Champagne & Rose Cream

I’ve been putting together VariaTea’s swap package (although I just saw that you’ve already tried fruits d’alsace, so, like, you need to tell me about more tea you want, woman!), and I realized it had been a while since I had this myself. This is probably the only rose I have really, really liked in tea (well, aside from the rose violet calendula, which is like the god of all teas ever so that kind of goes without saying). But it’s fresh, delicate, and just so not cloying. As with many of Stacey’s masterpieces, the taste is subtle but complex, and I love the fact that I really do get the salty, almost ocean-breeze-esque of the champagne paired so perfectly with the aforementioned delicate rose. Definitely a reorder. i swear, there aren’t nearly enough florals in this world.

Backlog: after making some of this without really having time for it the other day, I opted to pour it in my timolino travel mug and hope for the best.

Turns out this fairs amazingly well in the timolino (at least, it was a lot better than I expected it to be). The plastic didn’t drown out any of the subtleties- The rose is the dominant note, with some amaranth and cream. This made a comical archaeology lab awesome. Looking forward to having many more amazing timolino adventures with this tea.

Another luxurious tea for my luxurious last vacation day of the year, hehe.

And another almost sip-down! I will save the last of this for New Year’s Eve maybe…

Today is such a busy day. We are attempting to add 4 new teas, 2 restocks, 4 teawares, our Autumn Comfort Sampler, and posting our 2nd Annual Custom Blend Contest & Plain Tea Contest.

I just added this tea online, so I thought I would relax with some. I love this tea. It came out even better than I could have ever imagined. The maltiness of the Glenburn Silver Needles really adds to the champagne flavor and there is definitely a bubbly sensation. The sweet and tangy champagne flavor seems to come and go but with each sip the rose and cream become even stronger. The silver needle also provides a nice heavy mouthfeel adding to the cream sensation as well as its natural buttery-ness. Every time I drink this tea it is gone before I know it. Initially this tea was planned as a black tea but once I tasted the Glenburn Silver Needle I knew it was meant to be.

stacy….. truly, how lovely. the softest scent of roses, the perfect balance of cream…. a hint of effervescence. beautiful. you are are so very good.

Rose can be really tricky for me – I got this one mostly on a whim. It’s one of the prettiest teas I’ve ever seen – it’s mostly rose buds, really, so it looks more like a potpourri. The same notion is very present nose wise as well – it smells like a high-end rose potpourri.

Obviously I assume it would be like drinking a potpourri as well (I think I just broke the record for the most times I’ve ever used the word ‘potpourri’ in one day.) but alas, I was wrong. The flavour is far more subtle and complex than that. I don’t get individual, discernible champagne and/or cream notes, but for me, they rather add to the complexity of the floral tea as a whole. It’s a very cohesive tea, all flavours weaving together nicely.

In spite of this tea not quite being for me, and much like the case of With Open Eyes from the same company, I think this is probably the rose tea to end all rose teas for those so inclined – it should definitely be tried by rose fans.

[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]

From the Great Canadian TTB.

The dry tea smelled just like your basic rose scented tea.

The brewed tea, however, is lovely. Rose is the predominant flavour, however it is not perfume/chemical tasting. The white tea is very light and provides a mellow base, it is just slightly on the vegetal side, maybe hay tasting. There is a creamy texture and taste to the tea. I would say the champagne notes are very subtle but they are there. I think I would better describe this tea as roses an cream. It is very gently sweet. I am getting a very quick and slight tinge of metallic in the aftertaste but it is not bad tasting. The rose flavour lingers for a long time in the aftertaste. I feel like I just freshened my breath with rose water.

You know me and roses—picky as all get out and more often than not I’m just like to hell with ‘em—but I’ve had this weird informal project of trying as many Butiki flavors and blends as possible because they impress me so much (and they’re so unique too), including flavors and scents I normally dislike. And people have been talking about how good this one is, so I thought I’d give it a shot. And lo. It is really good! It is definitely WHOA ROSES when you open the package (visually too, just loaded with stunning vibrantly hued rose buds—what a gorgeous tea, my gosh), full on, but it’s not musty at all. It is perfume-y granted, but it smells fresher than normal, heady and lush. Most importantly, once steeped and tasted, it’s the champagne that gets me—it does not TASTE at all like perfume; the aroma sort of wilts you in flower steam such that it’s like taking a scented bubble bath, but the flavor is a wonderful tart-yet-somehow-also-smooth thing that somehow evokes fizzy, crisp champagne (including champagne’s aftertaste, that transition of flavors…how does it do that?!). A lot of “romantic” teas end up tasting and smelling too weirdly sickly sweet, just…off. This is bright and fizzy and fresh and wonderful. As it cools it gets creamy and sweet. It really is like a genuine rose petal-strewn hot bath and champagne and creamy sweets. And it could not have come at a better time; I had a crappy blah day (nothing majorly catastrophic, just lots of grueling mundane toil and feeling grumpy and edgy and tired, you know?). This was exactly what I needed to relax and get my hackles un-raised. I can barely believe I truly dig a rose tea full on now.

I must seem like such a Butiki shill lately, eh? In case anyone’s curious, my binge Butiki drinking was brought on by my tea buddy mentioning she’d ordered a bunch of the fall flavored ones and was really digging them, which lead me to placing an order…stumbling upon a handful that made me go whoamygoshthisisincredible-mustreorderimmediately, and realizing that, looking back, I’ve had tons of perfect teas from them and now that I’m kind of “settling down” and phasing out of the “try every company ever” exploratory newbie phase, deciding which handful of tea vendors I want to regularly do business with, Butiki’s definitely going to be on the list. So it’s kind of made me want to just go through all the ones I’ve got around but haven’t tried yet. Hence the Butiki tealog fest. Sorry guys. I tend to get obsessive fangirl about some things (I was the same way with Verdant when I first joined here). Sheepish me.

I got an oz of this with my black friday butiki order. I was kind of nervous about it, because even though I like roses, when I opened it the rose aroma was fairly intense. I went ahead & made a cup in my new Russian Tea Glass (which I love!), & I’m pleased to say that I enjoyed it! It was a lovely after dinner tea, & although there were a LOT of roses in it, many more than I’ve ever seen in a rose tea, the rose flavor wasn’t overwhelming at all. Nicely done, Stacy!

Rose is another one of those flavors that has to be perfectly right for me or else it can remind me of perfume and give me a headache. I have hopes that roses paired with something creamy will bring down the sometimes overwhelming contribution that roses can bring to a cup of tea. The blend is gorgeous! Lovely little rose buds and beautiful white tea leaves.

Sipping… mmm.. this is very nice. I definitely taste the white tea – it’s sweet and buttery. The roses are there, but they’re actually in the background as a floral wisp. The roses and the white tea are all wrapped up in a smooth, somewhat milky note. The finish does remind me a little bit of a bubbly champagne in that it makes your tongue tingle a little. This is a delicious tea that would be perfect for a special occasion. It’s also so mellow that it’s great for those times when you need something with just a hint of flavor.