Canal Street Carnival

Sipdown! This tea was amazing. Literally tasted like a fruity caramel candy, but with enough delicate white tea base to still feel like tea. Loved every cup of it, even though the tea is probably getting close to 10 years old now.

This smelled alarmingly like strawberry candy, and that’s pretty much how it tasted too. I did get some praline in the aftertaste, and fortunately without the off note I got from praline Horizon. This one was very sweet, and while it was fun to try I ultimately found it a little too artificial for my liking.

I’m so appreciative to all the people who have sent me Butiki samples, since I never actually got to place an order myself. I believe this one was from Kaylee, though it’s hard to keep track, as I’ve repackaged a lot of the samples I’ve received.

The dry leaf is so pretty. I love the contrast between the silvery green white tea and the bright, crumbly red of the strawberries. Just lovely. The smell of the dry leaf is pretty intensely strawberry and coconut.

Steeped, the sweet strawberry coconut notes become almost cloying and perfumey. The taste also has these notes, but it’s a much more delicate, smooth expression of strawberry and coconut, that mingles nicely with the hay and faintly vegetal notes of the white tea. The finish is quite sweet strawberry. The coconut gives this a lot of body and a bit of an oily mouth feel.

The flavour of this is really lovely, though the smell is a bit much for me. This sample is a sipdown and I’m okay with it being gone.

Another sample from Kaylee! I’ve been really into white tea blends lately, so I was so excited to try this one. I’m really wishing I’d been able to snag some of this before Stacy closed up shop, because it’s lovely: light and creamy with soft coconut and strawberry flavors that mingle into a sweet, fruity treat. Delicious!

I have to admit, I’ve been avoiding this tea for a little while. It was VERY aromatic, in the sense of strawberries & coconut, so much so that it reminded me of lotion. Overtime I opened it, the idea of drinking it kind of grossed me out. But yesterday I finally manned up, so to speak, & steeped it to share with a student & her mom, thinking that way if it wasn’t so great, at least I only had to drink a small cup, right?

I should have trusted Ms. Stacy, because it really wasn’t disgusting at all! My guests loved it, and although I can’t say that I felt the same way, it was still a pleasant cup of tea, not really lotion-like at all. It was a gentle cup, kind of like a strawberry cupcake topped with coconut frosting. I even ate a few of the rehydrated strawberries :)

Thanks to Sil for sending me a sample :)

This one from stacy is really interesting. I’m not sure where i land with this one…. it’s coconut and strawberry…with a bit of a nuttiness. I am enjoying this one a bunch…but i think it falls into the same spectrum as the pumpkin cheesecake one…i’ll drink it, and enjoy drinking it…but i don’t love it like it’s out of this world amazing and would trade for the few that i DO love out of this world..if that makes sense :) Still though, a really nice cup.

I was feeling like having some white tea to start my day. I have been butiki obsessed and just had to crack this one out.

I was a little put off by the look of the Kenyan Silver Needles. They were skinnier and not as fuzzy as what is in my Pumpkin Butterscotch Coffee and Champagne Rose Cream. Then I noticed that this was the Glenburn Silver needle. No wonder it looked different! DUH.

The coconut is amazing in this blend. It definitely smelled like the whole-kernel coconut oil I use for just about anything at home, skincare, hair moisturizer, baking, popcorn, emergency toothpaste… it definitely makes the strawberry pop. I like that the praline is there to mellow out both of those flavors. I am glad that the strawberry is like a mellow treat, rather than a tart and juicy flavor note. The steeped infusion is spot on with the smell of the dry leaf.

Using the Glenburn Silver needle was genius. The light hay makes this tea a light and flaky dessert.

Today sucks. Butiki makes me feel better. Alas, this blend has faded quite a bit. It was one of my favorites, but now the flavors are very muted when the tea is hot brewed per package instructions. So I cold steeped the last of it. There was a lot of powder in this particular package, which seems to have helped amplify whatever taste was left. Cold steeping sure worked better than the hot brew. The coconut is mostly gone, but at least I got some nice tart strawberry flavor this way. Sipdown. Nothing lasts forever.

My Butiki order arrived today and I went straight for this tea because it smells AH-mazing. And, I am happy to report, it delivers on taste too. Their is definitely a cake element and the praline stays with you long after the sip but the strawberry has a touch of tartness that really adds a layer to this tea. It reminds me of Ruby Pie in a way, which is good as I don’t have much of that beloved tea left. Now I wish I grabbed more of this one because I am really enjoying it.