Butiki Teas

I got this as a sample with my Winter Sampler set. The loose leaf smelled promising, but not quite as strong as I thought it should be with a name like “Almond Indulgence.” I was more expecting to be smacked upside the head with an almond extract-like heaviness, but I didn’t get that. I actually didn’t get much almond flavor at all, and the same was true for the brew.

From the first few sips, I sort of got the “cookie” from its former name, but the almond was almost completely lost. It was an attempt at subtlety that came across as timidity. :(

The flavor wasn’t bad, though. It was a tasty black tea, although the leaves were a bit crumb-like. I don’t think I’ll order it, since I love Teavana’s Almond Biscotti and The English Tea Room’s Ciao Amaretto SO MUCH, but I’m glad I got to try it. :)

This is the tea I like best from Butiki. It has a sweet honeyed floral fragrance and a sweet taste.

Never before has a tea defeated me like this. I went a good seven or eight rounds with this pu-erh – the first five were gongfu-style, the last two were Western. Same leaves each time. It didn’t lapse in strength until steep seven, and even then it still had juice to jolt me. Odd spectrum of flavors, too – peat, oak, wilderness leaf, juniper, strawberries-’n-cream (yeah, you heard right) and earth. This was one tough sip. Totally worth it, though.

Full Review: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2011/11/17/pwned-by-purple-pu-erh/

I absolutely love notching a unique tea off my list. I’d been looking for Kenyan Purple Tea for over half a year, and Butiki was one of the ONLY suppliers of the stuff. It lives up to its experimental moniker; as in, it’s a hard one to classify. Part green tea, part oolong, and oddly tisane-ish on taste. I had a tough time coming up with a label. I tried three different temperatures to see which one I liked best. Boiling the ever-loving s**t out of it seemed to fit my palate the best. All in all, though, I really liked it and look forward to more like it in the future.

Full Review: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2011/11/09/four-eyed-no-horned-flightless-purple-tea-drinker/

THE PURPLE IS A LIE. It’s just normal looking tea. Sadface.

Colouring aside, this tea was good while it was still hot – tasted like blueberry muffins, nice rich flavour – but as it cooled it got decidedly bitter for me. Maybe I’ll need another cup to get a real good test, but I couldn’t even finish my first cup.

I offered to make a small pot of this to share with my wife and she got very excited. “Oooh, yes, in the clear teapot!”

“…the tea itself isn’t purple, honey, just the leaves.”

“… … … pout”

“I’m sorry?”

“Hmph. The tea is a liiiiiiiie.”

So my wife is pouting about the lack of purple in this tea. That being said, we are enjoying it. We agree it tastes kind of like blueberry muffins. It is very, very tasty. But with the amount of tea we already have in the house and the price point, we decided not to restock just now. It is a delicious tea well worth the price, but we already have many, many teas to drink and while it is a tasty tea, it didn’t strike us as one we had to keep in stock. Maybe later!

Mmmmm. This is the best pumpkin tea I’ve had all season. So yummy. Definitely need to try this as a latte. But I recommend this to everyone who is a fan of pumpkin. It’s creamy and pumpkiny and perfect.

The ice wine tea put me in the mood for the rest of my sample of this tea, and I’m so glad it did! I really, really enjoy this tea. I need to put together another order with them…maybe after Christmas. I’m using my wife’s gaiwan and now I want one of my own. A pink one…do they make pink ones? Well, if they don’t, they should. I’ll definitely be having a look when we go to Kensington this weekend.

Oh, this is good. It’s so, so good. Hot, it’s delicious. Cold, it’s out of this world. This is the grape flavor that Through the Grapevine promises but doesn’t deliver. But the oolong is present as well, in an amazingly creamy way.

Love. I’m definitely adding this to my “to-order” list.

I just want to note that the steeped leaves really smell like pumpkin, so you can tell there’s real bits of pumpkin in it. Just brilliant!

I agree with TeaEqualsBliss’s comment about some pumpkin teas going WAY OVERBOARD with the pumpkin flavor. Kind of like they’re sticking your head in a pumpkin and telling you you’re drinking tea. This tea blend does not do that at all—it has a subtle pumpkin flavor that is more like the sensation from eating pumpkin pie than the actual taste of the pie.

To that is added the light ethereal quality of creme brulee, in hot liquid form. I don’t know how they do it, but I totally get the texture of creme brulee from this tea. The only thing that would make it better would be that yummy layer of caramelized sugar on top. :))))

Soooo, my last experience with this tea was, um, memorable, to say the least. One might also call it completely horrifying, but the tea itself was not in any way responsible for that. Let me tell it from the beginning.
I didn’t have all that much left of this tea, and it had been a while, so I pulled it out and steeped myself some. I noticed some weird looking white things in the strainer, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. After a few sips, I decided to look up the ingredients online, and when I found nothing that might fit the description of what I saw, I opened the tin back up to get a look at the dry leaf.

