Anxi Tie Guan Yin

I can’t believe I’m the first to review this. It seems like most people on Steepster go to Butiki for flavored teas, but their straight teas from what I’ve tasted have been great, and this one is no exception.

This is an excellent tie guan yin. I brewed this one gong fu style in my competetion tasting set, 1 minute each steep. First of all, like the description says, it’s an incredibly silky tea. The thing that struck me most, however, was the incredibly refreshing nature of this tea. I felt as if I was sitting outside in the grass on a comfortably warm day, eating a bowl of vanilla bean Haagen-Dazs while the smells of flowers permeated the air and the sound of a running stream trickled in the background.

But enough poetics… This tea is delightfully silky, floral, sweet, creamy, and posesses a fantastic mineral quality with a vanilla bean aftertaste. Wonderful.

Oh my, this is decadent and dripping with luxury. TGY, why do you have to be so tempting and appealing to me?

Why do you have to be such a tease and so cruel by being so delicious and knowing full well that you are a sipdown and that I have no longer access to your splendour?

Oh, I do know what you are, and I can tell you what you are not: modest! No you’re not. You’re such a Diva, wanting to show me all your nuances and complexity at once…

Giving me sweet vanilla bean, enchanting orchid flowers, a rich buttery mouthfeel, wrapping it all in an almost minty fresh breath in the background, you possess all the attributes to exude such confidence, you are absolutely fabulous and luxuriant.

Wish I had a better vocabulary to describe you…

I must admit that despite your obnoxiousness, you are good to me this morning in your last attempt to seduce me, you are giving me many re-steeps by being so potent. I will cherish every moment I have left with you on this quiet Sunday, and tell you this:

Until we meet again! Cause we will TGY, yes we will.

Thank you Stacy for this sample!
I love TGYs and of course, this one was delicious. Very green and floral with that sweet buttery note. I am getting very subtle fruity notes as well. This might be in an order one of these days….I have just recently placed 2 fairly large orders with Butiki and I am already thinking about the next one…sheesh!

This tea is REALLY DELICIOUS! Thank you for the sample, Stacy! I get the peach, honey and orchid notes. I recognize the orchid, since I’ve had the vanilla orchid tea from DavidsTea, which btw, I love, and this is like that, but peachy instead! It has a super creamy mouthfeel! Yum yum! I think we have another winner! Yippee!! Time for another steeping!

Thanks to the lovely Stacy for the wonderful sample of this. This is definitely a floral oolong. It smells so fresh, but has a creamy sweet top note.

I thoroughly enjoyed drinking this. I could definitely detect a sweet, honey-like note with every sip, and the buttery texture is on the lighter side, just enough for the gorgeous orchid to peek through. The vanilla interpretation is also accurate as it intertwines with its parent, the orchid.

I’m going to have to get my hands on more!

The scent of this tea reminds me of very green leaves and flowers. To me, it smells like a very floral oolong I’ve had before. I do like floral oolongs, but I tend to like them if they have creamy, buttery or sweet notes as well. I can handle flowers if they are accompanied by something else — otherwise it’s a bit too much like perfume.

Sipping… yep… definitely floral notes coming through at first. They’re surprisingly not too strong or sharp. There is also a bit of grass in the background. The finish is sweet, but subtle. I’m not getting much cream, but the mouthfeel is a little bit heavy. This isn’t a bad oolong, but I wish I had tasted something a bit more creamy/buttery.

This is actually a very dessert-y tea. Sweet, silky, lightly buttery. Definitely picking up a strong, but not excessive, vanilla element. Minty aftertaste. I didn’t know an unflavored oolong could taste like this! Very nice.

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki Teas for the sample.

This is hands down my favorite oolong that I’ve tried from Butiki so far. My only regret is that it’s a sample. Will definitely be ordering this. I can definitely smell the orchid right away as it steeps. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this as I’m not a huge fan of floral teas. But the orchid is a lovely scent & isn’t over powering. I literally can’t stop sniffing this tea as it steeps! It’s got such a great creaminess to it. Really enjoying this one!

Straight out of the bag I was greeted with a lovely strong orchid scent.
The brew has a peach flavor and for me the aftertaste it was like I actually ate a piece
of peach, smooth with a peachy/orchid taste.
I love it and this is one of my favorites oolongs it was like biting a ripe delicious peach

Delicious floral, smooth green. Refreshing!