60 Tasting Notes
So, lately I have been thinking about making a Philippino tea. Our company name is a Tagalog word and it seems weird that we haven’t come up with a Philippino inspired tea yet. I decided on coming up with a dessert tea based on the Philippino dessert Palitao. Palitao is a vegan and gluten-free dessert that is essentially a boiled rice cake that is chewy and warm and is then dredged through coconut, toasted sesame seeds, and sugar. It’s freaking pretty delicious. I spent a day at my in-laws and I cooked a batch of them with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. Since I can’t have sugar, I made mine sugar-free though I did sneak a bite of a sugar one just so I knew what it tastes like. Here’s a pic of our creation: http://instagram.com/p/dnswvelfIi/# . The tea will mostly be just a brown sugar, coconut, and toasted sesame flavored tea though it will not have any sugar added. I’m very excited about this. We will also be doing a blog with the recipe to make these treats at home. It’s super easy to make and so delicious. Also, we are very close to having our limited edition Carrot Cake tea complete. Excited about that one too. It’s very fall-y.
I’m very happy with how The Black Lotus blend turned out. I tried about 20 different combinations looking for the very best English Breakfast blend, something that would completely obliterate our previous English Breakfast and something that would stand out among other EBs. Once I was down to the final 5, I let my mother-in-law choose. She works with me a lot and helps out and is a big tea fan. She chose this blend. I said to her, that’s the most expensive one, are you sure that’s the one you like best. She replied “it tastes expensive, I want this one”. So, this is the one we went with. I really love this, I wouldn’t exactly say that it tastes like other typical English Breakfasts. I’ve noticed that most are pretty citrusy or astringent, but this one is very malty and smooth. Both the Premium Taiwanese Assam and the Congou Keemun add that lovely malt to it. I prefer drinking this cooled. There is a lot going on and you can taste all the notes at a warmer temp. I can taste the earthiness, the chocolate, raisins, almonds, as well as a gentle citrus and lingering floral, mainly jasmine. There is a wonderful sweetness too. It works really well and I have been drinking it quite a bit. The directions we set are strictly for drinking it plain, however, it does work well with additions if the leaf requirements are upped a little bit.
Also, this tea is 29% off now until the end of September.
Today I have been thinking about which teas I want to axe. We have a number of new flavors I would like to test out. Whether they will work out, I’m not sure but I do have a large number of ideas that I would like to start on. Three of my favorite ideas are an Irish Cream Cheesecake, Espresso Stout Beer Tea and Champagne with Rose Cream. I think those will be hard to pull off but I can’t wait to try. The top contenders to be axed are the Raspberry Truffle, Strawberry Oolong, and the Mint Oolong. Also, I’ve just been thinking about trying out a Pumpkin Milkshake tea and seeing how it compares to our current Pumpkin Crème Brulee.
On to the tea at hand. I love love love me some Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black and this harvest is fantastic! Leafhoppers are magical creatures! I truly believe this tea needs to be tried in a gongfu session to be really appreciated as that is how I’m getting the most flavor out of it. I have been doing about 7 steeps with this tea with my gaiwan. Here’s a pic of the wet leaves in my cute little red 50ml gaiwan: http://instagram.com/p/dQPsaGFfKn/. From this session, I’m getting heavier honey notes that linger and evolve into powdered sugar notes. Additionally, there are some bready notes with cinnamon and sweet potato. Occasional plum notes peak through the maltiness. This tea is weighty and produces a lovely complex cup of tea. I just absolutely love it! :)
I LOVE the new tea ideas!
Thanks Stephanie! :)
all of those can be safely axed without any issue from me haha. Love the new teas…looking forward to trying to sample you sent me tonight :) this one is on deck for tomorrow! i can’t wait!
I’m drinking some of this tea now! :) So tasty! I’d love to see a pumpkin milkshake tea and maybe just a regular cheesecake one, too! I think they’d be amazing as a rooibos blends, but you always come up with the best blends!
*or maybe a caramel cheesecake!
Love the new ideas—especially the Irish Cream Cheesecake one!
Ooo… I have a recipe for an Irish Cream Cheesecake that I lurve. Could be a great tea flavor. :)
oooh! Champagne sounds lovely!
Sil-I know you won’t mind many of the oolongs being axed. Haha. Would love to know what you think of the sample. That is only round 1, so it is a bit of a work in progress.
QueenOfTarts-Glad you are enjoying the wild mountain tea! I’m excited about trying out a pumpkin milkshake. I’ve made a vegan one from a random recipe in the past and loved it plus I’m always trying to think of new ideas for flavors that don’t already exist. There will definitely be a new rooibos, since we really need to add more rooibos & honeybush options. Caramel cheesecake sounds awesome but I think for another caramel flavor I might go with one of the ones that terri or sil recommended (i forgot which one of you recommended it) a caramel coffee flavor.
keychange-Thanks, I hope they end up working out! :)
Nicole-I didn’t know they really existed, how awesome.
