513 Tasting Notes

This tea came to me from Anna, all the way from Italy! Now if that isn’t love, I honestly don’t know what is.

Despite the fact that I don’t typically gravitate towards green teas, I’m always happy when i get some in a swap because it means I can try one and perhaps find one I do like.

The people who described this as smelling of lifesavers are spot on—and because of Anna’s expert packaging, the lifesaver smell was contained really nicely in the little bags, so I was hit with a wall of it as soon as I opened it. When brewed, you can still smell what seems to be candied fruit, and I also get a bit of vanilla.

I mostly taste green tea, although especially when still hot, I can pick up on trace notes of candied fruit in the aftertaste. These seem to subside for me as the tea cools, and then the base seems to just take over. As far as green teas go, I actually don’t dislike this one. I wouldn’t go out of my way to acquire it or anything, but I wasn’t turned off by it, either.

Thanks again, Anna!

Sil

does that mean Anna doesn’t love me….

keychange

No because Anna has so much love…it’s in her hairs and melons and everything.

Sil

but i have no anna teas! wails

Kaylee

Sil, do you really need more tea? :)

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You know, this is one of those teas that’s kind of easy to forget you have, but when you have it you realize that it’s so versatile and you think to yourself that you really should have it more often. And then repeat the cycle. I took this to work with me in my carry mug today, and had the following thoughts:
1. This tea is kind of thin.
2. You say that about pretty much every travel mug tea, though.
3. That’s true. This actually tastes really good.
4. A little less sugar next time.
5. As it cools, I like it more—because it tastes thick and creamy—and less, because if you think hard enough, you can (sort of) imagine sour milk and just…no.
6. I’ll be out of this tea soonish, and intend to stock either it or something similar going forward. But I also say that a little too frequently, too.

Basically I can’t be trusted but this tea is reliable…mostly.

DeliriumsFrogs

I sort of want to print this out and put it in a ‘best tea notes ever written’ notebook…. lol

221tea

I am in love with the last line of this review. It should be on a t-shirt.

Charissa

Haha I’m a definite fan of this note too. You should continue to do more stream-of-consciousness reviews, because your thoughts are awesome and highly amusing. And I agree with 221tea, you have a lot of great one-liners that would be perfect to print on t-shirt!

keychange

hahahaha I’m glad I could entertain you guys! and you know you can relate ;)

keychange

Aww guys!!

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Ha, I didn’t even realize I’d asked for a sample of this tea back with my very first Butiki order-but there it was, floating around in my cupboard. This is only the second straight Assam I’ve tried, the other being Butiki’s PTA. It yielded a fairly light cup, very little in the way of malt, complete with the slightly raisiny notes I’ve come to associate with what I think are Assam teas. I enjoyed it more as it cooled, since it seemed to become even more flavourful. I’m glad to have had the chance to try it, but don’t think I’d seek out similar tasting teas to own—I think as far as straight blacks are concerned, I like a bit more heft, some smoke, etc. Still though, thank you Stacy for including this with my first order!

Plunkybug

This is one I have been curious about.

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This sample came to me from the lovely and thoughtful Courtney, so thank you!

I really needed to get in some more tea-drinking, and by the time I got home this evening, it was too late for a caffeinated blend, so this tea won.

I agree with all the reviewers who said this smelled mouth-watering. Like the sweetest strawberry coated in a gentle creamy chocolate. I can also smell the rich cacao, which really makes you feel as though your first sip is going to taste like a strawberry-flavoured hot chocolate.

Sadly, even with some cream and sugar and a seven-minute steep, this tea felt very thin. I’m going to try it with a touch more cream next time (as Courtney’s generosity allows for another cup), and see if that makes a difference. If only this tea had more presence it would be the ideal evening cup!

Thanks again, Courtney!

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I just came into say that I hope Frank reblends this one forever. It’s not even a tea that I’d like to drink every day, but it’s definitely one I’d always like to have on hand. I’ve never really understood why there aren’t enough banana-flavoured things in the world. Oh! but remember when I told you guys that I was really sick with strep? when I went to emerg, they let me have the liquid version of my antibiotics because swallowing the pill hurt too much…and it was banana flavoured! omg, that medicine tasted so wonderfully of my childhood. i wanted to just chug the whole bottle, but sadly they gave me a tiny amount in a little minature cup.
Anyway, at least I have this tea. Mmm.

carol who

I remember my children lovvvving the banana antibiotic and me wishing I could sneak some of it for me ;p

keychange

It’s pretty much the best-tasting medicine ever. If only all medicine tasted like that there’d be like no disease…kidding, but still.

