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I bought this matcha only because I had run out of the Maeda En Shiki matcha I bought in Vancouver, and was desperate . Still, I had some hope for it based on the description.

To be clear, I haven’t tried this ceremonial style – just in an iced latte – but that being said, I could still tell that the quality was lacking. As soon as I opened the tin I was unimpressed by the colour – not awful, but not as rich of a green as I expect. Sure enough, once it was in my drink I found that the taste was rather flat, and worst of all for me I found it was really grainy in texture, and I had to constantly shake the bottle because it would settle almost immediately to the bottom if I didn’t. Yuck. Worst of all, the price for the quality is terrible: $30. I will happily pay that for good matcha, but not for this gritty stuff.

Even my boyfriend (who is not as much of a tea nerd as I am) noticed it and said he thought it didn’t taste as good, or give him as much energy as the Maeda En matcha – and this was before I’d given him my opinion on it.

So yeah, the “1st Harvest Organic” is now relegated to baking matcha, and I’m waiting on a shipment of more Maeda En Shiki matcha :) $12 a container and it’s smooth and flavourful, unlike this. Sorry Matcha Mountains.

I’ve been trying to be good for the past couple months and use up some of my teas before buying more, but I finally cracked – plus my boyfriend has been nagging me to order more Rootbeer Honeybush, and of course I couldn’t just order one type of tea from Butiki! So I just picked up the package today and it’s been raining steadily. Perfect timing.

First thing I did upon opening the package was smell all of them in an attempt to decide which to try first. They all smelled amazing, of course, but something about the surprisingly fruity coconut scent of Hello Sweetie called to me.

This tea is super smooth and dessert-y without being overly sweet. It really does remind me of a loaf of coconut banana bread. I feel like the flavours don’t really stick out from one another – they all sort of blend into one. Which is not a bad thing. All in all I’d say this tea is just very pleasant. Definitely a keeper! Thanks Stacy :)

When I heard about this tea, I knew I just had to try it! Rhubarb AND ginger? SOLD!

Once brewed the tea is a bright reddish pink colour and smells amazing – like tart rhubarb and spices. The taste is pretty pleasant, though I’m not sure it’s really distinctly like rhubarb or ginger – more just generally fruity and with some mix of spices. The one thing I couldn’t get past unfortunately is that I found there was an odd aftertaste just at the end, almost like an artificial sweetener? I’m not sure what it is, but it’s put me off buying any more of this tea, even though overall it doesn’t taste bad.

I tried this tea a while ago and was really unimpressed with it. It just tastes sour to me – no depth of flavour at all. Sweetening it didn’t help. I tried blending it with other teas in my cupboard to make it more palatable, but it didn’t help. Ended up getting rid of what we had left. Definitely not a fan of this one.

The first time I brewed this one I wasn’t super excited about it. It tasted a bit weak to me, and I wasn’t getting much maple out of it at all. After making it a few more times, it grew on me a lot. I think adding a bit more leaves + increasing the water temperature from the brewing suggestions on the bag helped. It has a lovely oolong base to it, and then it tastes like real fresh walnut, and finishes with a light kiss of maple at the end. I think using some maple syrup to sweeten it with instead of honey could really add to the flavour as well. I will definitely consider buying more of this one when we run out!

I used to be an employee at Teaopia – and towards the end of my time there, I fell in love with two particular teas they carried: the ‘Honey Sweet’ black tea and the ‘Red Dragon’, which was categorized as an oolong but tasted nearly identical to the Honey Sweet (but lighter.) Those were the first plain, unflavoured black teas I truly enjoyed. I’m not a fan of any of the usual – Assam, Darjeeling, Ceylon, English breakfast, etc. They’re all too malty for my tastes.

So ever since Teaopia was bought out by Teavana, I’ve been on the hunt for a black tea with a similar flavour profile. After reading the description for the Mi Xian I knew I had to try it and see if it matched my beloved Honey Sweet/Red Dragon teas!

Upon opening the bag I immediately fell in love with the aroma. The scent is absolutely beautiful! Smells like honey and something else I can’t quite place. On my first sip, I could tell right away that it was very similar to the HS/RD in that it is smooth with that honey-like flavour and no astringency – just how I like it! However this tea has a sort of cocoa note to it that the HS/RD teas did not have. I did a second steep at around 5 minutes. I was surprised how much flavour was still in it.

I think I’m still on the hunt for teas more similar to the Honey Sweet/Red Dragon, but the Mi Xian is the closest I’ve come to matching them, and is a delicious tea regardless!

This morning I was rushing off to work, and was in need of a bit of a pick-me-up. I wanted to try another one of the teas from my Butiki order, and in the end I settled on this one!

Right away the dry leaves intrigued me when I opened the package. So big! Also, the aroma is lovely – honey and something fruity, with a bit of bite at the end. The flavour of the tea is much the same. The honey flavour is prominent, and finishes with malty black tea and the notes of golden raisin mentioned in the description. Lovely!

I will definitely have to sit down with this one again when I have some more time to really savour it.

I received this as a sample in my order. Thank you Stacy!

My first impression of this tea: It’s quite pleasant! Very mild, vanilla-ey, and sweet without needing to add anything. However, after adding a touch of honey, a bit more of that ‘cake’ flavour does come out. I do find it’s a little too mild for my tastes. I’m not sure I would ever crave this one, but I’m glad I got a chance to try it nonetheless! :)