Fuzzy_Peachkin-Thanks :)
Well, when it gets cold out, I have been known to ship cheesecake…just in case you needed a point of comparison, you know. Strictly for research… :)
Nicole-That’s a really awesome offer. Unfortunately, with the whole me being vegan thing, that wouldn’t work out. Though, how odd is this, I did find a vegan irish cream cheesecake recipe. Very weird. I would be happy to send you a sample of the tea, strictly for authenticating purposes. :)
I really need to do this in my gaiwan. You are convincing me! :)
love love love the ideas! i cannot wait!
aaaand another addition to the upcoming order. stacy, we’re going to have review things before you send me an invoice. sheesh.
Nicole…I’ll take Stacy’s cheesecake!
Stacy – sent you an email with a few notes…not bad for a first start :) and I enjoyed raspberry truffle…just not one of my favourites from you :) as in, make room for new!
ifjuly-Yes yes yes! The gaiwan really does make a big difference with this tea. :)
BrewTEAlly Sweet-Awesome! :)
JustJames-Mwahahaha :D
Sil-Hahaha. Excellent, I will check it out. Exactly. There is only room for the best of the best and unique teas. I’m happy to listen to any suggestions for which teas to axe.
Not a fan of anything coffee-flavoured for dietary reasons, but those other two sound delish.
I know you’re creating something with rooibos but I I hope it’s not these! I want to be able to try the new tea’s too.
okay, i love the idea…. but the yuletide/christmas pudding is just so finicky. that would be my vote. i got frustrated and sent it to scribbles who couldn’t make it work either.
and i must agree with Jillian because i am allergic to coffee. (besides, tea is far superior!)
Irish Cream Cheesecake sounds divine!
Irish cheesecake and pumpkin milkshake sound amazing! And I would LOVE some new honeybush!!!! Yay! I really enjoy the strawberry oolong, but I am sure you will create something equally as magical!
Coffee is fine because of the stout…Beer..yum!
Buttery pecan pie, French vanilla apple pie with golden raisins (nice holiday flavors, I have recipes for the pies but wonder about tea recipes). Your cheesecake sounds good no honeybush I hope!
I GET MY ORDER TOMORROW! Yays for me! Plus I’m getting more samples in the swap. I’ll be all Butiki’d up, and can finally have the rest of the Cantaloupe and Cream I’ve been hoarding til I got more. :)
Jilian-Glad to hear the other 2 sound good.
Bonnie-There will definitely be a lot of new ones that aren’t rooibos or honeybush. The pumpkin milkshake I was thinking about trying with our Zhen Qu. I have a few cofee-ish teas in mind. Mmmmm french vanilla apple pie sounds fantastic. I’m undecided about which base to use for the Irish Cream Cheescake though puerh is a possibility.
Heather-Yay! I hope you enjoy your new teas! :)
Just James-It is a bit finicky, particularly with the water temperature. I was actually thinking about turning that one into just a creamy plum.
Tea Sipper-thanks! :)
tigress_al-I’m on the fence about the Strawberry Oolong. I love it but we have 2 other strawberry teas and they sell more and just strawberry is a little plain. I’m not sure about that one yet.
If I’m going to be honest, I have Strawberry Oolong and Raspberry Truffle and I don’t reach for them very often so if they were axed I wouldn’t throw my fist in the air and cry “WHY WHY??!”. I can’t wait to get my order that shipped today! Yay! And I am SOOOOO looking forward to those new teas they sound AMAZING! I think I would have to get them all! Because I need more Butiki Tea…hahaha!
I won’t miss any of those teas. I’m sure I’ll have to sample all the new ones, although flavored teas aren’t my forte, so keep carrying all the awesome unflavored ones that I love, that’s all I’m asking!!! :)
Although, I have to say, when it comes to flavored teas, blends, etc, you are the awesome-est, Ms Stacy! You’re the Queen!
these new teas are really appealing. I am wondering if one day I’ll see a Pain Perdu-Framboise tea, this should be wonderful (I need to begin thinking to a customer blend :) )
I’m all for a European theme for Ysaurella and other friends across the sea…maybe ‘The Grand Tour’ as the British used to say in the old days. Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, Vienna and so on. You already have the Irish started, Espresso reminds me of Rome.
(I think I’m going off my rocker here!) Just laugh at me, I’m OK with it.
Ali Bee-Thanks for the feedback! Feedback is always appreciated. I hope the new ones come out good. crosses fingers
Terri HarpLady-No worries, there will be new plain teas as well and I certainly won’t be getting rid of any of the top sellers. We are also revamping most of the straight tea blends. The current Irish Breakfast was the first one done. The English Breakfast tea needs an update and I’m working on a Butiki Breakfast Blend and an Indian Breakfast. Thanks :)
Ysaurella-Thanks. So, I am not quite sure what Pain Perdu-Framboise is. I tried googling it but all of the recipes were in French. It does look amazingly delicious though.
