Blueberry Champagne

Sipdown! 271/365!

Er, whoops. Didn’t realize I’d only tried this once before. But I decided to try latte-ing it tonight, but I used coconut milk and the flavours are stronger than I intended, so while it’s delicious, it’s probably because it’s basically coconut milk + cow’s milk + maple syrup with just a hint of tea. I’m picking up virtually zero blueberry (I couldn’t smell it either) – ok, actually if I taste really hard, I can sense some – but there’s not a ton of flavour despite brewing it pretty strongly. Oh well, wasn’t a favourite anyhow.

Also: current tea count is at 932 (some duplicates, yes, but fewer than 100 I believe). This is still missing a large chunk of my teas (notably Butiki and Anne’s 52teas) plus the vast majority of swap samples I have. On the plus side, I’m sipping down a lot of stuff?

I accidentally steeped this in boiling water, and forgot to rinse the tea (I have no idea what I was thinking while I prepared it) so this is admittedly probably not the best this tea has ever tasted. This is another one I’m going to have to keep separate to make again at the end of the month if I have time.

The blueberry flavour is dead on, and really quite enjoyable, though I don’t get ‘champagne’ from it, even after adding sugar. Mostly I think that the Suncha base is too jarring for me with the sweet, jammy blueberry flavour. The earthiness I can dig with the blueberry. Yeah, I can see that making sense. But it’s just a little too much on the smoky savoury side for me to really enjoy this as a ‘blueberry champagne’ kind of tea. I’m also a little sick of drinking so many Butiki 1989 Suncha blends recently though, because of my drink-a-thon, so maybe I’d appreciate it more on a regular day. Still, I can’t help but feel like the blueberry flavour in this, which really is lovely, would be a hundred times better with a white tea base, or a green oolong. I’m going to reserve final judgement until I’ve tried this gongfu brewed, or maybe cold-brewed, or even just brewed according to the actual suggestions… Yeah, my bad.

Thanks for including this with my order, Stacy! I appreciate being able to try it.

Thanks for another one to try from Butiki, Greenteafairy! This makes me wish I tried some of the other Butiki pu-erh blends. The flavor is definitely blueberry with hints of champagne or something unique anyway when I’m first sipping the top of the cup. The pu-erh is neither too light or too dark for the flavors but I’m not sure if I like that sheng is mixed with shu. I think I’d rather it be either/or. The pu-erh itself has a slight smoky and BBQ flavor. Though I was never really in love with the particular flavor of Butiki’s pu-erh, the blueberry flavor certainly helps. Should have added sugar.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 12 minutes after boiling // rinse // 1 1/2 minute steep
Steep #2 // few minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

Last untried Butiki tea. Unfortunately; it wasn’t really a winner. All I could really taste was the base, though the dry leaf smelled like blueberry candy. It could be because of the tea’s age, but I recall having similar experiences with the Butiki puers I tried fresh. Maybe I’m just sensitive to the smoke flavor? In any case, I’m going to try to find a new home for this one when I get around to posting my stash sale.

Mmm, smoke and blueberries. I’ll drink that.

Maybe I’ll sniff it incessantly too… Um, I’m a sucker for smokey smells.

We can be friends.

I’m drinking this while watching “Teen Titans Go!” with my daughter. :)
First off, I love how Stacy came up with all these interesting flavours using this amazing puerh as a base…
It’s smoky and complex without being off. I can sometimes not love smoky teas, but the smoky hint in these Butiki final blends has been really enjoyable to me.
The scent after steeping was blueberry sweetness…like blueberry pie filling.
What surprised me was the first sip! It has a tangy quality that’s really awesome… and my tongue is somehow tingly like I’m drinking champagne… and I have no idea how that’s happening, but it’s just fantastic.
Another “How’d she do that!?” Stacy blend. :))

Finsihed this one off today, though sadly my desk and keyboard got to drink a bunch of it without me. Go go klutzy sick person. Still though, it was a really enjoyable drink this afternoon and to be fair it was the resteep so less of a loss there i guess..

Another win on this one, no surprise there. I made it according to the directions, as I like to the first time I try any tea. The blueberry is really sweet, and the puerh is a good base for it. I do taste a grapey element, and I could see it being boozy. That said, it is not bubbly, I think the base is too heavy for that. As a bonus, because of the great puerh base, it holds up well to multiple steeps. I did 3 western style steeps, though I preferred the first two as the blueberry flavor dissipates a lot after that.

I am looking forward to trying it western style with a little sweetener, and using a bit more leaf and trying to get a whole day out of this with short steeps. I have a feeling it will be good either way.

Smelling the package, I didin’t think that I would like this blend. Luckily, this was not the case. The corn flowers and freeze-dried blueberries added an extra purple tint to this muddy brown liquor. I have only had Butiki’s 1989 Suncha Puerh in her flavored blends, but I am still really impressed but the subtle earthy richness this tea brings to the table. It’s quite durable, and took 15 steeps before I called it quits. The blueberry was a happy addition throughout almost all the steepings. I felt only a subtle white wine taste to this blend. It was sweet grapes, like a Demi-sec champagne. But if I was not told what was in this tea, I could not have placed the champagne. Sweet white grapes? Yes. Not so much effervescent as I could have imagined.

All in all I am so glad I got to try this tea! So worth it.