Ruby Pie

i am shamefully behind in my reviews!

a few days ago i came in from the rain, clattering the mail box lid as it was nearly too late. what’s this? something puffy! a puffy envelope in december? always exciting! i didn’t recognize the writing. a mystery envelope! i decided a shake was in order…. something shifted from side to side. i sniffed…. tea! it had to be tea!!

but who from? and which one?

Sil! you sly tea ninja!! i have been wanting to try this blend for ages…. you even remembered that i frequently mess up the first steep (she sent enough for 2 cups).

i smelled rhubarb, cherry, strawberry…. tea, crust….. and the tasty mucky stuff that all that all those elements create together when they puddle. the kettle boiled, the water was ready…. it was going to good! it smelled amazing! i tasted FLAT.

now i know that was me. i was sure of it. sil, if you have been wondering why i haven’t reviewed sooner…a) i was behind, b) i was grumbling.

tonight i got over it….. i cheated…. i added honey. there we go! perfect! wunderbar!

sil, thank you so much…. happy christmas…… xo

Thank you Stacy for this sample tea!

I sellected Ruby Pie this morning because it matched the beginning to my day. How? It matched the color of the sunrise this morning!

Vibrant rose, streaks of gold and cream… bright lights in a black sky.

I was awake at 5:45 AM, the wind howling hard through the trees and if I hadn’t been disturbed, would have missed the most glorious sunrise.

If you watch the you-tube video (made this morning), the last pictures this special sunrise. My granddaughter Megan’s music is paired with it, as a tribute to the 100 year storm we’ve been through here on the Frontrange.

Here’s the You-Tube morning photo’s with music… be kind, it’s my first attempt! http://youtu.be/vaIUqSXnqDE

Ruby Pie isn’t heavily hibiscus (thank’s Stacy) or too strawberry either. The blend is pie-ish. I like that word, ‘pie-ish’ because it means that Stacy got it right, adding cookies (huh?!) to the tea blend. Comforting, dessert tea.
Stacy’s nuts, so she added those too! Nut’s, crust, berries and a little tang in a colorful combination that makes me chuckle at how creative she can be. (What tea delights will transformulate (made that up) from her brain as she becomes a Whovian?!)

Goodness Stacy!

Sil you are wonderful!
Stacy from Butiki you are a genius!
RUBY PIE you are a delight!

This is a masterpiece – because RARELY do people MAKE IT in LIFE by ‘playing it safe’ and Butiki thrives on the creativeness behind the cuppa! Thank you for being so creative and taking those creative combo risks! They are great!

The Black tea base is fairly strong and I like that. The Vegan Bunny Grahams are a brilliant addition! They give it a wonderful crustiness to it! The floral notes give it a peppy and peppery pop here and there and the Strawberry notes are WONDERFUL! The Cinnamon notes are strong and appreciated. This tastes more like a meal than a cuppa!

I’ll have to order this and SOON!

If you over infuse it will be a little more cinnamony as well as stronger and “darker” or more astringent but it’s still an interesting flavor and satisfying and filling at that!

Ended my tea day with this one. Sil sent me a big sample of this awhile back and I’ve really enjoyed it! I don’t love the rubharb but the pie crust and vanilla is super delicious. Sad to see this one go! Thanks for the large sample Sil!

This came in my last order from Butiki and the first time I tried it I added soymilk to it, which I do NOT recommend because it has hibiscus in it and that will make your milk or plant milk curdle (ewwww).

Anyway I knew I had to retry it before I could review it. The dry leaf smells very fruity and a bit tart.

The cup is very red after it’s brewed. Now, normally I loathe hibiscus so I probably wouldn’t have purchased this had I realized it was in there. IMO the tea is pretty tart and adding a packet of turbinado sugar definitely helped. I am getting a lot of strawberry and the tea smells like pie but I don’t get a lot of pie flavor, vanilla or even black tea. I think the hibiscus just overpowers everything.

This isn’t bad, I just think it isn’t really for me. If someone wants to swap for it I will consider any and all offers. :)

This tea presents quite a lovely impression of a strawberry pie made from cooked fruit with just a touch of cinnamon and only slightly sweetened. These are among my favourite types of pies, ones where the fruit is allowed to shine and its freshness is highlighted. Very nicely done!

