The Black Lotus

Another lovely offering from Butiki. This one is a mixture of black tea leaves of various sizes, mostly very dark and twisty, with a few green leaves and golden frayed ones. It’s hard to believe from the aroma that there’s nothing but tea leaves in this blend, there’s such a bouquet of varying kinds of sweetness. The tea brews up to a clear, golden amber color. The flavor is malty and sweet, with a rich, complex feel and a lingering fuzzy finish that almost resembles a “golden” Yunnan black tea. There is a floral yet starchy-sweet undertone as well, and a note of roasted nuts. Overall, there’s a lot going on here without being overwhelming, as it is quite smooth and light except for the breakfast-tea-worthy caffeine kick. Wish I had more of this as well!

Wow what a yummy tea! Very malty and similar to the irish breakfast I drank yesterday but more smooth and no astringency! I love how this goes down my throat leaving nothing behind but just deliciousness! Will become definitely one of my go to black teas from now on.

This is currently my favorite black tea and soon there will be no more. No more! what will I do? :o

On a brighter note, I got a late birthday present from my bro (My bday was Nov 22). Cute mug cozy (one of three) Here’s a picture, on a cup of this tea :)

http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h353/flightysprite/Tea/IMG_3206_zpsb58e7cc4.jpg

This was perfect to drink on a rainy day like today. It is tasty hot, but also tasty as it cools. I am usually multi tasking, and I rarely drink my whole cup before it cools, so this is important to me. It is a little astringent, but not enough to put me off, and tastes like a deep fruit. Like dates (which I am also eating for breakfast). Very nice.

Another from my goody bag from Stephanie! I did these out of order, since this was my first two cups of the day. I liked it a lot. Maybe not as much as Malty Irish Breakfast (I love the heavy malted teas) but it is a great and strong black.

Still watching The Civil War (Ken Burns) on Netflix today. The weirdest part to me is hearing them talk about all of these places around me and where I have lived. If the ground could talk…

Ever since mj sent me a sample of this tea I’ve been in love!
Could barely sleep last night but finally took a pain killer at 6. Thank God I have something to calm my stupid body down. xD Haven’t been able to sleep now, but figured tea would probably help calm me down some mentally and emotionally.
Think I was right. (:
Leave it to a lovely black tea to do the trick! ^^

My morning cuppa and I’m away from the house overnight. I left early this morning to house and dog sit for my parents, they have four dogs and one of them is ill and requires an operation which they have to travel a few hours for as it’s in a special clinic. Their dog Alfie has a liver shunt so they need to remove the sludge from his bladder, remove his testicles (as one is deformed due to the condition) and they are going to sort out the shunt. They are staying overnight in-case anything happens to him.

So my emergency (grab bag in-case of house sitting) tea was picked up and taken with me, The Black Lotus was one of those teas. I’ve had black tea each morning so it’s nice to do so today.

The tea leaves are dark brown/black and are thin and squiggly in shape, most are shortish/broken pieces that average a few mm. I can see they are a blend of black teas as some look like Darjeeling and others are darker and more Assam like. They have a gentle malt scent with a hint of sweet wood.

Once steeped my tea is golden brown in colour with a honey and malt scent. It is stronger than expected in flavour (in a good way) with honey, malt and wood tones (which match it’s raw scent). It’s a light black tea but with medium flavour which I’m finding very pleasing this morning. The sweet honey element makes this tea fairly smooth and easy to drink while at the same time not compromising in flavour.

I love this black tea blend, it’s everything I look for in a black tea.

Ok, I’ll take a break from Lupicia until mj1851 posts some of her own reviews, and I’ll move on to this lovely blend that I’ve just been dying to try. This a sample from my girl mj1851, but I won’t lie: I almost bought it about 5 times before trying to knock some sense into myself like “But you have some coming! STOP!”

The moment is here! I really couldn’t tell you anything about the dry leaf other than it looks good and it smells good, as I was in way too much of a hurry to pour this into my mouth as quickly as possible. The cup I’m holding smells divine: malt, intense honey and raw sugar. As it hits my tongue, the malt is very pleasant, and although it is undeniably there, the honey notes are not as strong as I expected. Is there Darjeeling in this? There’s something that would make me think so, towards the end of the sip. There’s a pleasant nuttiness that wraps itself around the other flavours. The slight astringency makes it even more interesting.

I like it a lot. Add to cart.

My first “breakfast tea” since I discovered good loose leaf. I can see where this is in the same class of some of the old bagged tea I once drank, but that is where the similarity ends. The body is that of a familiar breakfast tea, but the flavor demonstrates so much more depth. A bright smooth tea that is a true pleasure. I now understand what bright is in a tea. :) This one may have to go on my stocking list.

Thanks Stephanie for the sample

I must just have a really weird palate.

This blend isn’t heavy enough for a breakfast blend, in my belief, but it’s crazy tasty. It’s lovely and delicate, malty on its own but once a bit of sugar and cream is added, I’m getting buttered popcorn and toffee.

Maybe it’s because I’ve only had four hours sleep?

Thanks to Stacy for the sample! Yum.