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This might be one of the most interesting oolong sessions I have ever had. Many teas have woodsy taste to them, but this has something new I have never experienced: stoney. I was very perplexed when I first took a sip, it was like I just walked through a construction zone but without all the negative aspects… however it was semi dry. There really is a stoneness to this tea when it is brewed for the first time. The second steeping is a bit different, a little sweeter but that stone is still there. If I knew that this tea would have that taste I would not buy it, but thankfully I did not know because this was an interesting experience for me and it was enjoyable. While it is a rolled green oolong, it is not floral. Good for multiple infusions for sure.

Watermelon Tieguanyin… this is my first time blending, I’ve baked sake into tea and infused them so this should be an easier method.
I will say that for my first attempt this is quite tasty. I balanced out the melon taste to the floral taste quite well. I think I’m going to make one adjustment to give it a slight buttery texture by mixing a very small amount of gyokuro to the mix.
I will go ahead and blend up the Watermelon Tieguanyin w/gyokuro in the next few days. If anyone is up to brewing a cup and giving me feedback, that’d be great!

This tea has so much potential!
I’ve had sticky rice teas before that remind me of rice from Japan, while it sounds odd they are quite good :)
Unfortunately, this blend uses a toasted rice which will not produce a sweet and savory taste that sticky rice has- so the title is misleading. If you add cinnamon to this, which I did not do, this would count as a dessert tea because the roasted taste and mango come off that way. If there was say botan rice candy in this tea with the same ratio of mango and tea leaf, this tea would excel. The mango is good yes, but the way it is paired with the toasted rice does not and will not work.

I really like the name of this tea, however one cannot rely on name alone…
The curling of these leaves was quite enjoyable to look at so I looked at them while the water heated up. I brewed them and went outside to read this morning. I drank an entire pot of this to determine how I would explain it:

Imagine you have an oolong tea that you would/have rated 90 to 92 on and once you pour the water on someone drops two tadpoles in your water. Though it’s only two tadpoles and not a dozen, they do change the taste of that beloved brew that you had coming up. Now drinking on this was quite interesting because there was an enjoyable oolong taste accompanied by this peculiar sour taste. I have nothing against tadpoles, but I do not enjoy their taste.
Please note, there were no tadpoles in this tea… it’s simply a taste comparison.

Talk about a mellow oolong…
I was curious about the olive oil tasting note, but it’s true! This goes down like olive oil mixed in butter, smooth and runny. Even though there is little flavor, the liquid is very pleasant to sip on. This would be a fantastic oolong to introduce someone to oolong teas.
Guaranteed to provide a mild and wonderful session.

Dang… with Butiki being gone it’s always something to look forward to have one of their teas, but this was just not a tea for me. The taste was a bit off in regards to portion of oolong, for some reason this seemed to have a more bold flavor than an oolong would have such as a light black tea. However, as for the taste, I’m unsure what this was suppose to taste like. I drank through 16ounces of it with multiple steeps, but just… not feeling it so much.

I decided I wanted something strong to drink so I grabbed this and dropped what was probably too much in my baby teapot. The first two steeps at 205f for 20s was entirely too strong for me… I ended up with 200f for 10s and it taste much smoother. I’m still a noob when it comes to pu’erh but I can tell that this isn’t the best but it also isn’t pu’er trash. I’m guessing it would be smoother with a smaller amount in the pot. Thankfully I have a 12 cup set so I was able to brew out 8 different timing on number of brew for this and found that after the 3rd brew it was enjoyable. I might just like more mellow style of shou though, I will soon find out as I explore more pu’erh.

So happy I got a few grams of this from someone :)
Butiki’s guayusa teas are at the top of my list, if only they still were produced… now I’m on a long journey to finding a substitute :/

This one is quite nice and I got to resteep it without the loss of flavor :)

The color, the aroma, the brewing, the expansion, the vibrant leaf in the water, the smooth taste, the fine texture, the unexpected mellow brew… the experience.

This is one fine tea that provides a tea worthy to be called gyokuro. Many gyokuros that I have drank are too similar to a sencha, but this tea is a much higher quality and I am glad I chose it out of all the teas that could have been obtained instead.

Don’t let the light color of this teas liquid fool you, it provides a clean taste of Japanese shade grown tea that provides a wonderful aroma that expands inside your mouth as you sip on it.

http://postimg.org/image/myf05dssv
This is the most difficult tea I’ve ever tried to brew. I know it’s a yellow pu’erh cake which means I shouldn’t use too hot of water, but dang… I ended up brewing this 7 times until I got it to about what might be considered ideal. 190f is too hot and 30s is too long. I ended up brewing 180f for 10s and it came out rather smooth. I am going to try again at 170f for 10s next time because these leaves seem to be delicate. The tea smells stronger than it taste which is nice and the taste is not something I can describe. I will say that they is no bitterness like many shengs have. The taste is a bit funky, which I expected after reading reviews online. I’ve drank quite few cups of this which should account for something, then again I had to tinker a lot with it. I can tell that the taste isn’t as appealing as say a shou would be for many, or even a sheng at that, but I find it interesting in a calming way as I try to figure out what I’m tasting.
This came from the cake that has a piece of hay in it :) https://instagram.com/p/3AIuZMRYBb/?taken-by=liquidproust
I don’t expect anything bad to come from that though since it’s dried hay and not something like, say, packing tape :p