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I have been very bad and not reviewing my teas. But not entirely bad, because I have been drinking them quite regularly.

I’m having this as an after-dinner beverage, as my tummy is acting up again and oolongs are supposed to be good for digestion. I’m tasting more fruitiness and less flower than last time, and maybe even some honey notes. Not sure if I’m noticing the non-floral flavors more due to drinking a fair number of oolongs since I first tried this one, or if leaving the tea in a clear plastic bag on top of the fridge for a month altered it. Either way, it’s sweet and delicious.

This is really a gorgeous tea. Even with my ridiculously hard city tap water, and with leaves that are easily a year old, it’s still giving me a beautiful cup. First infusion was smooth, nutty-sweet, and extremely slurp-able. Second and third infusions were more grassy and fruity, but still very nice. Fourth didn’t fare so well (it was a bit like swimming pool water with lemon – sorry!) but I couldn’t care less because of the amazingness of the first two. Definitely restocking this one when it’s finished!

Sipdown! I used more leaf than last time (probably a bit more than 1 1/4 tsp) in about the same amount of water. I’m smelling & tasting a rather strong genmaicha-esque toasty rice (which I’m enjoying) with a very noticeable metallic tang (which I don’t like so much), neither of which I can recall when I tried this before. Now that this tea is back in stock, I’ll consider picking up a bit more to play around with when I’m in North America next.

Okay, I have no idea what I did differently this time (aside from maybe cooler water and taking care to introduce the water more slowly) but it’s so much better than in my last note. Creamy, beany, and sweet, with no harshness. I’m not paying really close attention to all the flavor nuances, but it’s very pleasant and comforting. Bravo, He family!

ETA: Might have gone a bit too long/hot on the second steep (2 min, 180F or so), because I got a taste of ash again. Currently on the third steep (2 min, 175F, 5-6 oz water) and it tastes predominantly of toasted rice – if I hadn’t made the tea myself, I would have thought I was drinking genmaicha. Very interesting, and tasty!

Thank you Stacy for the sample!

Dry leaf smells lightly of toffee & strawberry, with strawberry aroma becoming more prominent while steeping. Flavor is similar but gentler, with a noticeable hint of ginger. It’s nice enough, but not among my Butiki favorites. Part of that could be my fault, for letting the sample languish in the plastic baggie for months, or using a brew basket that still had the lingering smell of another flavored tea (though I did soak it in 185F-ish water prior to adding the tea to minimize cross-contamination). I’ll give this one another try in the future.

Today’s green. I was all ready to give it a mediocre review until I noticed that the suggested steeping parameters here & on the Butiki site (2 tsp in 6oz water) are different from what was on my label (1 1/2 tsp in 8oz water). So that would be why it tasted so weak. Will revisit this one later.

Project Drink Your Greens continues. Although this one looks a lot more like silver needle than any other green I’ve come across – the dry leaf is super fluffy, and it was kind of hard to measure out a level teaspoon.

Boiling water? Well all right, if Stacy says so. The tea didn’t seem to suffer at all – very soft with subtle flavors, like a more vegetal silver needle. The first flavor I picked up was artichoke, and now that I read the tasting notes I notice a few wisps of pea and marine. Most green teas taste to me like some sort of leafy vegetable, but this doesn’t seem to have any element of that, which is a nice change of pace.

I’m amazed how gentle this tea is after 3 minutes in boiling water, with no bitterness or astringency other than some dryness in the throat. It’s one that you have to focus on as it’s pretty easy to overlook the mild flavors, but doing so is a rewarding experience.

I’m trying my little sample packet of this in a bit of a rush to see if I want to add an ounce of it to my Verdant order. I didn’t use nearly as much leaf or water as Verdant’s directions state and winged it with the steep time, so my brew probably isn’t ideal. I don’t really care for it by itself, but it’s pretty good sweetened with agave.

There’s only one ounce left! Should I buy it? I don’t know! Help! Aaaaahhh!

ETA: I bought the very last one. It was either this or the Yu Lu Yan Chai, which I haven’t tried yet & don’t think would appeal to me as much. I would’ve gotten them both, but ugh, customs. My cup tastes nice now cooled to room temperature, which leads me to believe it would be good iced, so I’m happy.

Got my latest Butiki order today! I’m really glad I jumped on the limited-release flavors from the Amoda box, because they smell uh-MAY-zing. In a move that was out-of-character for me (though in keeping with my current project Drink Your Greens), I decided to try this one right away.

The scents were unexpected – the aroma in the bag was rather fruity with hints of lime, and while brewing it smelled like vegetal chicken broth. The taste of the liquor is similar to its aroma and quite savory, but halfway through the cup I’m experiencing the thing where the flavors kind of fade. Is that what palate fatigue is? I’ll try more leaf and/or bottled mineral water in the future.

I don’t think I’ve had any African green teas before, but this one seems like a very interesting and unusual specimen!

I made tostones (chunks of deep-fried unripe plantain squashed & then fried again) tonight for the first time. They came out well, but the part that I should have seen coming was the stomach upset that followed about an hour after I stopped eating. Oily starch has a tendency to hit my tummy like a ton of bricks.

After only a few sips of this my stomach felt noticeably calmer. Granted it could have been the placebo effect at work, but I think it warrants a bumping-up of my rating anyway.
Flavor-wise, it’s not something I’d reach for regularly, but it does taste nicer than I remembered, and the stevia really does mesh beautifully with the other herbs.