire trail, all of the green leaves have grown in, and the little flowers of the salmon berry bushes are in bloom… Couple weeks ago on that same trail, it was all just bare twigs, and now there’s a heady foresty smell the whole way.

I saw a BEAVER! Now this probably seems strange for a Canadian to get so excited over a beaver thanks to all those weird stereotypes, but I’ve never seen one before. I’ve never known anyone who’s seen one before. Until today, they were as mythical to me as a unicorn. So I was very excited to see one swimming in the river for a little while. I even saw him do that tail whack thing on the water when I got too close. :)
I also saw rabbits, Canadian Geese, robins, and a LIZARD! (which I almost never see. I think it was a salamander, but I don’t know my lizards very well) The animals are never around when I go for a walk, so it was fun seeing SO many for once!

Anyway, onto the tea. This is my first Genmaicha. I was very excited to try it when I got it yesterday, but it was just too late in the evening to be having tea so I saved it for today. It was quite interesting! It was definitely toasty, and it tasted a lot like popcorn, ha. Before I knew Genmaicha existed, I thought the idea of ‘Popcorn Night green tea’ from DavidsTea seemed so bizarre, but turns out it’s actually fairly normal!

In addition to being quite savory, there was also a bit of a sweet note from the tea itself. While it was quite interesting and I’m glad I tried it, I’m not entirely sure if genmaicha is my thing. While I perfectly enjoyed the cup all the way through, I couldn’t really imagine myself drinking it often enough to buy it. More like if it’s being offered, I’ll take it, you know? I think I’d like genmaicha more with additional flavors. Like “______ Genmaicha” as opposed to just “Genmaicha.”

But still, overall it was nice. :) Savory, popcorny, a little sweet and not bitter at all.

Alright, here we go! :) I’ve been needing to find an herbal tea I enjoy hot, since I’ve discovered recently that tea caffeine really does keep me awake, even if I don’t feel jittery or anything. Plus I wanted to try out a chamomile in loose form for the first time, plus I wanted free shipping on my Butiki order. So it all just made sense to try this! :)

Dry leaf, they look very pretty. Not gonna lie though, they don’t look terribly pretty after they’ve steeped… Something about the way the middle parts of the flowers go, it looks kinda … Hmm. Moving away from the infuser now…

The scent of the tea is pleasantly lemony, and sweet and ends with a flower finish. The taste adds more; a strong yet not overpowering apple flavor, and an almost mint like note? Perhaps the “mint” is the goji berries, as I honestly have no idea how those taste.

This herbal is very nice. It’s complex while still being delicate, sweet without being saccharine, and very flavorful. Absolutely no need to “wake” up the flavor with sugar at all! A very nice tisane. I’ll drink through my 1/2 ounce, and if I’m still enjoying this as much as I am now — I’m a bit weird when it comes to herbals — then I think I’ll order up some more!

So um, apparently I’m the first to try this. This wasn’t even in Steepster’s database until I added it myself. I’m special? :D

Received this as a bonus sample on my most recent Butiki order. :) I got a bit of a chuckle at the sight of it, because I don’t like peppermint teas, and I also don’t like chocolate teas. But it’s not like I’m gonna complain about a freebie! :)

Anyway, I’m actually really pleasantly surprised. The peppermint is a bit too overpowering for me while it’s piping hot — again, I don’t like peppermint tea, I’m sure this is perfectly balanced for the peppermint lover — but I’m amazed at how good the chocolate actually tastes. I decided that I don’t like tea that tries to be chocolate on purpose. It always come out tasting like dirt and really nasty, every single one that I’ve tried. (which is actually quite a lot)

But this is actually quite good. I even had a mint chocolate tea combo earlier (Read My Lips) that I had to pour down the drain after literally two sips, but here I am, sipping away. As the description says, each time I sip, I taste the chocolate a little bit longer, and it’s totally not a bad thing. :) In fact, I’ve decided that I’d like to try either Three Friends or Raspberry Truffle also from Butiki. Judging by this tisane, she can make it work!

Edit: I really am surprised about this one. As it cooled, the sweetness really came through, and it was almost difficult to believe that I didn’t add any sugar. I’m seriously considering purchasing this, which is incredible considering my hatred of nearly everything peppermint. If you like mint-chocolate such as After Eights or something, get this! It’s really quite good!

Whoa.

I opened my parcel, and BAM sweet wonderful floral scent. “That’s probably the Jasmine Pearls” I thought to myself, already excited to try it.

This is my first ever Jasmine Pearls tea, and I’m very excited. When nearly everyone on Steepster adds swoon after the words ‘Jasmine Pearls’ you know you have to try it. :) I had no idea where to begin, but as soon as I notice that Butiki had it, I knew I could safely try it and be assured that if I didn’t like Stacy’s, then it’s not the tea for me.

Anyway, it’s incredible. This tea assaults your senses in the most perfect way, and somehow manages to be incredibly delicate about it. As you drink it, the scent fills you, and you taste exactly what you smell on your tongue at the same time. I’ve never had a tea that just FILLS your nose as much as this one does while drinking.

It’s absolutely wonderful. I feel like I’m sitting in a field of flowers that stretches out as far as the eye can see in every direction. I’m drinking the flowers, and as I taste them, the perfumy sweet smell is all around me.

Back to reality, the little pearls unfurled into really beautiful long leaves. If I had more of this, I’d be tempted to just sit and watch it for the full four minutes to watch the transformation.

