First of the new teas from my Black Friday order that I’m trying! They all smell amazing and I look forward to trying each one of them, but this seems like a good starting point. I have to briefly go into work tomorrow to cover someone for a break (nothing like having to make time in your day, on Christmas Eve, for a 30 minute shift), but otherwise I have all of tomorrow and Christmas off.
It’s just going to be me here for the holidays, so I figured I’d give myself something to do and try and get through at least a cup of all six of my new Butiki teas – and then, the 12 Days of Christmas exchange starts on Christmas too (I’ve got day one, but am missing a lot of the other early on days so I hope they show up soon!).
Dry, this smell much better than I thought it would. It’s not that I thought it’d smell bad but this is just one of the teas that didn’t initially jump out at me, mostly because strawberry black with chocolate isn’t a combo that’s especially unique. The aroma of the leaf is very strong and piercing though: there’s very pronounced notes of strawberry to match the large chunks of strawberry in the blend with a nice little kick of tartness from the hibiscus. It just smells so good.
So while I was scrambling some eggs for supper, I steeped up 1 tsp. of leaf in 8 oz. of boiling water – for four minutes. The leaf I portioned out happened to have a full bunny graham, and I thought maybe that was worth mentioning?
The colour of the liquor is a little bit more pale than I thought it’d be – though I’m not sure why I was assuming this would be very dark in colour. The smell is still highly strawberry/rhubarb but with maybe a bit of cinnamon to it, and something else. I don’t get any “pie crust” from the smell.
First few sips, and… Mmm! This is good. There’s a very weighty strawberry taste and some rhubarb notes that gently accompany in. The hibiscus is present but not dominating; it plays well with the other flavour notes. I get little wisps of the cinnamon, especially in the aftertaste and tail end of the sip. Honestly, I don’t get a ton of “pie crust” and I don’t think, on taste alone, I’d call this a “pie” tea – and mind you that’s with a whole bunny graham in the leaf I used.
I’m half done the mug now – and as per a tip I received earlier today from Keychange I’m gonna try the second half with some milk added in (gotta use up those perishables, and all)!
So milk added in now, and taste wise I feel this mellows out the flavours a fair bit, though I am finally picking up the pie crust! It’s sorta like eating an actual pie: fruit filling first, and then the taste of the crust at the bottom. In this case I mean that I taste the crust in the aftertaste, though. And, it’s a nice light flakey, buttery kind of pastry crust.
I really like this, both with milk and without! I’d definitely order it again!
EDIT (Warning, TMI): Oh, ew… I just threw up into my tea mug, though I don’t think it had anything to do with the tea and more so had to do with my eggs. Though, this didn’t taste as nice coming up :(
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strawberry black with chocolate? i’m confused…. Ruby pie is not chocolate…
I was thinking the chocolate chip bunny grahams might add a bit of chocolate taste – but yeah, you’re right. I think I had a skewed opinion of this prior to trying just because I’d never properly read the ingredients list and description.
Heh. Maybe you have hyper sensitive nose :)
Ha-I was about to reply here and be like “try it with milk!” but then I read that you did. I hope you have it again when you’re feeling well though, and I’m glad you love it!!
strawberry black with chocolate? i’m confused…. Ruby pie is not chocolate…
I was thinking the chocolate chip bunny grahams might add a bit of chocolate taste – but yeah, you’re right. I think I had a skewed opinion of this prior to trying just because I’d never properly read the ingredients list and description.
Heh. Maybe you have hyper sensitive nose :)
Ha-I was about to reply here and be like “try it with milk!” but then I read that you did. I hope you have it again when you’re feeling well though, and I’m glad you love it!!