Bonnie-That is not a bad idea at all! We are currently working on a tea that was inspired by Philippino flavors. Its about time really, since the name of our company is a Tagalog word. Also, part of company focus is teas from around the world so that really works with our vision. :)
i have a custom tea on the way… final stages. coconut cream pie— WITH a detectable crust. can’t wait. early september. (along with a mammoth order of other stuff thus me blowing through my other supply!
@Ysaurella… une the comme saveur de pain perdu at framboise? i’ll faudra que je met un feu rouge sur mon commande a butiki jusqu’a cette melange existe! (SVP pardonnez les erreurs grammaticales… ca fait longtemps!)
@stacy… ‘pain perdu a la framboise ’ translates to ‘lost bread with raspberry’ which is french toast! i always sortof liked the old french name more. a raspberry french toast would be awesome…
btw any idea when the flavouring is coming in yet?
OMG coconut cream pie tea by Stacy? That will be the BOMB JustJames!
lol, i agree… and the custom build part is fun… watching stacy’s process is rather enlightening. i think you buy 8 oz with a custom, i’ll have enough to share =0)
JustJames-Thanks for the translation! Sounds yummy, though the french name sounds sexier. No idea when the flavoring is coming in, I will call them tomorrow to check in. I know the summer is generally the worst time to order. You will be the first to know. I will be working on your tea along with the new teas (since I’m waiting on those flavorings too). I will be sure to send some samples of my work in progress with your custom blend sample.
Stephanie-I’m very excited to work on that custom blend, JustJames chose 2 amazing base teas to test it on. :)
agreed, ‘pain perdu’ is far more romantic than ‘french toast’…. bread sacrificed to the overwhelming taste sensations of milk vanilla and spice…. it is perdu…. and then you pile syrup on it and it’s even more perdu-ed, lol.
The best dessert I ever had was in Messina, Italy…a small pastry shop with handmade waffle cones filled with hazelnut gelato, dipped in THICK bittersweet chocolate. No dessert has ever been as well-made! It was pretty good sized, not dainty… prefect though. The whole shop was filled with marzapan cakes and handmade candies wrapped in beautiful papers. Extraordinary!
JustJames-Mmmmm, sounds awesome!
Bonnie-That sounds fantastic! Wow! Mmmmmm.
Let’s go! Research!
Holeeeee smokes this thread is long lol
So much going on… :)
Dear Spammer. You have been banned. Bye!!
I’ve been thinking a bit out my background lately. Growing up, I’ve had no real culture other than typical American food from the box with no real traditions and I’ve just felt as though I was lacking tradition or culture. I’ve always been somewhat jealous of my husband who has a very large family and extensive traditions. When I was very young, my Polish grandmother used to make all these Polish foods from scratch. I’ve always wanted to learn more about that. Pretty young, I lost all of my grandparents so it’s really just been my parents, one brother, a few cousins, 3 aunts, and 2 uncles. All in all a pretty small family. I didn’t even really know my background only very vaguely, which became quite obvious recently after talking with a Polish guy when he mentioned that I didn’t look all that Polish and I didn’t really know much about my background otherwise. I’ve been on a search to find out more about myself. Turns out I’m 37.5% of both Polish and Ukraine, though some of that Ukraine is actually Mongolian. Also, I am 12.5% of both Native American and German. I’m planning on really trying to track my family tree and learn about some traditions. I suppose as I’m getting older, I think where I come from is getting more important. Well, on to the tea.
Today is day 2 of my raging migraine, so please pardon my tasting notes as they may be inaccurate due to the headache. I love this dragon well. I particularly like to do what I call reverse brewing. I have this glass tumbler that you can click this steel strainer into place. I like to put the tea leaves under the strainer to watch the leaves expand and brew especially since they look so gorgeous. The strainer keeps the leaves from getting in my mouth and I just add more water when it starts to turn bitter. I love to do this with my green teas. This tea is sweet and strongly nutty and buttery with some steamed vegetable notes. I’m finding the nutty notes to be similar to brazil nuts today and the steamed veggie notes to be mostly artichoke. A hint of floral can also be detected. It’s perfect for my mood right now. A solid sweet green tea that is more buttery and nutty than anything else. This is a beautiful mellow cup of tea.
Hope your migraine goes away soon. I will have to try this one next time I place an order :)
I hope you feel better soon. I had really bad one yesterday and it took most of the day in a dark room with some herbal tea to feel normal again.
Thanks guys! Today’s migraine isn’t as bad as yesterday’s so I’m hoping I’ll just sleep it off tonight.
Oh, family histories are really neat. I did a project for a geography class, tracing what we know of our family history. So much fun. I also have an online family tree I’m working on updating.
You know I understand. The air pressure is changing so I’ve had puerh and ginger with some cocoa nibs brewing over and over all day yesterday and today. Feels good!
I’m the keeper of family history’s, but my children being half African-American have that blank space from slavery. The National Geographic has information on the DNA project where you can be tested and find out where in the world you come from. I’d love to do this for my children. Others might like this information.
My background on my Mom’s side is easy to trace all the way back to England, Ireland, & Scotland. On Dad’s side they are all alcoholics, that’s where the Native American blood comes in & his great gramma was quite the wild one, having children from several different guys, remarrying several times, & changing her name often. Nobody knows where she came from originally, & it’s so frustrating!
