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I got this in a swap forever ago. I forget from whom. I’m sorry! :(

I don’t know why it took me so long to get to it. The taste is quite nice despite suboptimal storage conditions. The flavor reminds me of that boozy scent you get from vanilla extract. There is a lovely depth from the sweet caramel flavor but a dryness from the astringency. It’s untamed and refined all at once.

Tea review + story time.

So I wake up this morning happy to finally have some time to do my own thing after a weekend of socializing. I make this tea and go out to water the garden so it has time to cool. Unfortunately, husband suckered me into helping him wax his car. Then I spent some time watching 5 swallowtail butterfly caterpillars demolish my small (3" tall) bronze fennel plants. I’m actually more concerned that they’ll run out of food than that my plants are being eaten down to nothing. I purposely got the fennel in order to attract these butterflies, but they haven’t grown enough to support the appetite of even 1 caterpillar, let alone 5. I should run by the store and pick up a parsley plant or something for them. I wasn’t planning on planting carrots until later in the season. hmmm…

Anyway, by the time I got in to drink this tea, it was only lukewarm. And I was so hot from working outside I didn’t even want it anymore. I wanted iced tea!! I drank it anyway. Can’t let tea go to waste. :D

This was one of those teas I purchased when I made a big order from Verdant a while back. First time opening the bag. I’ve decided that I’m not really such a huge fan of qimen. Sometimes I like them, but sometimes not. This one seemed like a really good quality one for someone that appreciated this type of tea. Smokey and fruity and autumn leaves. Nice.

Now on to the cold brewed tea in my fridge. yay!

This tastes like a dark tomato soup. It’s crazy!

There’s the fruitiness and tartness of a nice grape tomato. There’s some herbal medicinal thing going on as well. I can possibly imagine the mint. I can’t imagine any clove or cinnamon.

It’s not a bad cup but I’m not keen to repeat the experience.

Beautiful color, as with many Japanese greens. The leaves expanded a lot in hot water. I absolutely adore Japanese greens when they are like this. There’s that smooth creamy greenness in the background that makes it so perfect. I love the pine. I love the savory sweetness. Really lovely tea.

Good bye, Laoshan Black.

This tea brings up all sorts of conflicting emotions for me. The first time I tried it, I thought I had tasted the perfect tea. I was ecstatic. Then I bought a pouch and it wasn’t how I remembered it tasting, so I sold it and bought another pouch from a different season. It still wasn’t how I remembered It. I guess that first taste I had was a unique batch or maybe I’m just out of my mind. But I’ve been drinking that last pouch I bought and the taste, while not perfect, was very enjoyable. Today, I dumped the last of the leaves into my steeper basket and wasn’t sure if I was glad or sad. It’s a tasty cup, but will I restock? Probably not for a while if at all. I over did it a while ago on buying straight Chinese blacks. I’ll be opening a new pouch of something soon. Maybe Loashan Black and I will grow fonder for each other in the interim. :)

This is better than I expected. I feared that the hops would ruin the tea as I’m quite sensitive to bitter favors. Fortunately, peach predominates and the bitterness only makes as appearance when the tea has cooled. Even then the hops only serve the create interest and a refreshing sensation.
I got 2 steeps out of the leaves. Both very flavorful sweet and invigorating. I’m glad I got some of this. :)

Last of my Butiki samples.

This is a pretty perfect root beer flavor. Not sure I’m getting the “float” part of it. The slightly woodsy flavor naturally occurring in honeybush is just right for root beer. It’s kind of making my crave an actual root beer float. Maybe it’s just that I spent a nice hot afternoon in the garden. Ugh. Gardening should be done on cloudy days or mid-morning. Too early and you become mosquito food.

Is it too late to plant oregano seeds?

Anyway! Back to tea! Root beer always reminds me of my childhood. I remember one hot sunny day, dad picked my sister and me up from school. He carried our backpacks as we walked home. Halfway there, us kids spotted an ice cream truck and begged dad to get us something. Somehow he indulged us and we each got a giant (so it seemed at the time) cup of root beer float. I don’t know how much of it I had before I gave the rest up to dad. I had no appetite for dinner. That memory always makes me feel warm and loved. Dads are the best.

Yes, I actually drank the tea I bought and not just the samples. :)

I love the smell of this. Cool sweet mint and dark chocolate. Mmmm. I also enjoy the mouthfeel of this tea. It’s thick and rich, probably due to the marshmallow leaf properties. Marshmallow is supposed to be good for tummy troubles, right? Well, it’s just delicious, tummy troubles or not. I think this would be lovely iced. I also just got a chocolate mint plant. I wonder how the two compare. :D

Another sample from my order! I remembered how impressed I was by the cream flavoring in Butiki’s Cantaloupe Cream so I wanted to give this one a try. It’s such a romantic sounding tea that I wanted to share it with my husband. Of course he took one sniff and crinkled his nose. “It smells like flowers.” Hah. I figured he’d react that way. All for me then.

I quite enjoy rose flavor so it wasn’t too flowery for me even though there were 10 rose buds in there. So pretty! There was definitely a nice creaminess. I could taste the champagne more as it cooled. Lovely white tea base as well. It just tied everything together. I got 2 steeps and they were both delicious.

I’ve been absent for a while. I’ll admit a new obsession is currently occupying my time – gardening! I still drink tea everyday, but it’s generally the same stuff. I’m still trying to drink through my stash. It has, sadly, not diminished much. I can’t believe how much tea I have. Despite that, I recently ordered Peppermint Patty and Peach Hoppitea from Butiki. I justify this by explaining that I am quite low on non-caffeinated teas. :) I requested this tea as a sample since it sounded so delicious.

It smelled sweet and decadent. I worried that I shouldn’t be drinking it. Of course it’s really just tea and has nothing bad in it, so I sipped away. It was such a well blended tea. The tea itself was really allowed to shine through. It was strong and just a bit astringent. I may have left the leaves in a bit long. The caramel provided a lovely sweetness and the vanilla propelled it into dessert status, no sugar needed. :) Too bad it was only a sample! I’ll probably buy this next time I have a good excuse to order.