Organic Iyerpadi

Not actually sure I had even tried this tea before. I believe it was a freebie in one of the final orders. Anyhow, I don’t think I’m a big fan – it didn’t taste off or anything, but it was a little on the side of mariney/fishy. I should have written this note while I was drinking it, so I could write a bit more, but it was definitely a different type of green, and also definitely not my preference. Will drink again, but may try and send this one elsewhere.

Stacy included this for free with one of my last orders, and I’m actually not sure if I’ve ever had this before because it looked pretty scary so I’ve spent a while avoiding it. Still, it has to be drank at some point and after my lunch (which – tmi – I can still taste) none of the flavoured options were calling out to me and I actually quite fancied a straight green, so I thought I might as well bite the bullet and go for it.

The reason I’ve been so hesitant is because of the size of the leaf which, even though I have lots of teas from other companies this size, is a lot smaller than most Butiki teas I own. I always associate smaller leaf with bitterness, and I’m wary of green teas for this reason too, so this was never high on my list of priority teas. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be, but there is some astringency though it’s on the milder side of what I’ve experienced with green teas in the past. I can taste most of the notes Stacy points out, apart from the lemon, though I can really only notice them when I think about it. Green tea is my fuzzy area. Without suggestion I can taste a floral note almost reminiscent of jasmine, and some steamed green vegetable notes which are probably what I was identifying as spinach when I was looking at the specific notes.

Basically, it’s not for me. It’s not bad, and probably one of the better straight greens out there, but I have uncouth tastes and this deserves a better home than mine. There’s a good chance this might end up with Red Fennekin.

It has only been a relatively short time that I’ve been drinking and commenting on tea. I have found it remarkable that others find a kaleidoscope of flavours in what might seem to be a straight up green. Anyway, I am getting there, slowly, slowly.

I was a bit surprised at how crushed up the leaf is, so I read other reviews and sure enough, that’s just the way it is.

At first sip, I noted a hint of jasmine, but then, it disappeared, so I suspect the scent of another tea must have wandered into this sample. I have been rather slow in getting to this envelope. The past couple of months have been all over the place. Even that is a slight understatement.

Anyway, so, I do detect the slightest bit of corn here. But, vague. I honestly wouldn’t taste it if I weren’t seeking it out.

There’s a bit of grassiness too. And as others have noted, the tea gets even more smooth as it cools. And a bit of astringency too, even though I steeped it very briefly at a cooler temperature.

I think this may be the very first green tea I’ve had from India: Flowery Orange Pekoe grade, grown in Nilgiri, to be exact.

I can’t really tell you in which way this particular tea differs from a Chinese tea as there are so many variations. I will research this a bit. Thankfully, I have enough to sip another couple of cups.

Thanks, tigress_al, for letting me sample some of the glory that was Butiki.

Sipdown

Straight greens are my least favourite tea but this one was enjoyable.

Thank you for sharing, Kittenna. Sadly, I don’t think this is at all for me.

It’s super broken up leaves, and reading other notes that’s not because of travel – it’s supposed to be that way. Steeping it, it smells like grass and spinach. Hot, it tastes like that too.

Not exactly my favourite kinds of flavours. And yet, I keep trying green teas.

I don’t think this is a bad quality tea. It’s a bit bitter, but not astringent. The flavour is full, and the texture is great. It’s just made up of flavours I don’t care for.

I got this for free with one of my recent Butiki orders. I noticed that this particular green is being used as a base for many of their recent green-based blends. I’m normally pretty ‘meh’ about most plain green teas but this one sounded interesting enough and Butiki’s teas are generally of good quality. Plus free tea is free tea. :D

The leaves are fairly broken-looking – not teabag or CTC sized but definitely not intact enough to really be called ‘whole-leaf tea’. Normally that would make for a more bitter brew but this one is actually quite smooth. It’s vegetal but there’s also a surprising sweet undertone that comes out particularly as the tea cools – I think the description likened it to spinach and corn and I suppose that isn’t too far off for me. It’s quite a nice green tea, the flavours are strong enough to be distinctive on their own but subtle enough that I could see this working well as a base for a flavoured tea.

I received some of this tea for free as part of a promo for spending over a certain amount on a Butiki order. Sorry about the vagueness, I just can’t remember the specific details at the moment. Anyway, I’m not usually a fan of green teas that aren’t Japanese, but of course I am gonna give this one a shot. I steeped it as recommended (180 F, 2 min), which resulted in a lovely pale yellow-green color. It both smelled and tasted very vegetal, though I couldn’t tell you exactly which veggies. The vegetal flavor was a bit mild, though, and it was a bit bitter from some extra leaves that weren’t caught by my strainer.

Overall, it was just a bit ho hum to me. It was a fine tea, but I didn’t think that there was anything particularly special about it. Again, it may also be because I don’t generally enjoy these types of teas.

This tea sounded so good to me, and yet right now, it’s just not. I don’t know if it’s just me, or what. I might have oversteeped this one.