Stacy, how did you come upon those percentages?
Also, thanks for sharing this, as it’s always fun to read these things. I hope your head keeps feeling better.
Family trees are all very interesting. There’s always a bit of interesting history somewhere in everyone’s family. For example, my last name (still have my dad’s last name) has a bit of an interesting story. It was apparently originally a German name, but way back when the last man carrying the name apparently hated his father, so he ran off to Russia and cut ties with his family, changing the name to a more Russian sounding one.
Eventually his descendants came over here to Canada, Amercanizing it when they did to make it more accessible. So in the end, none of us really know what the original name was since it got fiddled with so much. The people who would’ve known are long gone.
Anyway, hope your migraine gets better. I know my headache strategy is to just keep drinking tea until it’s gone, haha. Doesn’t even have to be caffeinated, just something about a hot drink is really comforting. :)
… speaking of which, I’ve fallen behind on my tasting notes. Need to get back to doing them.
Oy, migraines are the worst. Hope you feel better soon.
My dad started tracing our part of our family tree and has uncovered some very interesting stories. One doozy is my (I think) great-great grandfather who said he was Pinkerton (a special and detective). He’d stop in a town for long enough to meet and marry a girl, get her pregnant, and then tell her he had a new lead on his case and had to go chase down his fugitive. Then he’d leave, go to a new town and meet some other poor girl and marry her. I still don’t know if any of these girl’s fathers ever caught up to him.
Hope you feel better
Green tea just isn’t my thing. I’ve tried. I want to like it. :) But, my mother loves this dragonwell. :)
@Veronica
My goodness! What a story. XD;
OMGsrsy-That is super cool that you are working on that online. Is there a special site you are using?
Bonnie-This weather is just killing me. It goes from super hot to cold to raining with nothing in between. With slavery, that must be challenging to find real roots. My husband is Philippino and they have been invaded by just about everyone. People have a difficult time guessing what he is and he has a lot of Spanish features. It would be really interesting for him to get that DNA test. I would love to do that.
Terri-That’s an interesting mix! The harp and gardening always had me thinking of you as celtic-y. I hope that’s not offensive. Well, the numbers won’t be truly accurate due to all sorts of wars and what not and is also not genetically sound. I’m not a science person, so I figure it can’t be crazy far off doing it this way or I could be completely wrong. On my dad’s side, my grandma is first generation American straight from Poland so that makes me 25% Polish from that side. My grandpa is first generation American and his family came from Ukraine, so that makes me 25% Ukraine from his side. On my mom’s side her mother is 50% polish (that adds 12.5% to the Polish) and 50% Ukraine which adds 12.5%. In that Ukraine, my uncle had traced some Mongolian blood. My mom’s father was 50% german and 50% native american adding 12.5% to my totals. Now this is really just rough estimate. My family is all really recent immigrants except for the Native American.
Chizakura-That’s really interesting. I wonder if there is a way to look that up now or if record keeping wasn’t done well back then. My maiden last name is a Ukrainian stringed instrument. There was a famous psychologist with the same last name though there was no relation despite it being an uncommon name. Last names are so fascinating. I have been drinking tea all day, the migrane is getting better. It’s kind of in hangover mode.
Veronica-That sounds like a movie! Why bother with the getting married part. So weird.
boychik-Thanks! :)
Nicole-So glad you mom is enjoying it. I’m mostly a black tea & oolong girl myself but I do love my greens occasionally.
Also, thank you guys for sharing your stories!!! I find it all so fascinating!
I’ve been using myheritage because the basic level is free. Ancestry is another one I want to try, but it does cost.
It’s kind of cool because my grandmother is Russian doukhobor, and there are ships records online PLUS graveyard records for BC. I was able to trace where my great grandparents were buried, and I could link them to someone else’s family tree if I paid, and they have a lot more information I can’t see. The names were anglicized, so we don’t know what the original last names were, which makes it harder. My great grandmother also had children from two marriages.
Stacy- the Celtic is def there from my mom’s dad’s side, coming from the Scots-Irish Sweeney brothers, who owned a tobacco plantation in VA until they had a falling out (probably over a woman and/or alcohol induced…more alcoholics in that family too). One of the brothers changed his name to Swinney, & began the westward migration that eventually landed the family in TX where they got Spanish land grants while TX was still part of Spain.
Interestingly, the very first time I heard trad Irish music (in college), I was instantly hooked, joined the band & played with the same people in various configurations (my now ex husband being one of them) for years. The ex & I played as a duo all over the place, we had a trio that played the KC renaissance festival from 1982-89, & the entire 7 member band had an annual st pats gig at Lindberghs in Springfield,MO for years. We also played some festivals (& actually got paid), including the prestigious Milwaukee Irish Festival.
