Royal Golden Safari

snowy morning today…spent a bit of time before i got going drinking this tea while staring outside at the snow. Gotta love the freshness that a new snowfall brings to the day. I like this tea, though it’s not my favourite black from Stacy. It’s still a nice cup to have on occasional run through my cupboard :)

I got an oz of this during the Black friday sale. Ari & I are enjoying it’s smooth sweet potato essence, with a fruity nutty backdrop. Tasty!

I took the day off to run errands and relax today. I am so happy I did. I get to enjoy teas as well! This tea is so good! It gives me a soft but nice caffeine kick. The nutty notes definitely stand out, as well as the cocoa and slightly tobacco-ish notes. Good tea. The leaves look like yunnan leaves with its brown to light brown, soft, fuzzy waves/curls. It smells and tastes almost like yunnan as well!

Delicious! I was surprised by this one! Not that I doubted Stacy or her array of fine teas but I just was going to have a lazy morning making a nice breakfast and not do a review but this one has inspired me to do so! Sweet, creamy, sweet potato, chocolate, …. more to come in my review on http://sororiteasisters.com/
I love it when a tea inspires me! I got this as a sample in an order I got today from Stacy and I was honestly just wanting to enjoy a new tea. Which I have, and still am but I have to give credit where credit is due and go do a full review! Thanks Stacy for letting me try this one!

Thank you Stacy for this sample

Stacy told me that this has been her favorite morning tea of late so when I had my choice of samples with my last order, I picked this one to enjoy! Her selecton of organic, high quality rare tea’s has me coming back for more.

This is an orthodox tea from a small farm in Kenya and part of the proceeds from sales go the promotion of Tea’s for Trees. Hooray!

The dry leaves look like the tangled main of a lion…all golden shades of various browns and blond hair wrapped and twisted elegantly askew. They smell dry like softest vanilla.

The wet leaves puff up into large brown ochre fellows, sweet smelling and reminiscent of bergamot.

The taste was like a walk through the tea plantation…the scent and flavor of sweet bosc pear then golden walnut and gentle not-too-malty tea underneath which was golden and sunny in character. There was a slight heat on my tongue that lasted long after my cup was empty and which I found to be a lovely lingering reminder of just how good this tea had been.
There was a comment from Stacy about a cocoa note. I had been trying to discover that flavor but found it to be elusive this time around. I tried the tea sweet which was very nice. Without additions the tea was sweet and delicious enough. I would not add milk.

I can see why Stacy loves this tea to begin her day. Not everyone likes the heavy Assams or stronger black tea’s. This is the perfect choice for a more moderate full flavored tea without big malt and smoke but a bit of fruity flavor and nuttiness. Super delicious!

This sample was provided by Butiki in my last order – thanks for the sample. :)

These leaves are so long and slender with beautiful brown and golden colors. My wet leaves smell slightly sweet of cocoa and malt! I don’t believe I’ve had a kenyan tea before so I’m a bit excited.

This was steeped via regular infusion mug method and is quite surprising. The color is a dark orange and the flavor is yummy, like roasted sweet potatoes or carrots – it reminds me of a golden monkey type of tea. I am also getting a lot of walnut in the cup and a tiny touch of oak. The fruity aroma of this tea reminds me slightly of a darjeeling and the flavor is very clean with a rich mouthfeel. Ahhhhh

Normally with black tea I’m tempted to dump soymilk in, but this is delicious plain. This would be a great afternoon tea – Super relaxing. I really enjoyed this!

This is another one of my favorites from Butiki. I was really intrigued with the fact that this is from Kenya, it’s something totally new to me and it’s very cool that I was able to try it.

First of all, I must say that the dry leaf is absolutely gorgeous.It is composed of large, twisted and evenly graded leaves. There’s a lot of consistency in the size of the leaves and not much dust or fragments. The color of the leaf is about half dark cocoa and half golden, and the golden portions have a sort of fuzzy appearance. And when you look at the leaves in a pile they seem very “fluffy”. I don’t know, I’m just a sucker for the visual appeal of golden-tipped teas.

As for flavor, this tea is EXTREMELY unique compared to other black teas I’ve had. It’s actually very hard to put into words but the best I can come up with is notes of oak and other fragrant wood, along with a slight fruitiness and very slight cocoa notes. There is absolutely no bitterness or harshness to this tea, it is very smooth and drinkable.

My description doesn’t do this wonderful tea justice, it’s really something you need to try for yourself, and I would highly recommend trying it. I know that it was a new experience for me.

Trying to get through a few more of my straight Butiki teas before the contest closes (I really should get on posting these on Facebook and submitting things…) Anyhow, I could have sworn I had tried this tea before, but a) there was no tasting note on it and b) my tea spreadsheet (which is horribly out of date) said I hadn’t drank this one. So, they’re probably right. And, this was confirmed when I opened this bag of tea and was blown away by the sweetness emanating from the bag! Completely unexpected! All of a sudden I was much more interested in trying this tea.

This is one of the smoothest non-chocolatey blacks I have ever drank! It tastes kind of like a standard black tea, but with a delicious sweetness and absolutely none of the astringency I usually find in black teas. The flavour is light but full-bodied, with a thick, silky mouthfeel. This is really quite delicious! It’s probably not a tea I’d pick up again, as I don’t typically drink a lot of straight blacks, but I would definitely drink it again happily!

ETA: Yum! Second infusion is lighter but tasty!

Oooh, Kittenna sent me another tea on my shopping list! Woot!! And this is my first Butiki tea; I’m so excited! I feel like I say that about every tea. Tea tasting is just a bundle of excitement for me, what can I say?

The leaves are really neat looking. Tightly twisted, spindly, curled black and gold leaves. Time to brew it up and see what it tastes like!

Wow, this brewed up really light! It’s a very light golden color. I haven’t liked Kenyan teas in the past, but this one is different. It does have that slight aroma and taste that I don’t know how to describe but that I recognize as Kenyan. But it’s not off-putting like I usually find it. It’s good!

Like the liquor color, the taste is light. That’s not to say flavorless. There’s lots of flavor. It’s just a light, subdued cup of tea with mild astringency. No bitterness though. The description says cocoa and milk chocolate notes. I’m not getting any of those. I can imagine a pear undertone, but I’m not sure how much is truly in the cup vs in my imagination.

The second steep for 4.5 minutes brewed up much darker. Now it’s a reddish amber color. The flavor is pretty much the same, except maybe a bit less astringent. I’m not overwhelmed by awesomeness, but this was a fun tea to try. Thanks again Kittenna for sending me a sample!

Lions and Tigers and Tea! Thank you Stacy for sending this downy and delicious sample!

This one brews up into the most fascinating golden color, as if Apollo’s tears of joy at the taste had been collected in my cup! The base nuttiness woven with sweet pear makes for an understated but complex taste. In the mouth both flavors sit tightly together to form a dark cacao-ish hint of a profile but once the whisper of it is all that remains in your throat, the pieces melt into distinct and separate entities. There is a starchy (not in a bad way) mouthfeel that tells you up front this will be different and lingers slightly after each sip – moving your cup holding hand by divine intervention repeatedly toward your lips! Tasty!