Boxing Day Sale - December 26th - 25% Off!!!

For all of Friday, December 26th we will be offering 25% off of all teas and teawares (except for teas on our SALE page, since they are already heavily discounted).


Rules

Free shipping offers do not apply, even if a $75 order is made. International orders will be assessed with full shipping charges after the purchase and there will be no shipping discounts.

Please hit the 'refresh' button on every page you order from to make sure the tea list is up to date.

We will refund 25% of your tea and teaware purchases when your order ships.

Please make sure you provide us with an email where we can reach you in case items run out.

Purchases that qualify for this sale must be made during December 26th Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Please allow 5 business days for items to be shipped. Communications will be somewhat slow.

Butiki After Hours: Hello Sweetie TeaTini

Spice up any party with a Hello Sweetie TeaTini.  The lively coconut and creamy banana flavors pair well with the toffee, caramel, chocolate, and praline notes making this tea the ultimate desert martini.  The recipe below presents a perfect balance of sweetness and alcohol so that the drink does not become sickeningly sweet; however, feel free to add more sugar if you prefer not to taste the alcohol.    

These martinis were a huge success at our last celebration.  A friend of ours, who owns Vox Vapes, was in town for a visit.  Be sure to check out his ebay store: Vox Vapes if you have any interest in quality vape devices.  

 

      

Ingredients

  * 3 teaspoons of our Hello Sweetie tea
  * 1 tablespoon brown crystal sugar
  * 2 oz top shelf vodka (we prefer Ketel One)
  * Dried Coconut for garnish (optional)

   Makes 1 TeaTini

Procedure

Brew the tea.  Infuse the tea and brown crystal sugar into 4oz of boiling water and steep for 4 minutes.  Make sure the sugar is fully dissolved.  Stirring the tea frequently will help melt the sugar.  The tea leaves can be saved to make another cup of tea.

Mix the drink.  In a shaker, shake the vodka, ice, and brewed tea.  Pour the mixture into a martini glass.

Garnish. Top with some dried coconut as a garnish. 

Enjoy!  We hope you have as much fun testing out this recipe as we did!

A Beginners Guide to Tasting Teas

Often, teas are consumed without really tasting them. Focusing on other activities while drinking tea can distract from the beauty of tea.  This article will address what taste and flavor is, why tasting teas mindfully is important, and will provide a way to actively taste tea.  Additionally, this article will discuss how to work on tasting ability.  

Taste & Flavor

Before discussing how to taste teas, it is important to understand the way in which flavor is perceived.  Flavor is affected by olfactory and gustatory systems.  Olfactory sensations can be perceived in two ways.  The first way in which it is perceived is when molecules pass through the nasal cavities and travel to the receptors of the olfactory gland.  That is the first impression of flavor, through smell.  The second way in which flavor is perceived through the olfactory system occurs when tea is in the mouth.  The aroma rises through the pharynx toward the nasal cavities and reaches the olfactory gland.  This is known as aroma and is the main way in which the flavor of tea is perceived.  It is estimated that 75% of what is tasted is regulated by smell.  Additionally, the tongue detects taste (gustatory system).  The tongue is covered with gustatory receptors and can detect bitter, acidic, salty, sweet, and umami flavors.  Flavor is combination of the olfactory and gustatory sensations.

Why Mindfully Taste Teas

Why set aside time to focus on actively tasting teas?  There are 3 main reasons for focused tea tastings, including: learning, appreciation, and evaluation.  Focusing on tasting teas and recording observations allows for teas to be compared and contrasted.  This can help draw conclusions about individual teas, categories of teas, and particular similarities within a region and will help expand overall knowledge of teas.  Moreover, fully focusing on each tea allows for a greater appreciation of and to better understand the complexity of that tea.  Finally, evaluation aids in establishing the quality of the tea and helps determine personal tea preferences.  When evaluating a tea and comparing it to similar teas, quality level can be determined.  Additionally, evaluating teas and keeping notes allows an individual to hone in on their personal tea preferences.  This also helps develop the language of tea and can make it easier to discuss tea with others and review teas.          