Sadly, people moved, I got divorced, got a little bored & started looking for more of a challenge, plus my original songs don’t fall into that genre. But I do bring all those celtic tunes out yearly for at least 1 St Pats performance a year!
ancestry occasionally has a 14 day free trial. so then i register and use it for 14 days and then cancel before they charge me. warning though, it’s really fun and addicting!
Stacy- I hope your headaches subside soon! This back and forth weather doesn’t give me headaches, but it does make me draggy and stuffs up my sinuses something awful.
Oh and learning about family history is so interesting!!
My Mom’s side of the family is Greek and I look exactly like my Greek great-grandmother. That side of the family is from a teeny tiny Greek island that they lived on for generations. It was often over-run by pirates, so we may have Spanish ancestry from that side too (but no one would admit it if we did). My grandfather’s side of the family was from Athens and it is rumored that we descended from the Oracle of Delphi because of their surname “Delphos”, but I don’t know how true that one is.
My Dad is your All-American mutt. His family has lived in Maine for generations. Although our last name is Scottish, we have English, Irish, American-Indian, French-Canadian, Danish, Swedish and a large chunk of Norwegian in our background. A lot of them were sailors and that explains the crazy colorful quilt of our background on that side.
Fuzzy, that’s an amazing background story! Oracles, Greek goddesses, Pirates!!! Yeah!
Terri- With a family full of story-tellers (especially on my Dad’s side) it’s hard to distinguish what’s real from what they embellished. Inevitably when these kind of conversations pop up, I always have to ask people “Do you want the long version or the short version of my background?” This was kind of a medium-length version of my family history. Usually I’m just say I’m half Greek, half everything else.
@Fuzzy
You win the prize for coolest family tree. xD Haha. Though I’m a bit biased since I absolutely love Greek mythology, so I got super excited seeing the words “Oracle of Delphi” xD
As it gets closer to the expected arrival date, I get a little more bold about having more of my tiny half ounce stash of this tea. I so needed some today since I am putting in a 16 hour work day. This tea is deliciously honey. The notes are intense but the pastry notes balance it from being too sweet. This tea lingers long after the sip. Not that I want this summer to hurry up already but I can’t wait for our order to come in. I purchased a kilo just for myself for the year so I won’t need to be hoarding it.
Ooh, maybe I will wait until this comes back into stock before I use my contest winnings. I do really want to try this one!
Dinosara-It will be back either the very end of July or the very beginning of August. Congrats on winning! I was surprised how fast you got the Mutter. I thought that one would be tricky. It is a very cool place to visit.
That should be good timing! And thanks… I teach anatomy to med students, so the Mutter has been my list of places I want to visit. I have been to a similar museum in London and it was so cool!
I soooooooooo waning to try this!
Ugh! Wanting!
Dinosara-it’s a really neat place. It’s on the small side but it has a lot of cool things to look at and it looks like they are expanding. They will be having an injuries of the civil war exhibit soon that I would really like to see. When I was there they had a small exhibit on gruesome fairy tale type injuries.
I can’t wait to get this again! :)
We just posted this Oriental Beauty on our website. It’s the first of 6 teas that we will be putting up tonight. I did the official tasting yesterday and today I’m getting some different notes, though that may be because I just had a huge amount of bruschetta. In addition to the honey and funnel cake notes, I’m also getting some lightly cooling mint, mushroom, and mineral notes. I love this Oriental Beauty. It took us a while to pick out just the right one and I think I might be partial to this one because it somewhat reminds me of our Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black that has been out of stock for a few months now. Ever since this one has arrived, I have been drinking it nonstop. I tend to go heavy on the leaf and even use boiling water. I prefer a slight astringency for this one.
I love this tea! Ever since it has arrived, it’s the only tea I drink. First Flush Darjeelings tend to be on the caffeinated side and this one is no exception. I feel a bit more alert after drinking this tea. It tastes so very fresh, since it was harvested earlier this month. Today I went pretty heavy on the leaves. I like this a bit on the heavy side with more astringency. The first thing I’m noticing today is maltiness followed by sweet almond and juicy peach notes. Those notes give way to strong jasmine notes. The jasmine is so strong that it almost tastes like a scented tea though the jasmine notes do not last long before hay and woody notes appear. There is a fantastic lingering sweetness. With the heavier leafing, I’m not tasting the lemon notes or the blackberry notes that I had previously tasted. Still, I enjoy this very heavily leafed. This year we added two additional 2013 first flush Darjeelings. This was my favorite of all the Darjeelings I tasted and that was quite a few. We also added another Darjeeling but I wanted something that would be less sweet than this and that’s why we also went with the Thurbo Estate. Both are phenomenal teas.
Preparation
This sounds really great! I’m super excited for that Darjeeling sampler, but I told myself I’m not allowed to buy tea until May (which is now in a few days, yay~) so be sure to keep that sampler for a little bit ;) Hehe.
This sounds fantastic! Looking forward to trying this.
Chizakura-May is not too far at all! I think you will be pretty happy with that sampler. I’m a huge fan of the Giddapahar.
