Thank you Stacy for this Sample!
I’ve received my new tea’s from Butiki (dance, dance, dance)!
As always, Stacy lovingly places just the right little packets of samples in my order (and will in yours also).
It never fails to make me smile with excitement when I discover what she has tucked in my box as my free samples!
I have tasted the previous Butiki Assam, but this is a newer one…
a Premium Taiwanese Assam.
My experience with Assam’s has been average.
The one’s I’ve tasted have been of medium body, slightly smoky and a little malty. Good breakfast Assam’s that can hold up to milk in the morning and have mild astringency. Not overly complex tea’s.
What now?
Stacy is always hunting down the best tea’s she can find. Like a sly fox, she scours the tea markets improving the line-up of tea’s she carries, always looking for unique flavors and blends. This is one of the things I love about her and Butiki Tea!
Flavor
Well, this was not like any Assam I’d ever tasted before!
There was a yam, potato flavor right away though not a lot (if any) malt.
I didn’t pick up any smokiness and the astringency didn’t even arrive until the tea was quite cool.
Speaking of cool…
The spicy heat in this tea was followed by a characteristic that I associate with Taiwanese Tea’s…that menthol/minty cool feeling in the mouth.
This was such a great mouth-feel (if you’ve never experienced it before) but subtle.
I was looking for a raisin chocolate taste (which I found), and along the way got distracted by how soft the finish was.
Like a mist the tea evaporated at the end. All the flavors seemed to be up front with a spice-cool shift in the center and then poof, gone.
This was before I added anything to my tea!
You can’t imagine how sweet and nectar-like my tea was when I added
just a little sweetening. (Stacy would say “Add a little natural raw sugar crystals to bring out the flavor”)
Very tasty and delicious for breakfast or anytime!
Lovely Assam!
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Comments
Stacey! You Sly-Fox, you! :)
teehee
So glad you are enjoying this one. :) Its one of my favorite breakfast treats, though I do tend to add a lot of leave and let it sit until its nice and malty and very astringent.
A Taiwanese Assam? Oh my goodness, I’m intrigued!
Stacy, I’d try that if I had more on hand, but I would have missed the cool mint/menthol feel possibly for the tasting.
LiberTEAS-Here is what I wrote about Taiwanese Assams in my tasting note: As the name suggest, this is an Assam that comes from Taiwan. In the 1920’s, under Japanese rule, Assamica tea bushes were brought to the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan. At the time, the Japanese wanted to compete with the British in the black tea market. Since then this Assam has been refined by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station.
Bonnie-I’m terrible with my black teas, I so abuse them by intentionally over-steeping them. I just love that really astringent taste. Well, I do that to all except the Mi Xian which is really naturally sweet.
Stacey! You Sly-Fox, you! :)
teehee
So glad you are enjoying this one. :) Its one of my favorite breakfast treats, though I do tend to add a lot of leave and let it sit until its nice and malty and very astringent.
A Taiwanese Assam? Oh my goodness, I’m intrigued!
Stacy, I’d try that if I had more on hand, but I would have missed the cool mint/menthol feel possibly for the tasting.
LiberTEAS-Here is what I wrote about Taiwanese Assams in my tasting note: As the name suggest, this is an Assam that comes from Taiwan. In the 1920’s, under Japanese rule, Assamica tea bushes were brought to the Sun Moon Lake area of Taiwan. At the time, the Japanese wanted to compete with the British in the black tea market. Since then this Assam has been refined by the Taiwan Research and Extension Station.
Bonnie-I’m terrible with my black teas, I so abuse them by intentionally over-steeping them. I just love that really astringent taste. Well, I do that to all except the Mi Xian which is really naturally sweet.