This tasting note is more a series of impressions brought to you thanks to the generosity of CrowKettle who sent this to me as a surprise.

Scent: Graham crust, strawberry slightly green bright note, cinnamon, bright note from the tea

Broth: deep orange gold with a hint of red.

Taste: Light strawberry that becomes more apparent in the aftertaste with a hint of sharpness from the hibiscus. Hint of pastry that offers a thickness and a certain smoothness to the tea. Cinnamon note blends in with the flavour of the base tea which has a certain richness, a touch ofbitterrness, honey and a certain brightness. Pleasant but not in you face flavouring. The strawberries are like slightly under ripe berries that have been left out in the sun after slicing with a very subtle floral note blending into the fruit. A touch of woodiness is present either from the cinnamon or the base tea. Enjoyable with the flavouring developing and becoming more apparent as I sip down the cup.

I wanted to dig into this one right away when my goody box from sil came last week, but I thought with the strawberries, maybe I should wait til Canada Day with this one, and so I did. (This decision helped narrow down which tea I wanted to try first, also.)

So, this brewed up a lovely reddish pink colour from the hibiscus, but lucky for me, there is not much hibby in this to be a bully. I am getting a fairly strong black base, with the fruit and pie behind it, though as the tea cools, they come forward more. I’m wondering how this would be iced. Methinks it would rock. Love seeing the strawberries in the dry leaf.

I have one more serving in the sample pouch, though I am going to see if I can get at least one more steep from the leaves I have already used.

I finallly ordered this! I was waiting to make a big order at Butiki since shipping is kinda expensvie now, so I might as well make it worth it!

This black tea is deliciously fresh strawberry and rhubarb. There is a slight baked pie taste. I added some rock sugar half way through and this really brings out the baked pie taste even more.

I resteeped this for 4 minutes and it was a little weaker, but still delicious.

I chilled some of this and it is delicious as well!

Good job Sil (I think it was Sil anyway!) on suggesteing this combination in the contest!

Sil thank you so much for this sample!

What a wonderful tea. I am not a pie person so when I saw Ruby Pie in my swap package I decided this would be the last to try. nothing against butikis wonderful teas, I’m just not that into baked goods. If it’s cake this and bread that, I don’t rush to get it.

Today is the day Ruby Pie meets the brew basket. The dry leaf is not overly fragrant. Once steeped, pow, aroma wafts out of the jar. A mason jar is so not the right vessel for this tea, I don’t know what I was thinking. Still, you can smell it in there. The brewed liquor is light caramel, I expected red for some reason. And the flavour is so unbelievably … pie crust! I love this tea. It is absolutely delicious. This is not a bandwagon tasting note. I am not saying this because everyone loves butiki and I must conform. This tea manages to capture pie entirely. Liquid pie crust in your cup. Fantastic job, I have no idea what goes into it. I don’t mean ingredients, I mean the balance of getting everything just so, in order to have tea drinkers everywhere go “omg, that’s pie crust!”

Now when it comes to the strawberry or rhubarb, it’s getting foggy for me, I can’t really tell where one stops and the other begins. And there’s a wonderful aftertaste of pie crust with something slightly tart. Could be hibiscus. I think it is hibiscus. Booyah!

Dry: Short black loose leaf blended with bits of graham cookies, flower petals, and big chunks of freeze-dried strawberries. This smells very much like sweetened strawberries right out of the bag, similar to strawberry shortcake ingredients to my nose.

Steeped: Light brown liquor with a bit of a film, but smells devine. Fresh strawberry aroma with a creamy backdrop.

Taste: My grandmother (may she rest in peace) used to make the most delicious rhubarb pies. I never asked her for that particular recipe unfortunately, but the good news is that this tea reminds me very much of it! Somehow this tea manages to taste like sweet strawberries with actual pie crust notes and a tiny hint of tartness, as if from rhubarb. The base is tasty as well. No strong spicy notes also make me happy as many teas are just way too cinnamon for my liking. Not this one though. It is wonderful! This is also my first Butiki tea and the first strawberry tea I’ve actually enjoyed (doesn’t taste artificial). Yum!