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Apparently today was Butiki day for me and I’ve already reviewed these teas, some of them more than once, so I figured I’d just put them under random steepings.

For breakfast, I went with a resteep of the Taiwanese wild mountain black. It didn’t resteep particularly well. By that I mean that it was just too weak for my taste. It was still delicious and went really well with my peanut butter toast :-)

Since I got to work, I’ve been drinking Killer’s Vanilla. So freaking good. I would bathe in it if I could. It gave me lots of energy, but that hasn’t really translated into lots of work. Since our flow cytometer is still broken, I am stuck with data analysis. It’s an absolutely gorgeous day (finally warm! thank the heavens for that!), the last work day before a long weekend, and I just want to be outside!!!!

After Killer’s vanilla I switched it up and went with raspberry truffle. I feel like I may have sold this one a little short in my initial review and may revisit it tomorrow. That’s a theme that I’ve been noticing as I am trying more and more teas. When I go back to a Butiki tea that I only tried once, I like it much better the second time. Usually, it’s the opposite for me. I swear Stacy’s not paying me to rave about her teas all the time lol

IS IT TIME FOR HAPPY HOUR YET?? I can’t wait to go. My friends and I are meeting at one of our favorite places on the Mississippi River and the weather is literally perfect. Happy weekend everyone!

I woke up this morning and wanted to listen to traditional irish music for some reason. This then led me to the decision that I should have a plain black tea for breakfast. I don’t know. It made sense at the time (pre-caffeine!). So, I decided to finish off my Wild Mountain Black. I think I appreciated it much more the second time. I added just the tiniest bit of sweetener and I could taste the syrup notes that everyone talks about much better. This really is a great tea, but I do prefer Butiki’s Black Lotus. That’s just for my tastes though!

Another amazing tea from Buitiki. Shocker! (need sarcasm font, of course I am not surprised). Dry, the leaves smell faintly like brown sugar and something else that I can’t put my finger on. When brewing, this smells just like you just opened up a can of pumpkin to make a pie. When tasted, I get a pretty strong dose of pumpkin over oolong, followed by some cloves (yum!), and finishing with vanilla and sweet cream. I did sweeten and add milk because this tea was obviously meant to be a dessert. It is completely fantastic. I never knew I liked pumpkin milkshakes, but I totally do. Another tea to add to my next order!

Edit: I got two good steeps out of this, but you really lose the pumpkin by the third steep. The second steep had less pumpkin than the first, but still had enough.

Gah this week is terrible! I was upset yesterday because one of our instruments that is absolutely essential to our lab (our flow cytometer) was down and when I tried to schedule service for it found out that the lab’s administrative assistant had let the service contract lapse in February. This is a machine that costs about $300,000, so yeah we need to handle with extreme care and while this instrument is down pretty much all experiments are suspended. Today, the same administrative assistant sent an email that could be interpreted in a way that made it seem like it was my fault. I was not the contact for the service contract and also, I have no authority to renew it! WHY SO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE? I hate it. I was thinking about that as I left work and forgot I drove to work today because I had lots of stuff (read: tea making supplies) with me this morning, so I got on the bus and didn’t remember until halfway home. Fun. Now have a headache (wonder why?), so I thought I’d go for a calming mint tea. It’s actually helping, or maybe it was that cathartic rant I just made random strangers read (sorry!). It’s a very nice mint tea, although I secretly wanted Killer’s Vanilla but I also wanted to sleep tonight. I added milk and sweetener because it seemed like the thing to do. It’s working out pretty well and I’m in enjoying this fresh and comforting cup.

Ermagerd this is good! I guess I’m a big fan of guayusa, or at least Butiki’s guayusa, because I LOVE killer’s vanilla and I love this one almost as much. When I sip, I get the guayusa flavor followed by some blackberry sweetness and finishing with a little kick of tartness from the lime. SO GOOD. It makes my tongue feel a little tingly which I can only assume is my taste buds doing happy dances. My only regret is that I only ordered a sample of this and now I’ll have to wait til my next Butiki order to have this again! Gah!!

Stacy, you must be a wizard to make such wonderful teas. Thanks for sharing with us muggles.

After the day I had, I needed some comfort and this one is perfect! Just like a fresh-baked cookie without having to bake said cookie. Yum. Now on to the wine portion of the evening.

Horrible Monday. This tea kept me alive and not full of (figurative) murder. Delicious, calming, and yet energizing. The perfect trifecta!

I often enjoy my dessert teas as lattes. This frother does a decent job frothing and heating the milk as long as it’s working, which isn’t very long. I got one for Christmas this year and it stopped working in February. The company was very decent about sending me a replacement for free, but the replacement stopped working this morning (5/19). Basically it’s a cheap piece of crap that’s only good for 2-3 months. For $39.99, it should last much longer than that!

My cupboard was missing a jasmine tea and this one fills that void wonderfully. This smells heavenly and tastes just as delicious and fresh; like one of the first beautiful spring mornings. I’m really enjoying the white base too. It’s very delicate and subtle but I have a pretty sweet caffeine buzz going now. I’m glad I picked this tea up at Verdant! I highly recommend.

I had this tea at the Bad Waitress this afternoon- my friends and I don’t usually make it to brunch before noon haha. This tea smells AMAZING- like the blueberry smell from blueberry muffins. It tastes just as amazing too! I added some sugar and the blueberries just popped. Yum. If you like blueberries, you will love this tea.