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This might be the first bao zhong I’ve tried, or at least the first one I’ve made for myself. This one is very much like a green tea – it reminds me of a dragonwell, but more floral. Very smooth and fragrant, with a buttery quality in the first steep and assertively vegetal without being overpowering, and it gave my tongue a nice tingle. The butter subsides and the orchid-like florals become stronger in the second steep.

Not a very interesting write-up, but a very nice tea. I think this would be a good gateway for people who haven’t developed a taste for green tea – it’s very similar, but on a different level than most greens.

D’oh, I dumped boiling water over this tea before I thought to look at the suggested steeping parameters. I think it made the tea a little too strong (I forgot about the Darjeeling in there. oops), but it’s still pretty nice. I’m definitely getting bitter chocolate and flowers, but there’s a lot more complexity to the flavors that I’m having trouble teasing out. Hopefully next time I’ll remember to brew it right so I can do a proper note.

Resteep of the previous note’s leaves. I tried it straight immediately after taking out the leaves – had the coffee bitterness again, but it went away with a reasonably small amount of agave. Coffee is once again by far the dominant note, but I noticed the chocolate more this time. About halfway through the cup I unexpectedly got some cakey flavor, and then clear out of leftfield: strawberry! It continued to build as an aftertaste, but I wish it had been more present in each sip. I don’t think I got any strawberry pieces in the leaf I’d measured out, so I’ll have to make sure there’s at least one in there next time.

This tea is so lush and dreamy. I didn’t get much champagne flavor, but the lovely sweet rose fragrance wafting from my cup made me feel like I was being lulled to sleep on a fluffy pink cloud next to a tray of Turkish delight. The thick texture complements the flavoring, giving a fuller experience of creaminess. It’s sweet enough to drink plain, and I sort of regretted sweetening this, but it’s very good either way. If you haven’t already, see if you can snap some of this up before it’s all gone!

Woo, 100th tasting note! and it only took about 3 years :P

It looks like this month is going to be devoted to Butiki teas that are still in stock so that I can determine what to hoard stock up on while the gettin’s good. Apologies to all the other wonderful tea companies I’ve ordered from in the last few months – it’s nothing personal! I’ll get around to your wares after the closing-up-shop frenzy is over.

This is probably my favorite of the flavored teas Stacy’s released after she made her closing announcement. The dry leaf has lovely little jasmine flowers scattered throughout and smells exactly like its name. I haven’t had the best luck with Butiki greens, including the Taiwanese bi luo chun, so I was slightly apprehensive about how the base would work out for me. Turns out I had nothing to worry about – the infusion was delicate but well-flavored with a dominant pear-candy note and a pleasant lingering aftertaste of star anise. It was perfectly drinkable without sweetener, but adding my usual squeeze of agave drew the flavors out a bit more. A very nice tea if you like pear drops and licorice like I do!

Scent of the dry leaf is quite intriguing: mostly strawberry, with chocolaty espresso and maybe even a hint of butteriness. After brewing, I recall the strawberry was still present, but it was accompanied by an unexpected floral note and a rather strong bitterness. So I added a squeeze of agave, like I normally do with flavored blends. Still bitter. I may have wound up using twice as much as I normally do. The bitterness is minimized, but unfortunately so too is the strawberry flavor – it ended up tasting pretty much like a sweetened Assam with strong coffee flavoring that made me feel a bit woozy. I’m not entirely sure what happened, as I followed the steeping parameters on the bag pretty closely. Maybe next time I’ll drop the steep time to 2:30.

The dry leaf smells uh-MAY-zing; all sharp, zingy lime and sticky-sweet marshmallow. Resulting brew is pretty nice, but not anywhere near what the original aroma promises. Not sure whether I used too much water or too little leaf (this blend has quite a few twigs & is rather hard to measure with a spoon) but I think next time I’ll up the leaf:water ratio and see how that works out.

Knowing that Butiki is closing soon has lit a fire under my butt to try as many of Stacy’s teas as possible before they run out. I have been drinking, just not posting :P

Smooth, buttery, spinachy, and slurpable, just the way I like my greens. A bit like the mao feng and jade cloud/cloud and mist specimens I’ve tasted, but there’s something about this one that I like even better. (This is the first mao jian I’ve tried, I believe, so my comparison may be lacking.) It’s a solid, unfussy tea that has lifted my spirits without having to pay very close attention to it. The fact that it tastes great even though it’s not super-fresh and I used hard unfiltered tap water makes me like it even more. At only £5 for 50 grams, I predict I’ll be buying more of this in the not too distant future.

Another night up with an unhappy tummy. This seemed to help a bit, and on top of that was tastier than I’d remembered. I noticed the chocolate notes more, which tasted like very dark (maybe 90%) chocolate that had burnt onto a baking tray, but without the harshness or astringency you might expect. After a few sips the chocolate flavors gave way to wood and roasted grains, while the mouthfeel remained creamy throughout. It’s almost like hot cocoa for grown-up palates that don’t like sweets – I just about fell asleep drinking this. Definitely reconsidering my “I only really like green oolongs” stance now.

This tea is just not doing it for me. Brewing it with tap water (with the right parameters this time) only resulted in cup after cup of frustration and disappointment, so I finally gave in and tried it with bottled mineral water heated in a pot on the stove. The resulting tea is noticeably better, but still not very good. I definitely wouldn’t use the words “smooth” or “mellow” to describe it – I find it quite bitter and astringent, producing an unpleasant drying sensation in most of my mouth and throat.

I don’t know if I’m Doing It Wrong with the temperature (it was kind of awkward using my thermometer with the low level of water in the pot) or the water hardness or if the leaves age really poorly or what. I really wish I were getting what the other reviewers were getting. At the same time, I can’t really be bothered with a tea that seems so finicky when there are so many others that have given me brilliant results without having to work so hard for it.