My only regret is that I simply ordered this as a sample and didn’t buy more right away. This is on the shopping list, and soon hopefully in my cupboard.

So I’ve been trying to find an herbal tea I enjoy hot — typically I use herbal for iced tea only as a juice replacement — as I’ve recently discovered that although caffeinated tea doesn’t make me feel like hopping around or jittery, it does keep me awake. But I want to drink tea as late as I want, so I need to find a good herbal! :)

Anyway, that said, this one is quite nice! If you like grapefruit at all, you will love this! It smells and tastes exactly like grapefruit. :) The hibiscus thankfully doesn’t take over, it simply adds that tart punch to make the grapefruit flavor more authentic. Mind you, I did do a bit of a timid steep out of fear of the hibiscus, but the liquor is quite dark, so I think I’d already be in danger of the hibiscus if it were a problem.

Perfectly drinkable, but I’m still waiting on that Butiki Teas order to arrive which contains some Citrus Dream that I’m quite excited to try out. :)

Uhoh. One whiff of the dry leaf, and POW ginger assaulted my senses like it just screamed in my face.

I’m thinking I already know how this is going to go. You see, I hate ginger. And I mean I hate it. I knew ginger was in the ingredients, but I was hoping it’d be more mild and make way for the more favorable ingredients like cinnamon and cardamom. But if the scent is any indication, it’s going to be the exact opposite. Dx

Overall the taste is better than what I was expecting, but I don’t know what I’m going to do with the full ounce… I’m going to refrain from rating as it wouldn’t really be fair to the tea, since I’m just not into ginger. If you enjoy a gingery chai, then I’m sure this is the one of the best to be had. I can definitely appreciate that this tea is well crafted.

I seem to have difficulty finding a chai that isn’t heavy on the ginger. I like my chais to be cinnamon and clovesy and cardamomy, so if anyone has any suggestions, I’m all ears. :D

Alrighty, time to give this tea a try. :D I got my sample size ready to go.

Just ripping open the small packet yielded a heady, chocolatey smell. Which was pretty exciting. :) It smells more like a sweet chocolate, rather than earthy dark chocolate like Laoshan Black.

As soon as the hot water poured in, I could see immediately what people meant about “hot rocks” or mineral, as that was my exact impression, still smelled pleasantly chocolately though, so not too worried. :)

As for taste, it’s actually more similar to Laoshan Black than I thought. The main differences are that it’s much less roasty, and it has that “hot rocks” flavor. Overall it’s naturally sweeter than Laoshan Black, though I’m not picking up on the caramel notes at all. Perhaps a little sugar would bring that out, but as I’ve gone two weeks without adding any sugar to any black teas, I’d rather not fall back into the habit.

Perhaps I’ll taste it more on a second infusion.

Overall, I’m really enjoying this. It’s so sweet I almost doubted myself for a moment and wondered if I put sugar in mindlessly, but I definitely didn’t. That said, since overall it’s still fairly similar to Laoshan Black, in the end I think I’d rather save myself the $1.25 per ounce and just opt for the other instead of this in future orders.

Still have my fingers crossed that the caramel will pop in second the infusion, oof.

Encouraged by being pleasantly surprised by the Mango Maui, I decided to continue trying out these teas that my sister purchased for me during her honeymoon. :)

Apparently wherever they source the flavoring for the Mango Maui are used again for this one. The scent of the teabag was exactly the same except with a bit of a tartness to it, despite the different fruit. Part of me is worrying about the sudden intake of chemicals, but a cup here and there can’t hurt too much.

As it turns out, it’s not just the smell that tastes pretty much the same, but the taste does too. =/ Which is kinda disappointing. When you have assorted flavors in a box, you kinda expect them to taste different. That said, the tea is surprisingly good to begin with, so it’s not a total loss. The main difference between this and the Mango Maui is that it’s less sweet tasting, which tickles the temptation to add a bit of sugar to remedy this.

Anyway, I can’t see myself purchasing these teas for myself (assuming it’s available outside of Hawaii) but it’s perfectly unoffensive, especially since it was a gift. :) I’ll still be keeping one teabag of each flavor in the box as a memento.

Only one more flavor to try from the box. :)

Finally broke open the box. I was hoarding it for about six months, because it was a gift from my sister, who bought it for me during her honeymoon in Hawaii. So in other words, regardless of how this actually tastes, it’s automatically special. Hence the hoarding.

But she seems upset everytime she sees the still-sealed box, so I rationalized that I could just drink most of it, and leave one teabag of each flavor, (The box came with this, Pineapple Waikiki and Passion Fruit Na Poli, six bags of each) and still hold onto this precious memento.

Anyway, the smell of the bag worries me. It’s very potent and fruity, but in the way that threatens to taste very fake. Sure enough, it doesn’t actually contain any mango in it, it’s all “natural and artifical flavoring.” Which isn’t terribly surprising for a teabag. But still, this is my precious tea, so I’m hopeful it’ll taste reasonably good.

After taking the first couple sips, I must say I’m pleasantly surprised! It’s surprisingly not bitter for a bag — no additives, mind you — and I steeped to the maximum recommended time too. So far it doesn’t taste terribly fake, though since I made this with boiling water and no milk (milk and fruit? Blech!) so it’s still quite hot to taste it entirely, but so far it seems pleasantly sweet and fruity with a definite black tea taste. It’s definitely not real mango, but it tastes more authentic than any mango juice you can pick up at the supermarket.

Rating will come after I’ve finished the cup. :)