What I found there still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

THERE WERE BUGS IN MY TEA. THOSE WHITE THINGS WERE LARVA. AND I HAD DRUNK SOME.

I proceeded to have myself a nice little flip out, clamp the lid back on the tin, run outside, and dump it in the grass on the other side of the carport. Then the rest of what I had brewed went down the drain. I have no idea how they got in there, since it was in a sealed tin, just like all the rest of my teas, so I then had to go check every single other tea that was on the shelf with that one. And then all the others, just for good measure and peace of mind. It was the only one that had been infected. And it’s not like I just got it, so I can’t assume these bugs were in it when I got it. The only thing I can think of is that at one point when the tin was open, one bug got in and had itself a nice time, and… little bugs. shudders

I really truly forgot I had this tea. Even though it’s been on my tea shelf, with all the other teas. I guess it just went into ninja mode… or I was wearing blinders. Anyway, I was craving a tea with chocolate in it one day, but I didn’t finally remember about this tea until the following day, when I was craving a raspberry tea. For some reason, my spacey brain remembered that this tea had raspberry, but not CHOCOLATE. (Shakes head at self)

Anyway, I wishI’d looked on here and seen the brown sugar recommendation before I made it, because the flavors just weren’t quite as present as I thought I remembered them being. I think this bears a do-over. But that is for a later post, because right now I’m holding a sleeping baby. :D

I honestly wasn’t sure what to make of this tea when I first tasted it. The color is pretty normal for a black tea. I don’t really have any idea what temp. I steeped it at, because I had to heat my cup in the microwave and I don’t use a thermometer… but I’m pretty sure it was close to boiling.

Anyway, I can get the raspberries, and there’s a slightly creamy nutty flavor that might be the truffle… but beyond that, not really a chocolate note. Perhaps if I tried different temps and different steeping times I might get different results. le shrug Anyway, it has a pretty pleasant flavor, and not at all astringent (which makes me think that perhaps I didn’t get the temp as close to boiling as I thought, even though I did see little bubbles in the sides of the cup… or maybe it’s just that this tea doesn’t get bitter?). As I drink, I get this vague flavor that seems to be a mix of the raspberry and the nutty creamy flavor, but neither flavor is very identifiable or distinct. The raspberries dominate in the aftertaste.

I’m not normally a big fan of raspberries, but I’m glad I gave this one a try. :)

Sipdown cup #2! I’m aiming for four sipdowns this morning before I go to work instead of my usual huge pot of tea. Next up is a sample of Blueberry Purple tea, my second go round at a purple tea. I can smell the blueberry as the water hits the leaves—it makes me happy. I do love blueberries, so anything with blueberries is something I’m predisposed to love.

My first go round at purple tea I wasn’t such a fan of. This is better. Much better. It has a less astringent flavor, which makes me suspect I oversteeped my pot of the purple tea I made the first time. The blueberry isn’t as prominent in the brew as it was when I poured the water. Definitely an earthiness and a woodiness to the brew that isn’t bad by the cup. I also suspect that I might like the purple tea on a cup-at-a-time basis, rather than four cups at a time, like I made it when I first got it. That probably is a good lesson in general. Perhaps new teas ought to be made just a cup at a time instead of a four pot cup at a time. Hmm, things to ponder.

I’m doing my own Sipdown today since, despite my best intentions of sipping down yesterday, had a disastrous food and beverage day. First up is Butiki Tea’s Genmaicha, which I got as a sample from a recent order.

This is my first genmaicha, and I’m intrigued. I can smell the toastiness wafting off the mug as I type. It is rather pleasant, and totally unlike what I’ve experienced in a green tea before. The brew delivers on the promised toastiness—it is delicious! I really get the taste of the rice from the drink. The couple little pieces of popped corn I think I get more on the scent end. This is one of the few teas I’ve had where I can say “Yes! I taste what I’m supposed to taste!” This would be a great after dinner drink on one of those days when you’ve eaten just right, and don’t need any digestifs. A pre-prebedtime tea. This feels rather like comfort food for me. Its warm, savory, and delicious.

This is definitely going to go on my shopping list. There will be more in my future.

My 2nd Purple Tea! Woot!

Here’s what I am smelling…black tea, green tea, blueberry, floral, and something that resembles Tulsi.

