Butiki Teas-Vote For Your Favorite Blend & Help Someone Win Their Idea! Custom Blend Contest
We received a large amount of amazing custom blend ideas. It was extremely difficult to narrow them down to just 10 and even then it was heartbreaking to see some fantastic ideas eliminated. Before voting, we highly recommend that you take some time to read each description thoroughly. Whichever tea receives the most votes will be made available for purchase for at least a limited run but could potentially be added to our permanent collection. The winner will receive 4+ oz of their blend. Our plain tea (Art) contest is also running until November 4th, so please keep sending in your art! See below for more information on that contest.
Rules: Vote only once and do not utilize sweepstakes forums to acquire votes. Voting ends Thursday, October 31st at midnight Eastern Standard Time and a winner will be announced the following day.
Top 10 Custom Blends
Autumn’s Sour Cherry and Rosemary Ice Cream
This one is based on my favourite ice cream flavour that a local lady (Autumn) makes in small batches where I live. It’s a vanilla base with sour cherry and rosemary. The best I ever had it was when she made it into an ice cream sandwich, where the “cookie” bit was an apricot almond nougat. It was super messy, but super tasty. The flavours from the cookie really added to the ice cream. Adding the fruits and almond nougat in the mix would be a nice touch. As for a base, I would say something that is milky and creamy…so perhaps a white like the Organic Bai Mu Dan used in Cantaloupe and Cream, or something creamy and sweet with some peachy notes? This tea should be sweet and creamy like vanilla ice cream, accented with bits of sour cherry and apricots, with almond or almond nougat (nougat enhances the dessert cookie feel), and of course the rosemary which plays on near even par with the cherries. The savoury taste of the rosemary sharpens the cherry, the vanilla ice cream allows it all to mellow. The nougat and apricot are simply supporting parts, as the sour cherry and rosemary can bring the house down on their own. This is truly a delight to the senses!
Autumn Truffle
Creamy pecan pie with spices, and chocolate. Inspired by fall flavours.
Baklava
Baklava black tea! Soft cinnamon and cardamom with walnut and pistachio pieces and flavors. Maybe some butter or burnt sugar/honey flavors? A little vanilla bean would be heavenly. Malty and rich Golden Lion assam base?
Blackberry Lime Meringue Guayusa
Blackberry and lime flavoring and lime zest with a little lemongrass and creamy/marshmallowy (to simulate meringue) flavorings. I think the grassy guayusa would play off tart blackberry and lime very well, and I think a creamy element to round it out might be nice.
Glazed Old Fashioned Doughnut
This tea has all of the flavors of a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, moist cake that only a morning doughnut could offer. Light and sugary, this doughnut tea will inspire images of perfect, puffy delights just waiting to be eaten. A sweet glaze blankets each warm cake and will leave you craving a dozen more! This is the perfect tea for fans of the sweet breakfast treat. Do not miss out on this timeless, made-from-scratch favorite!
Lemon French Macaron
White tea (Glenburn Silver Needle), lemon, vanilla, cream (maybe even a vegan raw cashew-type flavor), cookie, almond slice or flavor. Lemon French Macaron! I’ve never had a lemon tea before, not sure why! I don’t really care for citrusy teas with astringency, and that’s how I find most citrus-flavored teas. But your 3 Friends Tea, with its orange flavor, is the first orange tea I’ve had that didn’t taste like a canned orange or that was astringent, so if anyone can whip up an amazing citrus tea, it’s Stacy! This type of lemony note, mixed with creamy, vanilla flavors, and the almond-cookie of the macaron shell, I think would be lovely! I’m not huge on green tea, and black seemed too harsh, so I thought white might be nice here! Tea and macarons are one of my absolute favorite combinations, and I’ve had many amazing, memorable tea services during special occasions with my friends, so this tea combines flavors that remind me of some really meaningful times!
Lychee Strawberry
I had a martini at a restaurant once with Soho lychee liquor, strawberry puree and white cranberry juice, and it was the best martini I’ve ever had. I always keep lychee liquor on hand for when I have a craving for one of these drinks. Strawberry and lychee compliment each other, and are very refreshing flavours. It would make a great iced tea. White Bai Mu Dan would be a perfect base for the strawberry and lychee flavours, as well as amaranth petals to add some pink colour.
Pain Perdu
Could french toast be anymore romantic than with this traditional French name and exotic spices? This blend is based off of my personal french toast recipe… vanilla, nutmeg and creaminess with the added seduction of lost toast..pain perdu!
Tiger Blood
Creamy Coconut with watermelon and strawberry green tea…I believe this flavor combo is called “Tiger Blood” in the world of shaved ice! It might be a fun name if it didn’t make me think of Charlie Sheen. I was thinking about an Organic Ancient Bi Luo Chun base or Organic Huangshan Mao Feng green base because I’d really be interested to see a good fruity blend with one of these bases. OR maybe Wen Shan Bao Zhong because my favorite coconut tea has a Bao Zhong base.