Inguna-It’s very tasty! :)
This is day 3 of my raw food cleanse. From time to time, I like to follow a raw diet to cleanse my body. This time around, I haven’t really been overly hungry (yet) but today is a real low. I’m feeling very exhausted, weak, and am unable to focus. This will pass since I’ve felt this before in the detox phase but I was hoping to get the ‘community’ page of our website done tonight and that is not looking real promising right now. During my raw diet, I allow one cheat of one tea a day. Today I opted for the Hattialli Golden Lion Assam. This is a real special second flush. It reminds me very much of a Yunnan. I love the maltiness of this tea and the oaky and peppery notes. Right now I’m also getting an almost burned chocolate note as well as some apricot and floral notes. I’m very glad I chose this as my reward tea. Hopefully, it will help me focus a bit.
Preparation
Hope your diet goes better after today. :) Usually after a week, or in the middle of a week is the most difficult part of a dietary change.
Talking about the tea now, I’m super excited to try this. I have it in my cart in an order I think is almost ready to be submitted. Hehe. :D
Chizakura-Thanks. I’ve done the raw thing before and the weakness and inability to focus usually only lasts a day or two but it can be rough. I was fine the first two days and was thinking wow this is easier than I remember. Guess not. This is a fantastic Assam. We recommended a 3 minute 30 second brew time but if you are ok with astringency, this tea is even more complex at about 4 minutes 30 seconds. :)
I did a cleanse last year. Not raw food but lots of restrictions. No tea! gah!
Hope tomorrow goes better for you.
Ahhhh this one sounds amazing
Indigobloom-In the past I’ve cut out tea with the raw food diet but this time around I decided not to. Thanks! :) It is quite delicious!
Love the name of that tea! Really hope it will help you feel better :-) Do you eat protein such as seeds and nuts during your raw food cleanse or do you keep it strictly fruits and veggies?
There used to be a raw food restaurant in the Cupertino Whole Foods when I lived in California. (Think it’s gone but I have their cookbook). They allowed brown rice and soup as heated items.
TheTeaFairy-I’m getting a lot of protein. I’ve been eating a variety of raw unpasteurized nuts (and raw nut butters), seeds, and soaked flax seeds. I’ve been monitoring the protein intake. The haze is a bit better now. I had a huge amount of raw mac and cheeze (nut cheeze) and I think that helped along with the tea. The name is great. I love that it means elephant road.
Bonnie-That’s awesome. I’ve been to only one raw restaurant and that was in Vegas when I attended the World Tea Expo. I make warm soups. I have Vitamix and came blend it until its warm but still below the 115F requirement to be raw.
Oh, then you reassure me! I know some folks who’ll do cleanse from fruits and veggies only, and though it is for a short period of time usually, I don’t think it’s good to cut off protein, even if it’s just for a couple of days.
I also own a Vitamix, I used to think you’d have to be out of your mind to pay that kind of money for a blender, but this is one appliance I now can’t live without, it has changed the way I eat completely. I use it min. twice a day, my body craves green juice whenever I skip one day, which almost never happens :-)
TheTeaFairy-I agree. Its important for me to make sure that while cleansing that I’m still getting proper nutrition. I LOVE my vitamix. Isn’t the self-cleaning feature awesome? I have a juicer too but it takes so long to clean, so I love using both the juicer and the vitamix. I know what you mean about your body craving juice/smoothies. This morning I made a carrot, apple, kale, spinach, ginger, celery, zucchini juice. It was amazing! Have any favorite recipes?
Stacy, your morning juice sounds great, love the ginger!
Every morning I have a green smoothie that involves these basics: kale and or spinach (love the fact that Costco now has frozen kale, it’s sometimes hard to find fresh around here and frozen makes it perfect for smoothies), uncooked oats, raw almonds, soy milk, coconut water, chia and hemp seeds. Then I add whatever inspires me, carrots, cucumbers, apples, strawberries, you name it! I put it in a thermos bottle and I sip on it all morning. It helps speeding up my metabolism and makes me feel so good, that’s why I’m addicted to it, plus it tastes great!
I have tones of favorite recipes, let me know if you want me to PM you some, feel free to send me some of your favorites too, it’s always great to get new ideas. I’m a big fan of this website, it is a goldmine of great recipes and ideas:
http://healthyblenderrecipes.com
Oh, and You are so right about the self cleaning, so easy compare to the juicer plus you get to keep all the fibres :-)
I used to be a raw vegan, & practically lived on green smoothies for a couple of years. I ruined a regular blender at least once a year until I finally broke down & bought a vitamix. Now that my garden is growing again, I’m looking forward to being able to walk out back, pick some Kale, Collards, or parsley, & make smoothies again. My favorites (which all include whatever greens are abundant that day):
- apple, ginger, & lemon
- peach
- mango
My other favorite is cuke & lemon, no greens.
TheTeaFairy-I put ginger in nearly all my juices. Yums. Oooh, I’ve never tried oats in a shake before. Interesting idea. I think I will have to try a tropical oat shake after the raw thing. Absolutely, feel free to send me any recipes. Thanks for the recipe link.