To do a focused tea tasting (also known as tea cupping), the dry leaves, wet leaves, and liquor (steeped tea) will be evaluated. 

Dry Leaf Evaluation

Dry leaf evaluation includes appearance and smell.  To examine the dry leaves, note the sizes and shapes of the leaves.  Are the leaves mostly uniform in length and width?  Are they twisted or rolled?  Are there stems?  What part of the tea plant is present?  Two leaves and a bud?  What are the colors of the leaves?  Are the colors even?  Be as specific as possible.  Rather than describing a color as ‘green’, delve deeper.  Are the leaves forest, spring, or jade green?  A color chart can be utilized to better describe the colors. 

Next, smell the leaves.  Try to pick out specific scents.  Tea is often described in the following categories: fruits, spices, nuts, vegetables, grass, floral, cocoa, tobacco, forest, smoke, wood, marine, and earth (these categories will also be used to evaluate the wet leaves & liquor).  The list of possible scents is endless, but those are some very common categories.  Keep in mind that there will probably be multiple notes.  Perhaps a particular tea might smells of roasted walnuts at first then develops into an apricot scent.  If determining the scent is difficult, the leaves can be rubbed between both hands to release more of the scent.

Wet Leaf Evaluation

Wet leaf evaluation includes smell and appearance.  After the tea liquor has been poured out of the brewing vessel, immediately smell the leaves.  What do the leaves smell like?  Be specific.  Use the above categories (from the dry leaf evaluation section) to help narrow down the scents.  Remember to describe how the aroma first hits your nose and also how it follows. 

What do the leaves look like now?  What are the colors of the leaves, is the coloring even.  If the leaves were twisted are they untwisted now? 

Liquor Evaluation

Evaluate the liquor by sight, smell, and taste.   What does the liquor look like and what is the color?  Be specific.  Is the liquor mahogany or possibly amber in color?  Does the liquor have good clarity or is it cloudy?  Is the liquor bright or dull? 

What does the liquor smell like?  Be specific. 

The best way to taste the liquor is by slurping.  Slurping will aerate the tea so the vapors become airborne and evenly spray the tea in the mouth.  Notice the mouth feel.  Is the tea heavy or light on the tongue?  Is there a noticeable texture?  For instance, does the liquor feel silky, velvety, or creamy?  What are the flavors of the tea?  Be very specific.  Use the above categories (from the dry leaf evaluation section) as a guide and try to narrow the flavors down as much as possible.  For instance, if you note that there is a fruity flavor, delve in deeper.  Is it citrus, berry, stone fruit, etc?  Maybe a citrus flavor is noticeable. Try to pin it down as much as possible.  Is it grapefruit, lemon, orange, tangerine, lime, yuzu, etc?  If possible, go even further.  What type of lime is it?  For example, could it be a kaffir lime or a key lime?  Be as specific as possible but do not worry if there is difficulty narrowing down specific flavors.  Specific flavors will be easier to determine when teas are more frequently actively tasted.  Most teas will have multiple notes.  Be sure to pay attention to the tasting notes at the front, middle, end, and after taste.    For instance, a particular tea might have almond, peach, and blackberry notes up front followed by hay and jasmine notes in the middle.  Oak notes and lemon may be present at the end of the sip with lemon notes that linger.  Pay attention to whether the tea exhibits astringency (drying feeling) or complexity (many layered notes).  Is the tea bright (fresh and lively) and/or round (full, smooth)?   Finally and most importantly, how does this tea make you feel?   

Training Tasting Ability

Tasting teas can be difficult at first.  We have often heard, “I don’t know, it tastes like green tea”; however; over time tasting tea will become much easier.  The more tea you drink and the more you compare teas, the better you will be at tasting tea.  We recommend sampling a number of teas at the same time and trying to identify tea based solely on taste.  Additionally, tasting a variety of food will help expand your palate.  Try tasting a variety of foods, particularly different fruits, vegetables, spices, and nuts.  Compare similar foods.  For instance, purchase 5 different pears and compare and contrast them.  Tasting new foods will provide more options to describe various flavors in tea. Finally, reducing or avoiding cigarettes, artificial flavorings, and heavily processed foods will help with identifying subtle flavors.  