Here’s what I am tasting…strong earthiness, grassier green tea notes, the brashiness of a black tea, blueberry berries and leaves, floral notes thru-out.

A little of this goes a long way. I think I over infused but it’s still a conversationable cup! I will be trying this again before passing it along to my SororiTEA Sister LiberTEAs!

I do love the blueberry notes here, tho! Ahhhh!

I both love and dread finish off an ounce of Butiki’s flavored tea; it’s the last of the best, but it has the flower dust that makes the best and most flavorful cup of the batch. I’m going to be disappointed for weeks. Or until Pistachio Ice Cream Green is remade. HINT. NUDGE.
This fits the end of summer. The light color and body are suited for humid, chilly evenings. Refreshing and a good confirmation I am shifting to autumnal food like pumpkin and persimmons. This tea always makes me want to read haiku…

I am currently on the tweleve step program to combat melon addiction. The first step is admitting you don’t need three cantaloupe and a honeydew per pound of body weight. The second step is Butiki ’s Cantaloupe and Cream.

This is absoultely the most real and natural flavored tea I’ve had. The next closest thing to real melon and cream. But that’s not vegan friendly.
It starts off oddly more honeydew than cataloupe but the honeydew disappears after four steeps. The mouthfeel is juicy like real cantaloupe and the tea base provides the perfect honey toned background. This tea can only be improved by sharing with one’s pet lizard.

This is pretty good and juicy and MANGO!!!! Locally Mango’s have been pricey here and I have been hungry for them but don’t want to spend over $2 per mango so this will be a mighty fine substitute until they drop in price :)

Very long leaves. Definitely nutty and I can see where the cocoa descriptor comes from, but I’m not sure yet that I’d call it cocoa. There is something else there, I just can’t place it.

Thus far, though this is the only Kenyan I have reviewed, I don’t think I care much for Kenyan teas. I have tried all of them in the sampler pack I got and while they do certainly seem like quality teas, they have all been much more astringent than I care for. Very, very dry mouthfeel. Almost to the point that my mouth feels parched when I finish drinking. But…

I held off on reviewing after the first cup. I brewed up a whole pot and it was less dry with a whole pot. I’m guessing I’ll have to be pretty strict about amounts and steeping time with the Kenyans.

Okay so I steeped for less time than previously. Very nice. Definitely assertive. I don’t notice as much astringency as before so perhaps I got the time down for this one finally. :) It’s almost a little peaty, which is good.

Another Indian tea that I like. I am definitely sensing a pattern here.

I can taste the toasted walnut flavor and the black base is strong, with just a hint of bitter. The bitter becomes more pronounced as the tea cools.

I will be getting more of this but I’ll either drink it only hot or experiment with steeping times to see about cutting the bitter when cool.

I have been waiting to try this tea because I sent an email to both Jason and Ricky hoping they would add a PURPLE TEA Category to the Category List. I haven’t heard back from either one of them regarding this.

Anyhow…

I have LOTS of stuff going thru my head right now about this tea so I am just going to virtually BLAB about it…

At first glance it looks like a finely slivered black tea but after infusion I inspected the leaves and they were reminiscent of a darker green! Very interesting!

At first sniff I could pick up on a savory or food like aroma prior to infusing. After infusing it reminded me of a green and black blend!

It ‘brews’ dark much like a black tea with a bit of a cloud texture to the color…NOT an actual texture to the liquid (like some greens) but the color if that makes sense.

At first taste it reminded me of a few grassier senchas I have tried…but then it changed up to a slightly astringent black tea taste. There is an interesting maltiness to it too – not your stereotypical maltiness like you would find in a black tea tho. The aftertaste has more stereotypical traits of a green tho.

I love the conflicts here. I love the change-up. I like how it morphs back and forth.

The aftertaste of the aftertaste is more of a combo between the woodsy and the grassy but it’s a neat happy-medium that I am appreciating!

I’m excited to try more PURPLE TEAS and am looking forward to their popularity growing!!!! I like this!

I’ve been admiring my Butiki order and finally have the constant drizzle of a day perfectly suited for bai mu dan. This tea has such large leaves I can’t even fit them in my gaiwan. After much awkward head scratching, I finally decided that a kyusu would be the best method. Wouldn’t it be great to have one?
Regular sencha pot prep this is a slightly floral and earthen. It reminds me of Mars and Frontier’s bai mu dan, oddly. There’s no bitterness and as it cools it becomes less floral and gains a more classic bai mu dan savory taste.
Absolutely awesome. Butiki is definitely one of favorite tea merchants now.