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This delicate tea pairs our lovely Organic Silver Needle with vibrant amaranth petals and a natural watermelon flavor. We highly recommend drinking this tea warm or with sugar to bring out the natural watermelon flavor. At a high temperature the flavor is not as strong. At a warm temperature, this tea is light and refreshing and starts out with floral and honey notes that quickly develop into juicy watermelon notes that linger. Add a little sugar and the tea bursts with a natural juiciness that tastes like fresh watermelon juice and finishes with floral and honey notes. This batch of Watermelon Xylophone is offered at a reduced rate, since we will be using a new Organic Silver Needle that is more expensive for future batches. For information on how we named this tea, check out our blog: http://butikiteas.blogspot.com/2012/08/behind-name-watermelon-xylophone-edition.html
Ingredients: Organic Silver Needle, Amaranth, Organic Watermelon Natural Flavoring
Recommended Brew Time: 4 minutes 30 seconds
Recommended Amount: 2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 185 F
For more information, please visit: http://www.butikiteas.com
Company description not available.
I received this sample from OMGsrsly – thank you very much (I’m sorry for what is to come – I do appreciate the opportunity).
I keep trying to like Butiki teas. Haven’t had any for quite awhile, and was hoping that my tastes have become refined enough to appreciate these teas. This is a tea I should just adore. Fruit flavored white, this should be right up my alley.
I still don’t get it. I measured really careful as per instructions on the tea page 2 tsp/cup. Set the kettle for 85C and the timer for 4.5 minutes.
This is bitter, grassy, with just the barest hint of watermelon way in the back – would not have said watermelon if I didn’t know what it was. I’m sorry this bad – really bad. I put in a bit of sugar trying to offset the bitter and bring out more of the fruit. Now I just have sweet, bitter, non existent watermelon. I know most of you just love this tea, and I would love to love it. I don’t and I don’t understand why.
Thank you Stacy for sending me a free sample of this tea…
It is very pretty looking in the bag with the silver needles and the amaranth flowers. I took a whiff of the cup after steeping and it smells just like watermelon.
This is very tasty — it definitely is light and sweet with a melon flavor. I can’t help but wonder what this would be like iced. Somehow it’s a bit odd to drink a warm melon. But this tea definitely lives up to its promise. If you’re looking for a watermelon tea you should check this out! I am enjoying it but I don’t think it’s my favorite tea from Butiki.
Oh, that sounds nice. I liked who you mentioned the oddness of ‘warm melon’, unfortunately I had, it wasn’t that bad, I just left it in the car for too long. :) That’s how I feel then I get some tastes that resemble something that is normally eaten cold.. I think ‘It tastes just likes … but its warm… so does it really taste like it?’.
I always think it should be cold for some reason
Oh, it should. It’s not nearly as pleasing warm. I have several teas that I do a really fast warm steep. And then just continue cold brewing because its better to me that way.
I am more of a traditional tea drinker but I had to read this review. You had me at watermelon. LOL! This sounds like it is a wonderful tea. I just love watermelon. Thanks for this review.
I haven’t written about it yet but this stuff is amazing. :)
This is the fourth and final melon tea I have to try – it’s been great fun to compare. In this case, the dry tea smells perfectly melony – I often find that melon scents are a little hard to keep apart; I know it’s melon, but which melon? With this one, I get a lot of cantaloupe from the start, but then there’s this little coolness rounding it off that makes it more watermelony. I’m at a loss to describe it better, but it’s definitely melon, and definitely watermelon.
In the cup, the scent lingers nicely. Flavour wise, this is a subtle yet present melon, very smooth and tasty. I opted out of the recommended additives, and I have no regrets – this tea works just fine on its own.
This silver needle is definitely one of my favourite Butiki base teas – it’s wonderful to drink, and ever so pretty in the bag.
[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
First off, I LOVE the concept of this tea. The base is absolutely divine, and it’s a stunning pot with all of the needles so beautifully unfurling as they steep.
Having said that, there’s something off for me – and it’s likely me, instead of the tea itself. Something drying and a bit offputting that makes me want to try this as a cold brew, or even brewed properly and then left in the fridge. I get the juiciness, the fullness yet lightness of the tea… it’s all there. Really, truly delicious. Perhaps it’s just that, to me, watermelon is always juicy and cold, instead of hot?
I’ll definitely play with this more, as I have quite a bit now, including some sent to me through several buys and swaps with fellow Steepsterites.
It is going to be impossible to be descriptive when it comes to this tea because all I want to do is repeat “oh my god”.
First off, the dry leaf. I have never seen tea like this but I am sure it’s because I’m new! The leaves are … furry? And the bag smells so nice!
1 tbsp @ 185 F. It smells so good even as the water hits it. I put the lid on quickly so as not to lose anything. You know they say all that good stuff you smell when cooking things (or brewing tea in this case) is actually flavour escaping with the steam. That’s one of the reasons sous vide cooking became so popular, the stuff is trapped in a bag and the bag immersed in water, no flavour escapes there!