Tuk Tuk Thai
Coconut Curry Tea, Thai Style. Bright citrus, ginger, cardamom, coriander with a little peppery heat. Coconut and Black tea form base for this unique, Winter tea…sure to warm on a cold day!
Ingredients: Lemon (or lemongrass), Lime (piece of keifer lime leaf), Cardamom (not too much), Turmeric, Coriander, Ginger, Chili (Thai), Toasted Coconut, Powdered Coconut milk (if vegan),black Tea.
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Please feel free to discuss which tea you voted for and why!
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Also, please note that the art contest has been extended to Nov 4th.
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Vote here: http://www.butikiteas.com/Contest.html
Just wanted to add that there were so many amazing ideas. I have my eye on a few that didn’t make it to the top 10, so you never know.
Also, please vote! A fair amount of these 10 are from the Steepster community and have put some time into their ideas and you could help them win their blend! Plus we will have this tea available for sale, so choose wisely.
Yes, it is ok to direct family and friends to our site but NO sweepstake forums.
I want to try all of those.
Baklava was tempting but I had to go for pain perdu. Looove french toast. I find it interesting that all but one of these options are dessert teas though.
I’m guessing there still aren’t many entries for the art contest since you extended the deadline?
I’m really glad the deadline was extended—I don’t know that I’m creative enough to drum up anything worthwhile, but there’s at least a chance now. I knew I didn’t have time to enter before because of all the traveling I’ve been doing, but that’s over for now so maybe inspiration and the time to carve out to devote to it will strike now.
Kaylee-The vast majority of teas sent in were dessert teas, so it doesn’t surprise me. Personally, I voted for a number of non-dessert teas. A few of the higher ranked ones were Sheppard’s Pie Salad, Elderflower Mimosa, Mexican Mango Chile Paletas, Mulled Wine, and Peach & Jalapeno Salsa.
We didn’t receive many submissions for the art contest. I think the custom blend contest was distracting and it certainly was for us. We didn’t even send out reminders before the deadline.
Oh man, I love Elderflower martinis, so that one sounds pretty good depending on the base tea. It is so fun to daydream about new tea ideas!!!
I’m glad the deadline was extended too. It was harder to find inspiration than I expected!
Peach & Jalapeno Salsa sounds amaaazing. I would totally vote for that if it had a non-black tea base.
What in the world is a Sheppard’s Pie Salad? Were there two similar-sounding entries that you conflated or is the idea to have a beef/potato/veggies/lettuce tea?
Tea Sipper & Stephanie-Those 2 sounded amazing.
Kaylee-Oops, I meant Shepherd’s Salad. I don’t know why I put the word pie in there. That was one of my favorites, I love a challenge! I did vote for that Peach & Jalapeno Salsa. That was a green base.
Will you be submitting an art entry?
I’m planning to, if I can finally settle on a medium. So far I have thoroughly established that photography is not in my skill set. I was going to draw something but I couldn’t get beyond the standard teapot or teacup imagery. Maybe I should carve the Butiki symbol on a pumpkin and submit that :)
Someone needs to resubmit the salsa tea idea next year. Whoever’s idea that was, if you’re seeing this – please consider resubmitting it! I would totally vote for it.
I voted Sour Cherry and Rosemary. Sounds so awesome and unique :)
My second choice would be the Glazed Donut as that sounds very indulging! Haha :D So I’m happy to see that it’s doing well so far too.
Though they all sound quite interesting :)
We must have similar tastes as those were the two I agonized over the most, and I finally went with Cherry and Rosemary too! Great minds. (:
Glazed old fashioned cake donuts always make me think of fall because as a little kid once fall began every Saturday my parents would take my sister and me way out to this farm full of hay and horses and pumpkins, and we’d watch through a glass window as a guy ran a huge machine to press upstate apples into cider. At the end of our visit we’d get cider and donuts; I always remember the film the donuts would leave in my mouth, the kind only old fashioned cake donuts do. I miss those days a lot now that I live somewhere where apples and fall flavors aren’t really the thing.
ifjuly-Your story is making me excited for this weekend! I’m going with a friend to a local farm. They have all the standard fall items plus we can pick our own pumpkin and apples, taste some wine, check out this wall of photography, go through a corn maze, and look at some farm exhibits. I used to love their cider doughnuts but now just stick with the cider. When I was young my parents used to take me to this flee market and there was one food vendor inside that had a mini doughnut sort of machine. We used to watch the doughnuts float by on a river of oil. Sorry to hear you are in an area that doesn’t really do fall flavors. :(
Oh that’s funny, that we had the exact same choices! Maybe I should start following you! :)
That’s a nice story. Reminds me of one my old Christmas family traditions. We’d go out to a tree farm where you could cut the tree yourself. So my family and I would walk out nearly to the end of the lot (which was huge by the way) looking for the absolute perfect tree. When we finally found it, we’d head inside the farm house where they sold hot apple cider and homemade brownies. :)
It seems nowadays no one can ever cut their own tree. It’s all just trees already cut in a stall with no treats anymore D: But it’s still a happy memory of an old family tradition. :)
Have you tried Verdant’s Orchard Spice? Might bring back some good ol’ apple+fall feelings for you. :)
BT, that sounds like a ton of fun, I’m jealous! Gotta settle for carving some pumpkins. At least it’s kind of cool (for here at least) finally. Two of my friends who still live in upstate New York go to an alpaca farm in the fall, I wish I could go to that too.