Cheri

I thought it was the absolute worst! shudder I can’t stand anything that tastes like fake banana to this day.

Marzipan

I loved the bubble gum medicine flavor.

keychange

Cheri-I know it’s a very polarizing flavor—people tend to either love it or hate it. Kind of like olives.

Marzipan—mmm bubble gum!

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drank White Rhino by Butiki Teas
513 tasting notes

Sipdown! my virtual cupboard finally reflects my real one, and I desperatly need to drink down some of this tea before I place any more orders. This is feeling really out of control, and I really do want to be able to give the teas I’ve been given the attention they deserve.

This tea came to me from teamore—thank you! I had enough for one sample, which was all I needed, I think. It is true that it smells very much like a black once it’s brewed—I got a bit of henna in the smell (don’t ask why) and was pretty excited by the fact that it smelled fairly potent. I didn’t add anything to it, because although it smelled like a black I still treated it as I would most whites. The comparisons to a darjeeling seem apt to me, and I almost get a sharp lime-type note at the end of each sip. This becomes less pronounced as the tea cools. All in all, a good white tea, but that after-note made it so that I couldn’t really get into it. I can see why it’s really popular though, and am appreciative of the chance to try it.

Thanks again, teamore!

JustJames

a lime-like henna….. huh! not sure if that intrigues or puts me off, lol.

keychange

Haha! It didn’t work for me, but it’s really popular so you never know!

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I’m running late, so this is going to be a quick one. Thanks are owed to charlotte0 who provided me with five million MF teas to sample in our swap, including this one!

This is a sipdown. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as I found it the first time I tried it, although I steeped it slightly differently this time—for about five minutes (as per the website instructions), and the sample had been languishing in my drawer with other samples for some time now. It remains my favourite chocolate tea thus far, specifically because you can really taste the quality of the chocolate flavouring. It isn’t so much that it is intensely strong, although given that it’s a flavoured black it has a decent amount of heft; it’s just that the quality of the chocolate is so rich and decadent. I definitely plan on scooping up this tea when I eventually make it to the UK. I’m finding that in general, you need to be careful with French teas; they are exquisite in their flavouring, and very rich indeed, but also prone to being easily overwhelmed.

Thanks again, charlotte0!

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Oh man, this smells amazing. It has a sharper lemon scent than I’d imagined it would, though; more like a lemon candy than a lemon tart, if that makes sense. Inhale a bit deeper and you do get a whiff of vanilla, and that gave me hope. Because I’ll be honest and say that I don’t actually like lemons, or most lemon-flavoured things. I don’t even like white tea all that much. But I trust stacey’s blending abilities so completely that I knew I needed to try this.

First let me say that measuring out leaves that are this long and fluffy is nearly impossible. I nearly filled my infuser basket to the top in an effort to ensure I wasn’t underleafing, and then ended up spilling a few leaves into the cup. I finally settled on an amount that seemed like two teaspoons, and set to work.

The resultant brew (with a bit of sugar added) is quite pleasant. Definitely a detectable lemon flavour, and it isn’t even remotely tart, which is perfectly fine by me. Once the tea cooled some, I could pick up on some underlying vanilla/pastry notes, but I have to say that this didn’t strike me as a very complex tea. Certainly tasty, with a light and uncomplicated lemon flavour, with a hint of vanilla/cakiness to tie it all together. I’m dying to add a spot of cream to my next attempt to see if I can’t coax out more of the cream notes. I can’t help it! haha.

Courtney

I agree about the measurements. I would put it on my scale, but I’ve no idea which weight would be best.

keychange

Yeah. Definitely a lot of guess work on my part haha.

ohfancythat

I agree it was tough to measure! Flavour wise I also got light and uncomplicated :)

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100
drank Ruby Pie by Butiki Teas
513 tasting notes

My Butiki order arrived yesterday! I’ve basically been getting packages in the mail all week, and well I know you know how awesome that feels.

