Boracay Breeze (Limited Edition)

I don’t know how, but this is still just as delicious as always. My little brother is home for the holidays and he sniffed it, said it smelled nice, then actually deigned to try it! He said ‘mm’ and nodded approvingly, which is high praise from him. Man, I’m going to miss this when I run out.

Yup, this is awesome.

I had a ton of doubts about this tea. First, the dry leaf reaks of perfume that my grandmother used to wear. However nice that scent may have been I don’t think it belongs in my teapot. Second, I’m not a big white tea drinker, and third this is flavored, so it’s usually not up my alley. Regardless, I grabbed my glassware and got to brewing. The steeped liquor tastes so damn good. The flavor begins with a light coconut and moves into a light citrus tone with honey. I can pick up some banana in the background along with a smooth floral note. The brew finishes with a tanged hay taste and dryness that cleans the palette. This is perfect for just before bed as a light dessert tea. I’m really surprised that I like this, and I’m really glad to have tried this.

I pulled out a couple of untried Butiki’s to being to work with me today – this and White Rhino. I’m trying to resist the urge to hoard them, knowing that I can’t get anymore, but at the same time I don’t want them to get old and lose their flavour. I used 1 tsp of leaf for this cup, and gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees. The resulting liquor is a pale yellow-gold, and the scent is lightly floral.

The flavour is another matter entirely. There is a hint of floral, yes, but mostly this is pure tropical fruit amazingness. I always knew Butiki’s banana was good (Hello Sweetie, anyone?), but it’s especially clear here. It’s tastes almost a little under ripe; not hopelessly so, but slightly green and still firm. It’s perfectly complemented by the coconut, which adds a sweeter overtone and a mild milky creaminess. There’s a hint of floral in the background, but it’s almost like breathing the air on a caribbean island. Beach flowers, local fauna and flora, caught on a passing breeze. The white base is perfect here. I think it enhances the floral flavour a little, contributing something all its own. To me, it’s almost peony or orchid-like, a gentle tasting but highly fragrant floral.

I’m not typically a fan of floral teas, but this is one I can get behind. It’s not too perfumey or overdone (even though the inspiration behind it was a perfume!), and the floral is an integral part of the experience, rather than an end in itself. The banana/coconut combination is stunningly delicious, and when combined with the other notes it’s just like a summer holiday in a cup! Beautiful and evocative. I’ll definitely be sad when this one is gone from my life.

Every time I drink this tea, I abstain from writing about it because it’s just so unique. I’m a perfume/essential oil lover, and was always known as the Floral Queen when I worked at Lush, so I was pleasantly surprised when I blindly ordered this without knowing its backstory and discovered that such a perfumey tea even exists and tastes amazing.

It’s also slightly different every time I have it. I swear. I always get coconut and a hint of lemon, but it’s the floral notes that seem to subtly morph every time. Last cup was distinctly rosy, or even like lily of the valley. This time, it’s on the classic white floral side.

So nice to experience a well-thought-out floral tea that isn’t just rose or lavender.

Fair warning, the first half of this note is a bit of an angry rant so feel free to skip to the part about the tea.

Today has just been an off day for me. I woke up, knit an entire blanket, and then when I showed my family, they all had something negative to say about it. That just put me in a bad mood because seriously, who are they to have anything bad to say when none of them could even knit a line, let alone an entire blanket in 4 hours. So in order to avoid them, I napped under my newly knit blanket. Then I got woken by my sister who wanted to ask me if she should wake my mother because our kitchen sink was leaking. Seriously?! Why would you wake me up for that?!? Then, I went downstairs to make my eggnog latte and the regular eggnog was all frozen so I had to use Almond Nog. And to top things off, my mother’s annoying friend is over and since my mother was too f-ing busy playing video games to come downstairs and entertain her, she sat in the kitchen with me while I prepped my tea, asking all sorts of obnoxious questions and bitching about how the kitchen “looks like a hurricane hit it”. I was in the middle of making my latte so I was doing a couple things at once! My mother does the same thing. Like are you really complaining there is a mess while I am doing something with the things making the “mess”? As soon as I was done everything got cleaned up but it was certainly not necessary for me to have to listen to the bitching.

Anyway, on to the tea. First thing I noticed about almond nog in comparison to regular eggnog is that it does not foam up quite the same. So as latte, this is rather flat today. However, the almond is contributing a strong taste that is blending with the coconut and other flavors in the tea to come off as an almost almond shortbread cookie type taste. It’s not necessarily bad, but it is covering up a lot of the subtleties of this tea so I am a bit sad about that. Still, no sense being upset because at least I produced a drinkable cup, even if it wasn’t the drink I was expecting.

What have I done?! I just uncovered this tea hiding behind some tins. I’m not sure how long it has been hiding there, but it was long enough for the coconut to take on the slightly soapy taste that coconut does as it ages. It feels like an abuse of tea, especially a Butiki! Luckily it isn’t too far gone and I can overlook the taste while focusing on the other flavors. I can pick out the banana for sure. It is very aromatic making for a nice aftertaste. It is lighter than I usually prefer, favoring heartier blacks, but still very enjoyable.

Hello Sweetie’s lighter, more tropical sister. Love it, one of my Butiki tea favorites. Dat banana.

Woo! Another sample sipdown!! :D :D
This one was definitely interesting. Not really something I would have gotten on my own, or even would have bought if it were still in stock at Butiki right now.
But it was interesting to try, and it made for a pleasant cuppa. (:

Stacy sent a sample of this with my last order. Thanks!

The dry leaf is just… peaceful. The leaves are a blend of white and faded green, mingled with delicate flecks of blue, pink, and white. The smell is floral and coconutty. Is that a hint of lemon? Nice.

This brews up a lovely pale gold. The scent is still floral and coconutty, but there’s a solid vanilla note that comes to the fore. The flavor is tropical. It’s a bit heavier on the coconut than I personally like. It’s oh-so-slightly fruity, but hard to pin down the exact fruit. Citrus? Mango? It’s leaving a slight film on my tongue that isn’t exactly enjoyable. Otherwise, this is quite pleasant. I got a nice second steep out of it, with the same scent, texture, and flavor profile.

Overall, this tea is very “chilling on the beach at an island resort”. It also goes well with fancy marzipan!

Just tried a cup sample of this. This tea doesn’t remind me of something bright or refreshing, but rather something very smooth and relaxing. Though there seem to be a lot of flavors and notes going on in this tea, I enjoyed being able to clearly realize each one of them despite the fact that they are relatively similar types of flavors. Coconut, banana, and cream are the most immediate flavors in this tea, with a subtle flowery vanilla playing in the background and perhaps even a quiet nuttiness at times. I did not add any sugar to this (like I do with 80% of my teas) and it had enough flavor and sweetness to stand on its own. I will probably order some of this with my next Butiki shipment, at the very least so I can try it cold-brewed or to see how it tastes with some sugar. I just hope they have it in stock at that time, since it is a “Limited Edition” after all! This is a perfect tea for anyone who likes that tropical ‘Pina-Colada’ type of taste and also wants something exceedingly smooth and comforting.