Terri-Oh that must be so amazing to have kale right after its picked. Mmmm. I’m a big mango fan too. Mango and kale smoothies are awesome!
To chime in, an amazing smoothie is banana, nut butter and oats. Adding vanilla, a pinch of salt, or some sort of chocolate makes it even better. I like to use almond milk in it, which is super easy to make at home if you’re doing raw. :) I should try spinach in it tomorrow.
I’m a big fan of aged oolongs and this tea in particular is a really special tea. 22 years ago seems like such a long time. I looked through some of my old photo books to see what I was like 22 years ago and I couldn’t find anything from 1991. There are an explosion of photos from 1993, when I started high school, but I can’t find anything from after I was a baby up until 1993.
This tea was stored for 22 years, every few years the tea is roasted. It is because of this process that aged oolongs are rare. They don’t command a price worth storing the tea that long and re-roasting it occasionally. I’ve heard some speculation that aging oolongs in Taiwan could die out.
This tea makes me happy. It is so delicious and buttery. I definitely recommend gongfu brewing but even western style, it is still very rich and creamy. Roasted chestnuts and tree bark are the first notes that hit my tongue followed instantly by creamy butter notes that linger long after the sip. I’m almost getting a very very light minty end note. There are also some pleasant mineral notes. After about 2 decades, mineral notes start to appear in aged oolongs. This is a tea that I end up drinking so fast because I am enjoying it so much. Yum, what a nice treat!
I’m mad now! You started High School 30 years after I did! I no longer feel sorry for you staying up till all hours concocting new tea blends!!! Young-un!
what sort of oolong was it when it started? where did it hail from? what style or fermentation/oxidation level?
Bonnie-Hahaha. :) My family is such a late night family. I just don’t function well at all before 10am.
Kashyap-It was a Da Ye Oolong. They aren’t very common now since the plant produces less tea than other more common plants. It came from Nantou, Taiwan (middle of the country). The oxidation level is between 20-30% and is charcoal roasted.
nice…I love teas from Nantou and the lighter oxidation explains the buttery and creamy mineral notes
Kashyap-I too am a big fan of teas from Nantou. I’ve been very big into Taiwanese teas lately. It is very buttery and creamy. So delicious.
Fascinating about the mineral notes, I didn’t know that!! Maybe I’ll pack some away in a tea time capsule :)
guess what stacy! i’m ordering some of this! woot woot!
Indigobloom-Only if you don’t mind digging it up every few years to roast.
Sil-An oolong, I’m surprised.
@ stacy – i really loved the 2003 four seasons one.
Sil-Glad you love that one! I think you will enjoy this one too.
Good to know! I’d be scared to burn it tho
Indigobloom-Best to leave it to the professionals, though I would be curious to try it myself. It takes great deal of skill.
I’m a little confused…Stacy, you sent me a 20 year aged Oolong and this would be 22 year old Oolong? Or is this the one you sent?
Bonnie-Sorry for the confusion, the sample I sent was this tea. I typed up that sample in a rush, so looks like I missed the extra 2 years.
Oh good…I can write a review under the right place! Drank with the guys today. I’ve been sick since last Saturday and just ventured out today.
Glad to hear you are feeling better Bonnie. That’s nice that you were able to share it with the guys. :)
been wondering where you got to Bonnie! whew, glad you’re on the mend now
I graduated high school in 1993…trying to decide between this and the gui fei oolong as one of my samples. Tough choice.
Heather, personally I enjoy the aged oolongs a little more Gui Fei though I very much enjoy both. There is such a lovely creaminess to this tea. Both are great though.
I opted for the Gui Fei this time…but this one (1991 Da Ye Aged Oolong) is a close second. It was hard to choose.
Just finished making a large batch of Grapefruit Dragon. Working with that tea can be challenging. The scent is so overpowering that I can literally taste the grapefruit and it tingles my tongue. So, I decided I needed a smooth and mellow tea. This is one of my reward teas. The honey is just so delicious and creamy. Yums! This is reminding me that I need to work on a honeysuckle blend.
Just added this to our website. I always like to drink the teas while I write the descriptions for our website, even though I have already written full tasting notes. It gets me in the mood to write about the tea.
I love this oolong. Our Anxi Tie Guan Yin and this one are my 2 favorite oolongs. I definitely recommend this to any oolong fanatics. This is a winter harvest and the leaves were plucked just a couple months ago, so it is very fresh. The leaves are very sturdy. Here is a picture after the 3rd infusion: http://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i446/butikiteas/3rdinfusionleavesdayuling_zpsb70e1a64.jpg. That’s from my mini glass pot that I use for gongfu sessions. I love being able to see the leaves brew. This is just such an interesting tea. Here’s a short breakdown of the infusions I’ve done so far:
1st infusion: Very floral, notes of orchids and lilac mingle with bosc pear followed by light spearmint notes. Buttery. Light spinach notes.
2nd infusion: very very vegetal.
3rd infusion: vegetal but fading.
4th infusion: The floral notes are back and even stronger now! The spearmint notes are also pretty strong and lingers long after the sip. Nice sweetness and deliciously buttery. This was one of my favorite infusions this session.
