Grape Oolong

I received this and my other samples from Butiki Teas a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had the time until now to properly sit down, steep and review them so I forced myself to put them to the side until they could be paid attention to. I’d like to thank Stacy right away for sending these teas to me – They are all exciting smelling! When I first unpacked the teas, they all smelled strongly of mint, so I separated them to avoid any contamination in smell or flavour. Since I’ve taken so long to get to them, they are all cleared up, and now the only smells I get from this dry leaf are sweet grape and oolong. Its reminiscent of David’s Tea’s Through The Grapevine in grape smell – Surprisingly strong, but you still know you are smelling a tea. The grape flavour is more of a ripe purple grape, if you can picture that.

For steeping, I used all of my two cup sample, since the beau wanted to try it alongside me. I ended up using my new glasses, so it was approximately 1 tsp tea to an 11 oz glass, but I figure that is close enough. I am terrible at water temps, so we boiled it and then let it cool for about 5 minutes. The instructions suggested a steep time of 4 minutes, so that’s what we went with for the first steep.

The leaves expanded very rapidly…they’ve taken up the better part of the pot in only a few minutes. It looks like someone threw a bunch of spinach in my tea! The liquor is a warm yellow with a hint of green, and the smell is lightly grape with a strong oolong/vegetal tea smell. I smell a sweetness as well, but definitely a vegetal odor. Goes well with the spinach association! : )

First sips provide a hint of a spicy sweet taste, reminiscent almost of a mild cinnamon sugar, with grape in there somewhere. I might be saying grape because I know it’s there.. The vegetal smell is there in taste, but it’s sort of hiding. I notice it, but it seems to move around on the tongue, so it’s never strongly vegetal. It is balanced nicely with the sweet grape flavour. The initial taste is unusual, not something I’ve encountered before. I definitely enjoy it, but it’s a little confusing.

I’ve saved the leaves for further steeps, I will try to update this post with my thoughts on further steeps as I have them later on. As the cup cools, the strange cinnamon sugar grape smell becomes stronger at the beginning of the sip. It is almost floral…but I am terrible with identifying floral flavours. We have a flowering tea that was a semi sweet/spicy flavour that is similar to this. Maybe jasmine-esque? Don’t get me wrong, the grape is still the dominant taste in this, it just isn’t like eating a bunch of grapes straight up, it’s as if they’ve been sweetened or are maybe a bit over-ripe. Really yummy, if you’re interested in sweeter teas. I’m sad that my sample is gone, but looking forward to future steeps!

EDIT: Second steep retained the depth of flavour…Really enjoyable, thoguh the grape has muted slightly, it is still there in all of it’s sweet glory. I gave this steep about 4 minutes as well.

The third steep sat for about 7 or 8 minutes and still had some of that sweet grape flavour, but had lost most of the distinctive flavours. I could probably keep going on with smaller cups, but I think I’ve pushed this to it’s lovely end. Thanks again, Butiki Teas!

Butiki Sample Sip Down! This was one of the two samples I requested with my Butiki order – mostly because I wanted to try it but was really hesitant because I’ve never had a strictly grape tea before (I’ve had wine teas, though) and therefore didn’t want a lot of it. Grapes are a fruit that I sometimes enjoy but am really really fickle about. Fresh, I only like green grapes but I also love that sickly sweet artificial grape flavour often associated with bright purples. And, the worst thing you can possibly do with grape flavours is recreate that horrible ‘makes you gag’ kind of cough syrup flavour. Stacy is a genius so I doubted this would taste like that – but I was a fear in the back of my head that I couldn’t shake.

Dry, there is a distinct kind of grape smell to the leaf. Not overwhelmingly so, but still present. It smells juicy. However, despite a clear grape scent it wasn’t something that left me drooling or writhing in anticipation for drinking it either. It was good – but not great.

I steeped this as per the instructions on the package. The sample was pre measured for 8 oz. so I obligingly used 8 ounces of water and I was careful to make sure the water was just the right temperature and I didn’t over steep past the suggested four minutes.