Please keep in mind that this is an introduction to the world of tea tasting.  We recommend learning some general tea terminology.  Below is an example of our tasting sheets, which may be helpful when tasting tea.  We hope you enjoy your journey into tea tasting.    

The Story Behind Foxy Roxy's Banana Walnut Treat

Foxy Roxy’s Banana Walnut Treat pairs our Congou Keemun with fresh banana flavor and a hint of walnut.  But how did this tea come about?  We knew that we wanted to have a banana tea.  First, we started with an oolong to make a creamy banana oolong but that just didn’t work out.  Then, we tried a banana rum white tea but no matter how we combined the rum and banana the rum just didn’t work well with the banana.  Then we tried a banana chai but we weren’t in love with it.  

We were almost at the point of setting the idea of a banana tea aside for a while and coming back to it later but then I received an email from Foxy Roxy.  The message was mostly about other matters but towards the end she mentioned that she thought we should have a banana tea and had discussed how she tried a Keemun with a banana and thought that the combination worked well.  I definitely wasn’t sold on this idea, especially since our Keemun has mushroom notes but I thought this is just such an odd coincidence that she was emailing me about a banana tea when we were almost at the point of putting this on the back burner.  We went ahead and made a sample and once we tasted it we knew that there was a lot of potential for this tea.  The mushroom notes were gone but the fresh ripe banana flavor worked well with our premium Keemun.  I sent Roxanne a sample and later she mentioned walnuts.  After working with that combination for a while, we ended up with Foxy Roxy’s Banana Walnut Treat.

We did a short interview with Roxanne and she was kind enough to send us a ton of awesome photos.  We hope you enjoy the interview and photos!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.  I'm just a simple gal, a free spirit who enjoys simple pleasures in life.  Books, art in any shape or form, music and tea are basically what makes my world go round!

 I live close to nature in Quebec, Canada, where some winters never end it seems... Animal lover, I will rescue any type of life form that will knock on my door.

My love life: I was lucky to meet the man of my dreams many years ago, and to this day, he still completes me in every way possible!

  

When did you first become interested in loose leaf teas?  It was my Grandma who introduced me to loose leaf tea for the first time, she loved Jasmin Chinese tea. I must have been about 7 years old, so I've been drinking loose leaf nearly all my life! But the last two years got me into more refined teas. My palate rapidly evolved, and Butiki became my favorite online tea shop!

What are your tea preferences?  I will describe my tea preferences as relationships:

I'm married to straight Blacks.  I have torrid love affairs with Oolongs.  My BFF are Greens. I have distant White acquaintances that I like to visit once in a while.  I socialize more and more with Pu'erhs.  I party with Flavored. There you have it, in a nut shell! I come to the conclusion that monogamy does not exist in the world of tea. It's more of an ongoing dating game and I like it!

What are your tea rituals?  My tea ritual involves my pets. As I reach for the kettle, Doberman Dexter sits and observes, hoping to learn how to serve tea one day.  The cats, Happy and Pixelle anticipate the moment I'll go sit and sip. They know they'll soon be lying on my laps, getting love and affection :-)

If you were banished to an island, what type of tea would you bring if you could chose only one?  If I was banished on an Island and could only bring one type of tea (what a sad thought!), it would have to be Black teas, cause they are reliable, low maintenance, and yet so versatile! But hopefully on that Island, there would be tea trees and we could start our own estate and transform Camellia Sinensis into whatever type of tea we fancy :-)

  

What is your favorite tea from Butiki Teas?  Why?  It's hard to pick a favorite tea from Butiki, but  My favorite flavored tea is beloved Flowery Pinapple Oolong. The pineapple taste is so juicy, there's such a brightness about this tea that makes me happy, I see life in yellow when I drink it! (I must mention that Foxy Roxy's Banana Walnut Treat and Cantaloupe & Cream are close runner ups!) if I have to, I say Premium Taiwanese Assam just because no other tea tastes like it! I could drink it forever and never get tired of it!

