1301 Tasting Notes
Bleeegh. I’ve been on the search for a nice chocolate tea. This is not it. I bought this a few months ago and hated it then, but I decided to give it another shot before reviewing it. Oh the regret. At least it gave me a little energy boost, I suppose.
This tastes like diluted spiced hot cocoa. Not even high quality hot cocoa. Just watery chocolate with a little bit of kick. And a dry, powdery aftertaste. I tried salvaging it with some rice milk, but that somehow just made it worse. I imagine it might work well brewed in cow’s milk. I can’t drink that so someone else will have to run the experiment.
Speaking of which – first person to PM me gets the rest of the bag!
UPDATE: Claimed!
Preparation
This brews up nice and light. The first steep is very delicate and vegetal, maybe a touch grassy. I didn’t think of it as seaweed-y until I read some of the other notes for this tea. Now that’s all I can taste! Funny how suggestible people can be sometimes…
This holds up to a resteep nicely, though the seaweed flavor is definitely stronger in the second steep. There’s also a buttery quality mid-sip.
Overall, not bad, but I’ve had better.
Preparation
Probably my last Butiki for the night. This one is just awesome. Who knew warm watermelon could work? It’s just juicy and soothing and not at all artificial tasting. And most importantly, I still have a bit left. Yay!
Thanks again to Stephanie for the swap.
Sssssipdown! This time, I tried adding rice milk right after I was done brewing the tea rather than halfway through drinking it. It’s much better this way – presumably something to do with the tea being hotter when I added the rice milk? Anyway, this is nice and creamy and spicy. Good while it lasted!
I’m glad to have the empty tin now so I can put some samples in it, but I can’t get the chai smell out…
This smells like autumn, spicy with a hint of pumpkin. The dry leaves smell creamier than the brewed tea. The brew is a lovely deep orange color matching the falling leaves outside. It’s got kind of a chai vibe because of the spices, but the pumpkin holds its own. This didn’t seem very creamy at first, but it gets creamier as I keep drinking. There’s also maybe a hint of caramel flavor? Am I imagining that? This is one of those teas that makes me sad that I can’t/shouldn’t have black tea. I’m super glad to have tried it though. Many thanks to Stephanie for the swap!
Glad you liked it :) what’s your issue with black teas?
I really don’t know. They just make my tummy hurt. I had some issues with my stomach lining back in grad school and my stomach is still a bit sensitive. I can have a cup or two on occasion, but it’s rarely worth the risk. Same for coffee.
Interesting
I’m on a Butiki bender tonight in an effort to make room for/justify another order. To avoid spamming everyone’s dashboards with Butiki-only tasting notes, I will write only one tasting note per tea regardless of how many cups I actually drink.
So as usual this tea is fabulous. I’m picking up more apple than potato this time around. Very apropos for the fall season :) The aftertaste is savory and buttery – almost apple pie-esque. One more cup left in this bag, which I am planning to sipdown tonight and make some cabinet space for more tea. I still have another full bag though!
Sadly, this is one of the few Butiki teas I just never enjoy. Something about the flavors just never meshes for me and it ends up tasting kind of chaotic. I still drink it because
a) caffeine boost yay, and
b) I stupidly bought 2 ounces before even tasting it and need to finish them off.
I always brew precisely per the instructions, so I know that’s not the problem. I’ve had this in a regular mug at home and in my travel mug at work, so context and ability to smell the tea aren’t the issue. The only thing I haven’t done is try this with sugar, which might do the trick. Unfortunately, I almost never have sugar in the house. Maybe honey? Suggestions welcome.
Mmmm…
This is exactly as advertised and well blended. The honey and lavender mesh together nicely. The mint comes out as a nice tangy aftertaste. Very relaxing and very pleasant. Also a lot fewer ingredients than most Yogi teas. This is a nice change of pace from my usual bedtime teas.
sipdown
Would you say it’s very floral in flavour? Would somebody who doesn’t much care for floral scented teas be able to drink this, do you think?
I don’t mind florals, so it’s hard for me to say. The lavender flavor is prominent here and lavender is a flower. The ingredients also include passion flower extract. I don’t taste that as a distinct flavor, but I imagine that its purpose is to supplement/amplify the lavender flavor. In short – I don’t know. I guess it depends on whether your dislike for floral teas is uniform or flower-specific.
You can try out a sample here: http://www.yogiproducts.com/ecard (it’s the “Rest” well-wish).
Those are US addresses only. I’ll have to see if I can find it in a shop here abouts. I don’t even know if that’s possible yet. I was just attracted to the honey. :)
I’m not sure about floral though. Sometimes I find it tolerable and sometimes it’s impossible to drink. I know I don’t like jasmine, but I don’t have enough experience with other flowers to know for certain. Rose seems to be generally okay for me and orange blossoms. But I don’t know if it’s a question of not disliking those particular flowers or just having had them in more balanced blends in general. It could just be a floral strength issue.
This just tasted sort of generically fruity/berry-ish today. Lots of hibiscus. I’m not sensing any passionfruit flavor at all. The underlying green tea is grassy and a bit dry – neither terrible nor astounding. Overall, this has too much hibiscus for my taste right now. Also, ssssipdown!
