Zack S. Send Message

Sipdown on this, my last two cups of this. It feels very complex with just the right amount of smoothness, sweetness, and subtle bite (probably from the assam base?) to balance it all out, with tastes that linger. The weight of the flavors feel very natural. Going to miss this one for sure, definitely in my top 10 Butiki Teas list.. possibly even top 5! Its teas like this that make me sad I did not get turned on to Butiki until late, but very glad that I did get the chance.. better late than never =)

This tea definitely is very similar to the aged Oolongs I’ve tried from Butiki (particularly the 1991 Da Ye Aged and 2003 Reserve Four Season). Its roasted woody charcoal notes are complimented nicely by a smooth feel and hint of butter. Very robust and deep in flavor and depth. Though not as strong as, say a Lapsang for example, these bold flavors seem to be not everyone’s favorite (as evidenced by some other reviews here..), but if you enjoy a dark Oolong once in a while then I’d definitely recommend this. . Thx Liquid Proust for the sample.. planning to order more of this in my next AoT order!

4g/8oz/190F/3min

I received this from the Verdant Blend Club for April, and this is also available on their website. There is a lot going on in this tea due to the many ingredients, but the sweetness from the Laoshan Black and licorice root are ever-present, with the herb flavors (from the rosemary, thyme, and oregano) coming through more toward the middle-end. The typical chocolaty notes from the Laoshan black tend to meld very well with everything, and there are some very subtle fruity notes here from the orange peel, grapefruit peel, and bergamont… but only a hint. Some sips are sweeter than others, especially as this tea cools. I’m really enjoying the licorice sweetness which tends to hit me in the back of the mouth/throat, while the other flavors are more ‘forward’ on the toungue/mouth.

I found this to be fairly complex and unique and I recommend you try it if you are a fan of licorice sweetness, herb flavors, or if you just can’t get enough of Verdant’s Laoshan Black variations.

This tea is an explosion of flowers in your mouth… but that’s pretty much all. The ingredients list had me very excited to taste a tea that promised to be a complex collaboration of interesting flavors , but unfortunately all I can taste is floral flowers. Soooo much floweriness. Florals completely coat my mouth. Did I mention the flowers are very floral??

I first brewed this at 3g/6oz/190F for 1min, then at 4g/7oz/205F for 30sec and 1min. The 205F, 30sec brew was somewhat weak, and all of the 1min brews were a mouthful of flowers. I wish I had enough of this tea to experiment with steep times, temps, and water/leaf ratios etc, perhaps a gongfu sesh. I’d love to taste all of the ingredients in this tea, but for now I can only recommend it to people who are in love with jasmine and florals.

I was afraid my most recent order from Butiki was lost in the mail! This order contained the last remains of this tea, so when it arrived I had to try it immediately. This tea is very smooth yet toasty. Reading some other tasting notes by other users, they say it tastes too charcoal/smokey.. but I don’t feel the same way. I steeped this at the recommended 4 minutes (with 1.5tsp/4.5g of tea) and it turned out perfectly fine. The first thing I noticed after brewing a cup was the incredible smell… even after I’ve finished the cup I find myself wanting to go back and smell the roasty wet leaves! I’ve only had one cup of this, but my first impression is that it tastes like a roasted light butter. I was surprised when it was actually the buttery note that hit me first, followed by the main course of roasted/smoky oolong. There is also a hint of sweetness toward the end that seems to be more noticeable as the tea cools a bit. Great tea, a shame that there is no more of this tea available to order, but glad I was able to score the last bit of it =D

If anybody has tried this tea and can recommend other oolongs with similar taste-profiles, please let me know!

This tea is unique! Very smooth + relaxing. Or wait, is it crisp + refreshing? I can’t put my finger on exactly what these flavors invoke, but they come together to create a suuuper clean blend of light white chocolate, mint, and vanilla. This taste errs ever so slightly on the subtle side, so I always end up adding a bit more than the recommended amount of tea and a TINY bit of rock sugar with this one. Definitely a re-order for me, can’t wait to try it as a latte and perhaps iced.

I only had a sample of this, but I enjoyed it a lot. However, the potency of the vanilla tended to vary; sometimes it was strong and very noticeable… other times it was weak and nonexistent. Sometimes this tea was flavorful, other times neutral. I’ll be ordering more of this with my next Upton order and updating this review when I taste more of this tea.

This tea has a very nice flavor.. perfect light mix of rose with a black that does not overpower. This tea tastes a little more “thin” than I would like though, but the flavor is so on point that I could easily see this becoming one of my go-to teas. Sorry for the brief review, but I only tried a sample of this. I will definitely be picking up more of this with my next Upton order and will give this a more proper review at that time =)