How did you come up with the idea for pairing banana, Keemun, and walnut?  Foxy Roxy's Banana Walnut Treat came to life by accident. I'm a huge fan of the banana, I eat it everyday. One day, I was having a very ripe and sweet banana while drinking Keemun tea. It tasted awesome! It got me curious and I dared the unthinkable: I added mashed banana and walnuts to my cup,  I did! It was gross looking, but it tasted really good,  better than most banana flavored teas I've had!

  

Can you tell us a little bit about the process of how this tea came about?  I desperately needed

help from the only true Tea Alchemist I know, so I emailed Stacy. Turned out she was already working on a banana tea! She tested the Keemun and walnuts, and played her magic. The rest is history!

 Where did the nickname Foxy Roxy come from?  Stacy surprised me by naming it Roxanne's Banana Walnut Treat. She wrote that she initially thought of «Foxy Roxy» but figured it might be too out there for me...little did she know, in high school, I was the only girl named Roxanne. My friends thought it was a cool name and everybody started calling me Foxy Roxy, it became my nick name :-)  So Foxy Roxy is perfect and makes me feel like a tea celebrity, LOL!

How would you describe this tea?  Sometimes, the hardest thing to achieve is to keep things simple.  It offers plenty of sumptuous natural freeze dried bananas paired with hints of fresh walnuts. The nice and smooth Keemun base brings it all together.  This tea does just that, and that's why I like it.

Who would you recommend this tea to?  This tea will please you if you're a banana lover, but even if you're not, I'd still give it a shot. All you need in order to appreciate it is a preference for natural and subtle flavors, and a love for excellent quality Keemun :-)

Thank you Butiki and Stacy for giving me the perfect Banana treat, it was so much fun being part of the process!

 -------------------------------------------------

Thank you Roxanne for the wonderful idea!  

For more information about or to purchase Foxy Roxy's Banana Walnut Treat, please check out: http://www.butikiteas.com/Black.html

                                                                                    -Stacy

 

 

 

 

 

Custom Blend Contest Winning Tea Now Available: Ruby Pie

Back in October 2012, we held a Custom Blend Contest. For this contest, we asked that entrants submit up to 3 ideas for a custom blend.  A panel of judges chose their favorite 10 ideas and created a poll for everyone to vote for their favorite idea.  The top 10 ideas were:  Apple Dumpling, Banana Pudding Oolong, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream, Grateful Castaway's Chilipaya Sweet Tropical Heat, Purple Honey, Rainforest Absinthe, Saffron Sesame Huangshan Mao Feng, Strawberry Rhubarb Delight, Thai Tea Cookie, and Tropical Movie Night.  Strawberry Rhubarb Delight, now titled Ruby Pie was the clear winner, though the Saffron Sesame Huangshan Mao Feng was awfully close. 

Sarah submitted the idea and won 8oz of her own custom blend idea.  The initial description that won over voters was: Strawberry Rhubarb Delight pairs rhubarb and strawberry together with Golden Assam to capture the essence of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. The fruit notes combine with the richness of the Assam to produce a delightful dessert tea as comforting as warm pie, fresh from the oven.

Here is how we describe the tea now:  Ruby Pie is designed to taste similar to strawberry rhubarb pie.  The pie crust notes are immediately noticeable followed by rhubarb and lingering fresh strawberry and vanilla notes.  Hibiscus adds a hint of tartness to supplement the rhubarb notes but does not overwhelm the tea.  Adding some sugar will intensify the strawberry and rhubarb notes while still maintaining the pie crust notes.

After the contest was over, we embarked on a several month journey to create Sarah’s ideal Ruby Pie blend.  This tea is just now being made available for at least a limited time.  This tea can be purchased here: http://www.butikiteas.com/Black.html.  Below is a short interview with Sarah and discusses her love of tea, the blend, and the contest. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm a Canadian, living in Toronto but originally from out west. I miss my mountains *sigh* I've only been doing this whole tea thing for 9 months or so - long enough to have a baby tea obsession! :) My other passions besides tea involve board games, travelling and as long as there's music i'm good to dance and make a fool of myself!

