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THIS is what I needed today. It’s sorta been a Monday to end all Mondays:

(tl:dr approved)

I left the house at 6:30 because it’s my day to take the baby to daycare, and by the time I hit the end of the block I was completely drenched. IT was crazy tropical-rainstorm time over here. So, being cold and wet for the next hour+ sucks, but at least the rain stopped when I got to my next bus transfer and I didn’t have to wait in the rain (wait – because my bus left early and I missed it).

Then I dropped her off at daycare, only to get a call half an hour after that I’d better pick her up because she’s sick. All that cold air or whatever just made her sinuses go into overload. So… back I go. And the bus website keeps saying my “bus is unavailable” when I try to find out when the next bus coming is, and then I end up getting flustered because I know I have to hurry up and get her because they can’t give her lots of extra attention when there’s 7 other toddler/babies there. So I’m flustered and I hop on the wrong bus, and realize my error and then just say eff it and walk 1.5 km back to the daycare. And I’m carrying my heavy purse full of tea (ha!) and my laptop because I worked from home Friday.

I get her, and take her home and it’s 10:30 by the time we get in and I get my laptop up and running so I can work from home. So… 4 hours to get Nowhere today. :P

The good news is that I saw a coyote in the rainstorm – he looked lost and confused by all this rain, but it was cool as I haven’t seen anything like that in our neighbourhood!

And this tea makes it all better!

The base is very smooth and rich. So very pleasant, and then there’s fruit and bergamot swirling around too. It’s not juicy fruity either – just notes of sweetness and fruit with honey. It’s very comforting on a cold frustrating day like today.

I guess I’d better try my Paris sample again and compare it with this one to see what I like better. I’m afraid I will want tins of both.

I have a feeling that 90% of my tea orders will now consist of Butiki, H&S, Della Terra and Verdant (maybe in that order?) as these companies all have niche areas for tea and I have been really happy with their offerings.

ETA: Now that it’s cooled, I’m getting creamy lemon notes too!

I tried this again, but steeped it for only 3 minutes. I still hate it. Now I know.

I don’t really feel fair rating this though when there’s not a lot of tasting notes on it. But… I guess people should be warned that it might not be for them.

This would be a sipdown, but it’s more likely a “toss it down the drain and pretend it never happened” tea. No sipping involved. (154)

Caaaaake!

Moist, juicy cake! It’s feels almost spongy and is definitely light. I love how I get the sensation of a decadent dessert, but there’s no crazy sprinkles or artificial flavours too it. Stacy is a wizard when it comes to blends!!!

(155)

Mmmm. Dragonwell! Strawberry dragonwell even! This is a very light and beautiful tea – buttery green notes, strawberry juice and a touch of sweetness. I’m going to resteep it and brown sugar…

Lovely sample! (156)

And that’s the last of this. (157) Gone now, but not forever!!!

Update : I just realized that I steeped this at 80C because I actually measured it. I wonder how many teas I steeped at that temp instead of boiling.

I know I just rated this last night, but after that steep, I put the rest in my timolino and left it overnight in the fridge and the result IS TASTY. The flavours are so strong – I could actually forego an actual peppermint patty for this!

Going to add this to a shopping cart and stare at it for the next few minutes. It’s on SALE. (2oz for $18 with shipping to Canada…. still tempted)

Sample Sipdown! (158) – Will my cupboard ever get under 100? At least I’ve got mostly everything in – there’s maybe just 1-2 swap packages out there and 0 orders.

So I am definitely getting the muscatel in this, and a lot of the fruity notes too. I don’t quite “get” Darjeelings yet as I don’t think I’d want this everyday, but I like it. It’s sweet, and hearty. There’s also grassy notes too. I keep thinking plum, but I don’t know if that’s supposed to be there. But yeah, plums wrapped in sweet grass/hay, with a touch of astringency – that’s this tea!

I’ll have to resteep it just to confirm this.

This is a stop everything you’re doing and rate this tea sorta tea. Which is good because it’s a sample and I’d better remember it so I can see if I want more.

And yes. YES I DO.

One sip in and it’s very similiar to biting into a peppermint patty. There’s almost a crunch to it. How does Stacy work this kind of magic? I swear, that’s what makes Butiki so good.

I’m sure this might cost buttloads of money but I think I’d need 4 oz of this on hand so I can drink it every night! (And again in the morning)

Thanks Stacy for the surprise sample! I’m so happy you included this!

(And I’m back up to 160 teas with all my Butiki teas! :O It’ll be fun trying them all out)

I got my part of the Butiki group order from OMGSrsly today, and also hung out with CrowKettle as well! It was really nice. See, I’m not always a hermit? It’s just too bad that it takes tea to lure me out into public. :P

So I’ve been waiting awhile for these teas and there are so many that I’m excited about, but THIS was the one I thought I’d start with. And it’s really good. It tastes like black jelly beans, minus the insane amounts of sugar. Sure, I could drink Stash’s licorice tea, but this is leaps and bounds beyond that, and it’ll probably be added back onto my shopping list for the next order.

Haha. I’m already thinking about the next order and I haven’t even logged THIS order.

THe texture of this one is almost thick and malty. And I get a bit of tacky tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth-ness that is also similiar to eating strong black licorice. I’m going to resteep it and try it with a bit of milk too!

So I’ve been drinking this since last night and am currently on my third steep – each one at one minute.

I love the name of this tea. YES I want to drink Curiousity Brew. I bought 1oz of it because I was curious. #sucker

I don’t get a lot of chocolate out of this tea, but I’m hit more by the chamomile and spearmint. The chocolate is just lurking below the surface.

This is an interesting blend! I’ll keep resteeping it, but so far I’d rather just drink the Laoshan Black than to mess around with a blend.