64
drank Birthday Cake by Butiki Teas
681 tasting notes

Sipdown! I’ve been waiting for my birthday to finish this off, and now it’s a double (edit: triple!) celebration because it’s Martin ’s birthday too! Edit: And Teatotaler ’s!

This was never really a favourite of mine because it’s essentially vanilla, but this time around I overleafed slightly to finish off my sample and it actually made quite a difference to my enjoyment level. It’s still not something I’m sad about losing, but I could actually taste something cake-like and not just herbal vanilla, which is what I normally get from this. Unfortunately I overdosed on cake today so I wasn’t really in the mood for more, haha! My aunty, who used to work in a bakery and makes all our birthday cakes, gave me a gorgeous light chocolate sponge filled with fresh cream and strawberries. I had a giant slab of it, and I’m not exaggerating. My mam also made a slow cooker self-saucing chocolate pudding, just as an experiment, and I was of course obliged to have a bowl of that with plenty of cream. To top it off, my partner’s parents turned up with my present from them at lunch time – afternoon tea! A huge tray full of sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls, a scone, and various dessert treats. It was so thoughtful of them and I of course had to sample everything, before sharing the rest with my parents and grandparents. As a result I am all caked out! And possibly won’t eat again for the rest of the week. Totally worth it though. I’m having a much better birthday in quarantine than I expected! Bumping my rating ever so slightly from 60 to reflect the cakiness.

238/400

Martin Bednář

I wish that I got so many things as you did! I actually received nothing; but we are gonna celebrate it with my brothers next weekend. So, there are some hope I will get some gifts, sweets and similar :) but probably not teas though :)

Leafhopper

Happy birthday! All of those treats sound great!

Teatotaler

Happy birthday, Nattie! 24 June is my birthday too! :)

Nattie

Martin – I was definitely spoiled! Sorry you didn’t get anything for your birthday, but I hope you have a great time celebrating next weekend! (:

Nattie

Leafhopper – Thank you! My family definitely spoiled me.

Nattie

Teatotaler – Thanks! I hope you had a great birthday too! :D It seems we have a very common birthday, haha!

mrmopar

Happy birthday y’all!

Nattie

Thank you!! :D

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Martin Bednář

I wish that I got so many things as you did! I actually received nothing; but we are gonna celebrate it with my brothers next weekend. So, there are some hope I will get some gifts, sweets and similar :) but probably not teas though :)

Leafhopper

Happy birthday! All of those treats sound great!

Teatotaler

Happy birthday, Nattie! 24 June is my birthday too! :)

Nattie

Martin – I was definitely spoiled! Sorry you didn’t get anything for your birthday, but I hope you have a great time celebrating next weekend! (:

Nattie

Leafhopper – Thank you! My family definitely spoiled me.

Nattie

Teatotaler – Thanks! I hope you had a great birthday too! :D It seems we have a very common birthday, haha!

mrmopar

Happy birthday y’all!

Nattie

Thank you!! :D

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Bio

I first got into loose leaf teas when a friend of mine showed me Cara McGee’s Sherlock fandom blends on Adagio a good few years back, but they weren’t on sale in the UK so I started trying other kinds instead and have been hooked for almost three years (and have purchased several fandom tea sets including the Sherlock one I lusted over for so long).

Flavoured teas make up the majority of my collection, but I’m growing increasingly fond of unflavoured teas too. I usually reach for a black, oolong or white tea base over a pu’erh or green tea, though I do have my exceptions. I will update my likes and dislikes as I discover more about my palate, but for now:

Tea-likes: I’m generally easily pleased and will enjoy most flavours, but my absolute favourites are maple, caramel, chestnut, pecan, raspberry, coconut, blueberry, lemon, pumpkin, rose, hazelnut and peach

Tea-dislikes: vanilla (on its own), ginger, coriander/cilantro, cardamom, liquorice, pineapple and chocolate

I am a 25 year old bartender, English Literature sort-of-graduate and current student working towards finishing my degree. I am hoping to one day complete a masters degree in Mental Health Social Work and get a job working in care. Other than drinking, hoarding and reviewing tea, my hobbies include reading, doing quizzes and puzzles, TV watching, football/soccer (Sunderland AFC supporter and employee of my local football club), music, artsy weird makeup, and learning new things (currently British Sign Language).

I should probably also mention my tea-rating system, which seems to be much harsher than others I’ve seen on here. It’s not always concrete, but I’ll try to define it:

• 50 is the base-line which all teas start at. A normal, nothing-special industrial-type black teabag of regular old fannings would be a 50.

• 0 – 49 is bad, and varying degrees of bad. This is probably the least concrete as I hardly ever find something I don’t like.

• I have never given below a 20, and will not unless that tea is SO bad that I have to wash my mouth out after one sip. Any teas rated as such are unquestionably awful.

• This means most teas I don’t enjoy will be in the 30 – 50 range. This might just mean the tea is not to my own personal taste.

• 51+ are teas I enjoy. A good cup of tea will be in the 50 – 70 range.

• If I rate a tea at 70+, it means I really, really like it. Here’s where the system gets a little more concrete, and I can probably define this part, as it’s rarer for a tea to get there.

• 71- 80: I really enjoyed this tea, enough to tell somebody about, and will probably hang onto it for a little longer than I perhaps should because I don’t want to lose it.

• 81 – 90: I will power through this tea before I even know it’s gone, and will re-order the next time the mood takes me.

• 91 – 100: This is one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted, and I will re-order while I still have a good few cups left, so that I never have to run out. This is the crème de la crème, the Ivy League of teas.

I never rate a tea down, and my ratings are always based on my best experience of a tea if I drink it multiple times. I feel that this is fairest as many factors could affect the experience of one particular cup.

I am always happy to trade and share my teas with others, so feel free to look through my cupboard and message me if you’re interested in doing a swap. I keep it up-to-date, although this doesn’t mean I will definitely have enough to swap, as I also include my small samples.
Currently unable to swap as I’ve returned after a long hiatus to a cupboard of mostly-stale teas I’m trying to work through before I let myself purchase anything fresh

I also tend to ramble on a bit.

Location

South Shields, UK

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