And I can totally picture the river of oil machine thing, and being fascinated by it as a little kid at a flea market, ha.
Chizakura, I love traditions like that. It’s nuts how strong those memories can be once you’re on your own. Farmhouse hot apple cider, yum! My aunt used to always cut her tree and my uncle would joke she was picky. We just picked ours from a lot (and my husband never even had real trees growing up, ack). I do remember once my dad didn’t tie it tight enough to the top of the car and it went flying off as we drove on a particularly windy bridge; I can still picture him running in the wind and snow out of the car to grab it off the road. Memories!
About the Verdant tea, I haven’t yet, I should! Maybe next time I place an order. :D
Chizakura-Hahaha. That reminds me of my family. My dad always made us spend a few hours in freezing temperatures searching for the perfect tree. He also refused to use a chainsaw, so he would use this little hand saw. Looking back though, those were good times.
ifjuly-Alpacas are pretty awesome. I see them a lot near where my parents live. My parents just moved from their house this year to a retirement community. Their old house used to have a large farm pretty much in their backyard (about an acre away). So around this time of year when I visited I would either hear goats or the noises, music, and screaming from their haunted hay ride. Haha, I’m totally picturing the tree flying off of the car.
I was torn between the Sour Cherry Rosemary Ice Cream, Glazed Donut, and Guayusa teas…
In the end I opted for the Guayusa.
I think Lime and Blackberry go together marvellously, and being someone who LOVES Mate tea and Guayusa tea, it frustrates me how most retailers seem to have the same variations on blends: lemon (or other citrus), ginger, plain/roasted, mint, and something with chocolate. So I’m all for a new, mixed up take on my favourite high energy drink!
I really like the pairing of the blackberry, lime, and meringue with the guayusa here. I think the flavors would just mesh very well.
We do have a selection of different guayusas than mentioned above if you are looking for some different guayusas.
I was so excited to read all these wonderful suggestions! A huge thanks to everyone in the top ten – I love how creative you all got.
So – I thought it would be really hard to choose, but after picking every little strand of flavour apart, in the end there’s just one contender that doesn’t clash with my weirdo hangups, (no cinnamon/spice/chili, for example) and that isn’t very similar to teas I have already tried.
Then again, I’m completely convinced I would have been on Team Lemon French Macaron (in spite of the tautology) anyway, because that’s EXACTLY the tea I’ve been looking for lately.
I’m going to go vote now; fingers crossed for lemony almondy goodness!
I voted for the Baklava, mainly because it has walnuts and pistachios and the base would be the Golden Lion Assam which I THINK is my favorite tea ever! I should have entered the contest just to come up with a blend for the Golden Lion Assam. My second choice would have been the Tuk Tuk Thai. Otherwise, there are some good ideas but I would have liked to see which ingredients the creator would suggest to actually create these flavors (like the donut and French toast).
Mmmmm, Baklava. I love baklava. I think the tea base on this one is a fantastic choice. This reminds me of a place near me that makes vegan baklava. They use rose water syrup instead of honey, which they insist is the correct way to make baklava. They have about 6 different varieties of baklava. So tasty.
The Tuk Tuk Thai sounds pretty awesome and unique. I love the flavor combination and the use of a little heat.
I definitely get what you are saying about not having any ingredients listed. I see how it can both be positive and negative to not have specific ingredients listed. On the positive side, it means there is more freedom to find the perfect combination. It means that we could experiment with more base teas to find the right one.
Oooh, the race is on now! Things are starting to heat up. If you haven’t voted yet, please do! http://www.butikiteas.com/Contest.html
Yes, Sour Cherry and Rosemary keeps swinging back and forth with Lemon French Macaron! I’d be happy with either of those options, although that ice cream flavour/supplier is a special thing around where I live. :)
Haha, yeah – what happened there? Did a link to the rosemary hit a local interest forum, or something? It totally skyrocketed! This is very exciting.
I think they all sound good in their own way, and would love to see how Stacy would go about interpreting them. It’s interesting that those two are coming out ahead right now, but a lot could change in a few days too!
I voted for baklava because I love teas that taste like pastries and it has some lovely complexity. I was thinking about autumn’s sour cherry and rosemary ice cream, and also the Tuk Tuk Thai, since they sound so unique. Thanks for including us in the process!
All of those ones sounded really good. It was really hard to choose! (So, please make more than one? Haha)
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