This tea is so refreshing, the flavour matches the aroma. You almost want to drink this in the winter when you miss watermelon but there is no fresh watermelon to be had! (for most people anyway).
This is like watermelon water!
You make tomato water by hanging a cheesecloth bag with a concassee of tomato and you let it drip. The water is clear, there is absolutely no colour but the taste is pure tomato. I wonder if you make watermelon water the same way… And then you soak the tea leaves in it and maybe after a few days you dry it out and see what happens. In theory the water evaporates and the flavour remains. I should make my own experiment.
Stacy if you’re laughing, this is my way of thanking you for this tea: with entertainment!
This is the most delicious tea I have ever had so far.
YAY!!!!! butiki teas rock my world :)
The key is natural which Stacy is known for. No sour artificial flavors!
My top fave Butiki blend of all time
When I have a real watermelon around, I like to put chunks of it in the vitamix, wave my magic wand (chopstick) around, push the button, & say, “Liquidate”. It’s my magic word, & it always works! Liquidated watermelon is awesome. This tea is awesome. So beautiful to look at, so delicious to drink. Stacy really outdid herself with this, & I’ll have to order more…soon!
I love fresh pressed watermelon juice, so I ordered this with our recent co-op purchase. Can’t wait to try it.
Finally the aftertaste of medicine has subsided enough that I can drink this, though I imagine that since the aftertaste was sorbitol and sucralose, and this tea is recommended with sugar, it would have been a benefit, hahaha.
In the bag this tea smells just like melons, a bit like cantaloupe and cream but with the addition of honeydew.
I followed steeping instructions, and added agave.
Wow. If only everyone could flavor white teas like this. It’s amazingly watermelon, but it still comes off as a very delicate, light white tea. It is absolutely bursting with flavor despite this. Very summery, and very easy to just relax and sip.
Needing a bit more relaxation thanks to certain people and things, plus being unable to just let this tea go with one steep, I resteeped for 6 minutes. Which is also the perfect amount of time to triple check and retouch nail polish (one of the previously mentioned things).
This cup still has a watermelon scent to it, although it is fainter than before.
It’s hardly lost any watermelon flavor, seriously! This may have to keep going. This cup tastes like it actually intertwines more with the silver needle.
Good thing part of that more relaxation because of people thing may result in being up until it’s 9 or 10am in Germany, yeah? Bring on more steepings!
Roswell Strange sent this to me and I think my taste buds are off because to me this is tasting almost exactly like Cantaloupe & Cream. They are both melon white teas but usually Stacy’s flavors are so spot on that I feel like I must be crazy. Nonetheless, it tastes great and I still have one serving left to try. Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this with me.
The morning sun has just begun
Shining in the sky like fire
Birds sing their beautiful song
That fills my heart with desire
My first pot of tea this morning and I remember how delicious this one is. Oh Watermelon Xylophone I adore thee. You have made my early morning complete with your beauty and perfection.
I have seen so much love for Butiki on here lately, gosh! Gonna have to do an order and hope Aussie Customs lets it through…
Butiki have some wonderful, unique blends which is one reason they are very popular. I would suggest talking to Stacy at Butiki as she may be able to help in terms of ingredients and known restrictions to Australia. Always worth asking :)
If I could only buy from one tea company for the rest of forever it would be Butiki :) This is one of my faves, too!
haha not all tea is for everyone. This one is pretty subtle – i like it but it’s subtle :)
I have to just accept that I don’t like them, move on and stop wasting other people’s tea….
haha naw… i say keep trying but have fun with it – just waste my tea instead of everyone’s haha i usually get all the new teas from stacy :)
I’ve also got a bunch of Butiki. I don’t mind sharing :)
Thanks guys – really generous, but until I learn what I’m doing wrong, I think it would just be a waste of tea. There is something in my water, or something in my DNA makeup, or an evil spirit in my house, or something else – that is causing my experience to be so different than everyone else’s.
Oh, too bad. It’s one of my favourites. But as Sil says, not all tea is for everyone. :) I totally don’t mind sharing, even if people end up not liking it.
Hmmmm, never heard bitter before for this one. The only thing I could think is that maybe too much tea is being used? Do you use a kitchen spoon or a measuring spoon to measure out the tea? We use level measuring spoons to make recommendations. :)
I have a baking measuring spoon dedicated for tea use.
Dunno, in all the tasting notes I’ve read, the consensus seems to be “follow the directions, Stacey is the master”. :)) I’m more of an “ish, sort of, approx” tea steeper. Knowing my history, I was careful to follow directions. If this had been any other fruit white tea, I wouldn’t even have looked at directions – I would have done 1.5 tsp, 80C, 3 min – I might try that next time.
Guess its just not your cup of tea then. :)