Watermelon Xylophone

when i first opened this one, I was surprised how spot on the spell was to the actual fruit. Not anywhere near the artificial watermelon smell I was expecting so I immoderately made this as an iced tea. It was perfect. Especially for the afternoon heat at the lake house. I love how subtle the watermelon flavor was. Just right. I got three steeps out of it. I have to say I haven’t really been let down by many of these mystery swap samples. Keep them coming!
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I got to stop by the local tea shoppe here in Groveland, CA where this lake house is. I love stopping by. And I found out they expanded. Instead of just the little cute and quaint tea room and teas, they now have a cafe next door with many desserts and sandwiches and cute tea cups for sale as well as tea accessories and honeys and gelato. You name it! They also started carrying Harney & Sons Teas and tins and sample packs. A great addition to their house blend teas. Dori’s Tea Cottage. If you are ever on your way to Yosemite National Park stop by here. It is well worth it. I bought 6 new samples that I have been wanting to buy since my last trip! I also walked away with a new steeper! I’m a happy girl. My old one kept coming loose and letting the leaves into my cup. Not a fan.
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-almond joyful
-hazelnut
-jasmine #5
-sun, moon & stars
-fox trot
-golden monkey
Jamestown is another cute little town to drive through also near Yosemite. I always love coming up here. It’s literally a one street town with mom and pop shops everywhere. A tiny post office and fire station. Your local book store and coffee houses with their little trinkets as well as farmers market and Ice cream shoppe. Anyways, thank you Shelley_Lorraine for another satisfying sample.

Just got home from my advising appointment for next semester. Going to be taking Three German classes (taught in German) and one English class (taught in English, of course ^^). Its going to be a really busy Fall semester.

THE TEA:
Brewed up some Watermelon Xylophone. Waiting for it to cool a bit, as recommended, for better flavor (we’ll see). I haven’t yet added sugar to my teas and I don’t have any right now anyway. I did try honey once, and that did not turn out well for me. I had a mouth full of pure toasty liquid honey on my last sip of the tea.

Well, I think its cooled down enough now. First impressions: smells faintly sweet, mildly of watermelon. I like that it doesn’t smell too strong to be overbearing or artificial. The first taste I can detect is the watermelon, immediately followed by the familiar flavor of white tea (I love white tea). It’s a weird sensation like putting the tip of my tongue on a sweet watermelon, but what actually passes over my tongue is white tea. I actually like this one a lot better than the Cantaloup cream, although I was thinking I might not as I prefer my watermelons to be cold too (^.^) I put off trying this one for a while because of the cantaloupe one. It might have been the cream flavor of the latter that really put me off, I don’t know for sure. I had another tea that seemed to have a creamy texture, but not with a fruit flavor and I liked it. Still havent tried enough teas and flavor combinations to decide what part of a blend I like or don’t like.

The cooler this tea gets, the sweeter it seems to become. I bet this would be a good iced brew too. Even though I don’t like cold drinks as much, I’m a lot more motivated to try brewing this one cold than I was for the cantaloup.

This was a free sample with my Butiki order, I might just have to order some more :p

ETA: I did end up ordering some more, mostly so I could share it with my parents (neither of them liked it). It doesn’t taste better iced IMO (but I am biased to hot tea, so take that as you will).

I brewed this with water just under boiling for 4 minutes. I am drinking it hot, though I also think it would be fabulous chilled.

White tea and melon flavors pair so well together. This tea is smooth and juicy, with a nice clean aftertaste. I love silver needle teas for their light, sweet, and refreshing taste. This one hits all those points nicely without being bitter or astringent, and the watermelon flavor is just bonus. It also smells great. Personally, I prefer this over the Butiki Cantaloupe & Cream.

One of the things I enjoy most about my tea journey is discovering new teas. I had just such an experience today when I had my first mug of Butiki’s Watermelon Xylophone. I followed the website instructions for brewing. Pale, pale green tea soup with a pleasant, subtle aroma and a lightly flavored sweet taste. I then added a touch of sugar and, as promised, the liquid turned into warm watermelon juice. All in all, a delightful experience! I plan to brew again today and chill to enjoy cold “watermelon juice” this evening.

5/5 (see my bio for more info on my new pared down scale)

Uhhh as amazing as I knew it would be—had such high hopes and would’ve been nervous they’d be dashed except I’ve had enough Butiki teas now to know better, ha. The smell is uncanny, just like it was for Cantaloupe and Cream, and heavenly. Dry the leaves are visually stunning—long beautiful silvery green flecked with pretty pink amaranth—which again is no surprise given the company. The taste is wonderful too, light (well, actually rather strongly watermelon, but real watermelon, which is itself a light flavor, yum), cleanly sweet, and refreshing just like watermelon! There is a delicate floral element as well as a very light hint of vegetable goodness, and it works with the sweetness because it’s so light but good. It’s all so smooth too; I love when teas pack a lot of real flavor but also possess that magical smoothness.

Had so much confidence in this one I made 3 cups all at once to fill my big makeshift-matcha-bowl/giant mug (a roomy white corningware bowl with a handle and straight sides, designed to do cup-of-soup noodle-y things with I think). Love love love. Stacy is a flavor wizard, I’m convinced.

This tea is gorgeous! Silky silver needles and puffy pink and white buds. So pretty! It smells delicious too – both in the bag and as a tea.

Brewed it is sweet with a watermelon tickle at the back of the throat. Definitely more flavor once it cools. I’ve been drinking it plain, but I’m adding a little rock sugar since sweetener is recommended.

Wow, sweetener changes this into something like watermelon juice! I don’t usually care for my teas sweet, but I see why this was recommended. I bet this is wonderful iced. That would actually be perfect on this 90+ day! Whew. A sweet, fruity tea was just right. Maybe I’ll borrow some ice from a neighbor and try this tea cool.

Try this tea out if you like white tea, watermelon, or sweet blends.

I have enjoyed this tea twice now. As others have commented, the watermelon taste is indeed juicy and delicious. I tried it warm with and without sweetener, as well as iced and sweetened. So Good!

Enjoying some of this now. (I tend to drink white tea at night, the caffeine in other teas would keep me up until 4 AM.)

This is very good.

I ordinarily put no sugar in my teas but the instructions recommended it. I tried a couple sips without sugar at first, then decided to add a bit of sugar and it really brought out the flavor in this tea – I feel like the sugar enhanced rather than diminished the tea’s flavor. Tastes awesome. Makes me long for a summer afternoon. I will no doubt get some more of this once summer rolls around. (Which will be mid-June, if we’re lucky lol.) I bet this would make an AMAZING iced tea.

This tastes a little similar to cantaloupe and cream to me. Both are outstanding and they are different, and I can’t decide which one I like better.

Finally tried this lovely sample I got in my order…thanks Stacy!
It amazingly smells of melon and the taste is a generic melon taste (as opposed to watermelon) to me too, but that definitely could be due to me not adding sugar. The only reason I don’t add sugar is because I want to cut down on my sugar consumption. I also accidentally oversteeped it so it may have affected the taste of the tea:( I am finding that I like more nutty flavours right now so since I have cantaloupe and cream I probably won’t add this to my shopping list yet.

Smells wonderful! Very sweet flavor. A yummy tea – my favorite white tea.