I was going to start watching right away – but I got distracted by a VERY awesome Youtube video. I don’t know if anyone remembers the Chatroulette ‘Call Me Maybe’ that went around the internet a while ago, but this one is one by the same guy and it’s JUST as good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6DmHGYy_xk

Drinking it now though, and I’m definitely getting the oolong base coming through pretty strongly. It’s a very floral oolong base and there are a lot of floral type notes coming through – specifically the taste of lavender. All this is subsiding into a sweet and juicy kind of grape flavour. The grape notes in particular are sort of reminding me of a toned down Welch’s grape juice – which is ok because I always found Welch’s to have too much sweetness and too much grape.

Ultimately, nothing here tastes BAD and I’m quite happily drinking the cup of it – but this is one Butiki blend that just isn’t doing it for me or making me fall in love with it. There’s nothing about it that makes me feel I can’t live without it. I certainly wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to have another cup if it presented itself, but I’m not going to go out of my way to make that happen.

That’s ok though – because I have nine other Butiki blends from my order that I haven’t tried yet and I’m sure more than one of them will make me fall in love with them and say to myself, “Self – you can never run out of this ever because this is perfection!”.

This was a sample with my recent Butiki order. I was really looking forward to this tea. Grape is not a flavor I’ve ever had in tea before, natural or not.

I saw that several reviews commented on the grape flavor, some said it was too much, some not enough. The description says that it has a light floral flavor. I’ve been coming to appreciate some light floral notes in my oolongs, but this one was not light, at least not to me. It is much more floral than it is grape, though I can detect the grape too. The dry leaf smelled vaguely of grape, but the brewed liquor smells like a heavy perfume. It doesn’t taste so bad really, but not something I’d ever consider purchasing.

Could be that it’s the type of floral rather than the concentration of it that I don’t like. Is this supposed to be orchid, lilac. . .?

This one is pretty tasty. The grape flavour is quite minimal underneath the oolong. It tastes like a grape popsicle to me. The oolong base is delicious.

As it cools, the grape flavour comes out more. I’m excited to see what the resteep brings.

This is definitely grape, all right. Make no mistake about that — the scent is strong in the bag, even before it is opened. Steeped, it produces a yellow liquor. A little bit of sweetener is needed. The oolong flavor is present, but is greatly overshadowed by the grape flavoring. This is grape not like biting into a grape, but like grape Kool-Aid or grape jelly. Not that that’s a bad thing. I have two young daughters with whom I sometimes have tea parties — this flavored tea would be perfect for a child. It would also be good iced on a hot day, or maybe even blended with a mild green or white tea. I might consider getting this just for the novelty of it.

This is my second to last free sample from butiki teas thank you. Backlogging This is a pretty good natural with abit of tartness and really does taste like green this oolong is just too green like and vegatal to me to be perfect. I do think this is a good tea and I really like the grape in this.

The dry leaf of this tea is really pretty cute. Small, tightly curled leaves and a very overwhelming scent of grape. This grape reminds me of the grape in some candies (and even some medicines). As it steeps, the oolong steps to the front and mingles with the grape scent. Sipping.. I’m very impressed with the flavor. A nice sweet grape (I’m thinking purple grapes) wrapped around oolong. Delicious! No one flavor, to me at least, overpowers the other. I am really enjoying the earthy flavor of the oolong and the smooth sweetness of the grape. Thank you Stacy for a very tasty drink!

Yum!, I got three steeps out of this one… and with each steep it got better and better. I found the oolongness of it did not overpower the grape and the grape did not overpower the oolong. Its a great balance. I did one hot steep and two cold steeps and I liked them both ways… this is definitely a tea I will be ordering in the near future :)

Butiki’s oolong teas are my favorite! Really, try any of their oolongs. They won’t disappoint. This has a lovely grape scent and flavor paired with the light floral of an oolong. The best kind of oolong, I think. Seriously, in the dead of winter, this tea reminded me of what flowers smell like. When is spring?

After the peach oolong from butiki, I was a little let down by this tea. It is good, but the grape did not flow as well with the oolong as the peach did.