When did you first become interested in loose leaf teas? I've been interested in loose tea for a while now - probably 6 years or so thanks to a dear friend in Florida, but I never really made the plunge until I found Steepster last July.

What are your tea preferences? I find that I am deeply in love with black teas, whether they are straight or flavoured! I'm gradually venturing into other things like puerhs and roasted oolongs. I don't mind greens and whites (or yellow) but i find them less intense than my blacks! I drink 95% of my teas without any additives but i do enjoy the occasional sweetened cup of cold brewed tea.

What are your tea rituals? Right now, I don't have a lot of tea rituals, unless you count getting together with tea friends as often as possible. I do have a gaiwan that I recently purchase from Stacy! That I am using to gradually use tea as a means to force myself to sit and take time away from the craziness. other than that, I suppose it's my morning weekday matcha smoothie that I take to work nearly everyday with my two travel mugs of tea - always one straight black and one flavoured :)

If you were banished to an island, what type of tea would you bring if you could chose only one? Uh...do i have to answer that? Eesh...I feel like this is a trick question. How about one that could multiply and make little tea babies for me so I never run out? :) I guess it would have to be either Premium Taiwanese Assam or Laoshan Black at the moment, though I can't promise that tomorrow that won't get a different answer.

What is your favorite tea from Butiki Teas? Why? I have no favourites! I hate Favourites. Mine change depending on a multitude of factors ranging from whether or not I've been able to watch Doctor Who, to the position of the sun in the sky. It would be FAR easier for me to tell you which teas I'm not a fan of...green oolongs, I'm looking at you! I'm a huge fan of your Premium Taiwanese Assam but I also really love Grapefruit Dragon, Cantaloupe & Cream; Maple Pecan Oolong (it's not green!); Creamy Eggnog; Mango Lassi uh..the list goes on!

How did you come up with the idea for Ruby Pie? To be honest? I'll enter any and every Butiki Tea contest out there. When this one came up I didn't have a lot of time to sit and be nearly as creative as everyone else was. I opened my fridge and there was one sitting there. So I went for it!

You also submitted two other tea ideas, Whiskey Sour and Pomegranate Grapefruit tea. Which of the three was your favorite? Probably the strawberry rhubarb, but I also think that you'd make a mean whiskey sour. Also, given the awesome Grapefruit Dragon you have....i think you could kill a pomegranate tea.

Were you surprised that the Ruby Pie won? uh....that would be like saying I was surprised at my ability to annoy people into doing what I want. :) Yes, but only because I thought there would be more votes. Less so if I think about the people I harassed to help me win *grin*.

Can you tell us a little bit about the custom blending process? Well, if people like the blend, it's 90% you doing all the heavy lifting, if they don't...it was all my fault haha. From a logistical perspective, Stacy does a great job working with even the most difficult of people who give her instructions like uh...it should have strawberry....and rhubarb and be like uh pie. :) I pretty much answered all of her questions in the most vague and probably irritatingly frustrating way possible. Once that was out of the way she took over and created a couple of sample batches for me to try. Those were sent to my place and it was left to my incapable hands to taste and provide feedback. Again, vague statements like "uh...it needs more pie" helped Stacy to refine her blend. It's at this point that I should mention that even though she's allergic to strawberries, she was tasting and refining the blend! Talk about dedication! Stacy perfected the batch and then sent me a giant bag of delicious goodness!

How did you come up with the name Ruby Pie? I wish I could take credit for that but once again, I had no part in it! That was all Indigobloom as I asked her, Raritea and Kittenna for some help and gave my favourite choices to Stacy to pick from :)

How would you describe this tea? It's Strawberry...it's RHUbarb! it's PIE! does that count? haha

Who would you recommend this tea to? Anyone looking for a flavoured black strawberry, rhubarb tea, as most that I've seen have been either white or rooibos! The hibiscus in this one isn't very present, so hibby haters shouldn't be afraid! :)

We had a great time creating this tea!  We hope you enjoy this tea as much as we enjoyed creating it!

-Stacy