Warning, long review ahead
Before I had an account on Steepster, I stalked this website looking for the best blenders in America. When I found Butiki I got my best friend and went through their teas to decide what I would purchase. This is a vivid memory for me because it was the first time I bought tea online from someone who was started their own tea company. The teas I got included a few guayusa blends, multiple straight teas, and the fan favorite Birthday Cake. Those teas were stored away quite nicely and treated with high regard and respect because like I said, they were my first high end teas that I researched about.
I wasn’t in the loop because I was finishing college, but Butiki was closing down and I missed the sale which was unfortunate because I really wanted to study their teas because their liquid was my mentor for what I want to produce for the community.
Fast forward a bit: I joined Steepster and found a nice warm welcoming and over the course of a few months was able to acquire samples of more Butiki teas so I could realize the different between teas smashed into mixtures and hand blended teas that had something beyond ‘like’ put into them (I call it ‘love’).
That brings me to this blend here, one that I really dislike the taste of. However, true studying can’t forfeit once it finds something it doesn’t like. So what did I do? I drank a lot of this today to come up with my reflections.
This tea communicate what Butiki was about, at least from my perspective, bringing teas to the community that are clearly unique and only to be found from the hands of one master blender. I don’t want Butiki to be remembered for the interesting straight teas they had nor the simple flavorings such as the Lychee Oolong I tried yesterday, but the truly remarkable flavors that were able to find themselves in the high, low, and unknown tones of teas. I am not a fan of the flavor of this tea, but it is smooth and I can taste each flavor run across my taste buds in a silky transaction of providing me with its taste. The difference between this tea and something like their Farewell tea is that this has so much going on that you can’t identify it in just one sip, which makes it a memory to cherish. This kind of blend would overtake a coffee shop in an instance. The warm pumpkin taste with such a mild sweet pu’erh taste that somehow has cream notes that hit the side of the mouth and not the tongue (as I have experienced) is a wow factor.
If only I was able to swoop up more Butiki when they were around, yet I am grateful for the Steepster community that has been so graceful by providing me with the opportunity to have almost 20 of their teas now.
A farewell might have been issued by Butiki, but I assure you that message was not 100% accurate as Butiki is not truly gone; it will live through those who supported and appreciated it for what it was.
Long Live Butiki! :( I missed their closing sale too, as I was out of “tea loop” at that time. A tragedy, I assure you. I will forever be searching for more Butiki blends to indulge in.