5th infusion: Floral, vegetal with strong spearmint notes. Delicious!
This tea has a few more infusions left, but I need a break at the moment.
I strongly recommend giving this one a try but also recommend taking some time to spend with it.
Preparation
I didn’t look,but I’m guessing that this is a Taiwanese Oolong.
Indeed it is!
I LOVE the minty spearmint in good Taiwanese Oolong’s!
Oh yes, absolutely. :)
I’m having a hard time understanding what you mean by orchid notes in this tea. I have collected orchids in the past and although some are scented (and have a variety of scents from one type to another) most have no fragrance. Is it a scent of a particular orchid or just a term for a specific scent? Can you break down what an orchid note would be a little further for me please? :)
Dustin-Well, its really how I perceive orchids I guess. My in-laws love orchids. They always have them in the house and my husband and I always purchase more orchids for them for various events and holidays. To me, the ones that we have purchased, which would be the more common types have a certain fragrance that is quite beautiful. Its very fresh and slightly sweet. Its kind of hard to describe but I know it when I smell it. Our Wen Shan Bao Zhong is a prime example of this. To me, the orchid notes in that tea are very strong. The scent of the actual flower is generally light but I have a really good sense of smell. Does that make sense?
Yeah, I think I get it. Thanks!
Ooooh! Drooling over the sesame!
Fuzzy_Peachkin-Me too! I’m real excited about this one! crosses fingers that it turns out right. The sesame won’t be very strong since the coconut and sugar are the most apparent flavors in Palitao.
Drooling over the dessert and the thought of it as a tea! I’d love a recipe for the dessert itself, ha! Sounds unbelievable :)
Now I want to try Black Lotus as well. An English Breakfast with PTA in it, now that sounds like something I need! Was it in the store already? I can’t believe I missed it when I placed my order in earlier. I would’ve jumped on it if I noticed. I guess I just zoomed down to the ones I wanted too quickly and didn’t take the time to browse.
Chizakura-We will definitely be adding the recipe to the blog. Its really good. I brought some home to my hubby and he has been asking if we can make more.
It has been on the website for about an hour. Message me, if you would like to add it to your order. We can always invoice you.
I am “Filipino” and yes, that’s how it’s properly spelled :) and when I first saw your company name, I told my husband what it means in Tagalog. I thought it has another meaning in another language :) It would be really nice to try something like Palitao/Palitaw flavored tea. Looking forward to it :)
That black lotus is sounding really good too.
RogersCK-I’ve had a few debates over the spelling. My in-laws spell it Philippino, so that’s generally what I go with though it seems like Filipino is so much more common spelling these days. I used to see Philippino a lot more a decade ago but I’m stuck in my ways. Yep, we are “Lizard Teas” though there is a bit more meaning behind it. We even have our logo of a butiki holding a tea leaf with its tail admiring the leaf. I’m crossing my fingers that Palitao comes out good. Sometimes I have these awesome ideas and they just don’t translate well into tea.
Wow, shows how much I pay attention to logos, lol! Well, I hope that works out well too. And for Filipino desserts, you might want to check out “maja blanca” (if you haven’t tried it yet), it’s a corn and coconut pudding. Tastes pretty good too.
I still need to try more of your teas, only one I’ve had so far was Good Morning Sunshine, and that tea is really good!
RogersCK-Next to my name, my avatar for this site is our logo. My friend painted that lizard for us. I don’t think I’ve had that dessert before. It sounds amazing! I don’t eat desserts anymore, since I can’t digest sugar but I used to love these bright different colored balls (like pink and green) that I got from street vendors. I can’t remember what they were called. Also, watermelon seeds are amazing! Every time a relative comes to visit I request bags of them. Glad you enjoyed the Good Morning Sunshine! :)
Yep, I definitely see a butiki and a tea leaf :) I think you’re talking about “puto” and if you are, they are pretty good. Sad to hear that you can’t digest sugar :( Filipinos sure love their sugar and their salt and pepper. But hey, at least you can still enjoy watermelon seeds! :)
Well, will definitely make sure I try more of your teas. Been reading a lot of good reviews about them :)
RogersCK-Yes, puto! I loved that treat so much! I’m fine with the sugar thing. After being off sugar for a while, it is actually pretty awesome. I feel a lot better. Mmmm, watermelon seeds. Might have to make my way to a Philippino store soon. Glad to hear you have seen some good reviews about our teas!
Oh man! My fiance is Filipino and he’s going to LOVE the palitao one. And wow I am so excited to hear you’re coming out with a Carrot Cake tea! I’ve tried many different ones, and they are never quite right. I’m sure you probably blew them away.
Andie-The carrot cake will be a limited edition but so far, I’m really liking this one.
Totally excited for that palitao tea! I’ve never had it, but asked my husband, who’s Filipino, and he knew it. It sounds delicious!
Tealizzy-I’m glad that the palitao sounds good! :)
That sounds very good!
Thanks Nicole! :)