This was one of the teas I ordered a lot of, because I fell in love with it the first time I tried it and actually managed to brew fairly consistent cups afterwards. As soon as I opened the bag, the intensely strong scent of a strawberry rhubarb pie assailed my nostrils, and I basically wanted to start eating the tea itself, complete with licking the packaging. Instead, I brewed up a cup and had it the civilized way.

You know how when you’re given a fresh piece of strawberry rhubarb pie right out of the oven? And there it is, sitting all nice and triangle-shaped on your plate, and there you are with your fork or spoon or whatever, and then you take your first bite and the whole pie explodes? and the strawberries just come bursting out, dripping and oozing sticky strawberry juice all over the place? and you think screw it, and start savagely going at it with your hands? That’s how this tastes. Mmm.

Charissa

Haha! That sounds scrumptious! You are making my mouth water. :-)

keychange

It made my mouth water! :)

DeliriumsFrogs

I’m totally eating my next piece of strawberry rhubarb pie with my hands… Yup. I totally am. :)
I’ve got a bit of this in my tea drawer from a swap with Marzipan, and I think it’s time I gave my full attention to this tea.
This note was fantastic.

keychange

I’m really glad you liked it! Also, eating pretty much anything with your hands will make it taste better. Promise!

Hesper June

I always eat pie savagely. But, Rhubarb Strawberry pie I take and hide in a dark corner and mutter “my precious” to it.
Rhubarb Strawberry Pie is my Kryptonite.
I need to place an order with Butiki, I believe.

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Sad sipdown, although I’m confident I’ll be getting more of this in the future. Melon-flavoured teas seem to be proliferating right about now, so I may foray into their depths this summer and ultimately come back to this one. I really like the base white tea here, and this tea has a remarkable amount of flavour for a white. I used two heaping tsp in my carry mug and just greedily chugged the last few drops. I do love it when a sip down can end on such a wonderful note. Lots of cantaloupe, lots of cream (helped of course by the dash of cream I added), and a perfect tea to have to remind you that spring is around the corner…or, well, in our case across the world and light-years away, but a girl can dream.

And now to find a hotel to stay in in Hollywood that won’t have me selling myself to afford it! my goodness!

Sil

see it’s funny…i prefer melon teas in winter as that breath of summer to keep me from going out of my mind :)

keychange

Hmmm yeah that makes sense, too! I honestly love melon teas so much that I could probably have them whenever :D

Plunkybug

I had this today and was reminded how much I love this one. It was the first Butiki tea I ever tried, and I fell in love with it HARD.

keychange

Hey, this was the first Butiki tea I’d ever tried also, and I, too, fell head over heels for it.

Plunkybug

Yay! I think it was a sample from Sil? I’m not sure though.

keychange

I wouldn’t be surprised! I first tried this by placing an order. What a good decision that was!

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Bio

Well, it’s been slightly over six months since I’ve joined steepster, and I can’t say enough wonderful things about this community. Like many of you, I began my foray into the world of loose-leaf tea by discovering David’s Tea, and although I’ve ventured out and have discovered many other companies that I’m extremely fond of, there are still many of David’s teas that I hold close to my heart and I will always appreciate it as a starting point for my journey.

As for my preferences, I tend to prefer bold black tea, flavoured and unflavoured alike, and I almost always take my blacks with cream and sugar. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy a good, flavoured white though, and I’m slowly making my way through the incredibly confusing world of oolongs and greens. I am also not a fan of rooibos, although I am starting to suspect green rooibos may be ok, but you know how it is: when you’ve decided you detest a certain ingredient, you’ll notice it everywhere—perhaps even where it doesn’t exist!

Things other than tea: I’m engaged to be married to my best friend, and feel like the richest woman on the planet because of it. I am also a veracious reader, and I also happen to have an obsession with fragrances, and have amassed quite a collection, although it pales in comparison to some collections out there! As a result of this obsession, I also follow several fragrance blogs, and am always up for a chat about scent. I’m also almost completely blind, and this does indeed mean that I come complete with a guide dog, who unlike me, hales from the sunny California campus of Guide dogs for the Blind. I think I’ve rambled on long enough, but if there’s anything you’d like to know or if you just feel like chatting to someone, please don’t hesitate to send me a message.

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Ontario, Canada

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