Tea type
Black Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Honey, Malt, Red Fruits, Sweet Potatoes, Brandy, Caramel, Rum, Yams, Nuts, Nutty, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Floral, Grain, Earth, Chocolate, Creamy, Pecan, Sweet
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Kittenna
Average preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec 6 g 10 oz / 298 ml

From Our Community

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10 Want it Want it

25 Own it Own it

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89 Tasting Notes View all

  • “mmmmmm So I really like this tea! It won’t replace Laoshan black as one of my favorite straight blaccks but it’s pretty damn good! I asked Stacy for a sample of this to try out and see how it...” Read full tasting note
    83
  • “The world didn’t end! Yeah! This isn’t the tea I wanted. I wanted something dark & rich, velvety & heavy with malt. But I’m at Tony’s, & his selection isn’t so great, & I realized I...” Read full tasting note
  • “Bleh. So one of the lids of my travel mugs does not smell good, and unfortunately, this tea was affected by it. I swapped lids with a different mug (that had been emptied) to try and curb the...” Read full tasting note
    81
  • “I probably won’t have very many sipdowns this week. I have gone through most of my easy sipdowns and am left with moderate amounts of lots of teas (and lots of a few teas). I will make myself crazy...” Read full tasting note
    87

From Butiki Teas

Our Zhen Qu originates from Yunnan, China and has downy black and gold curly leaves. This lightly malty tea has wonderful honey notes that linger and mingle with floral, chocolate, and pecan notes. Our recommended steep time produces a well-balanced tea and is less dry but we also recommend trying this tea at longer steep times for a more intense flavor.

Ingredients: Chinese Black Tea

Recommended Brew Time: 3 minutes
Recommended Amount: 1 level teaspoon of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 212 F (boiling)

About Butiki Teas View company

Company description not available.

89 Tasting Notes

83
15019 tasting notes

mmmmmm So I really like this tea! It won’t replace Laoshan black as one of my favorite straight blaccks but it’s pretty damn good! I asked Stacy for a sample of this to try out and see how it compares. I really enjoy the chocolate notes in this tea and the malty tones in it. I love the sweet honey notes in it. I really wish i had more of this now that my small sample is gone. Thanks for this Stacy!

Fjellrev

This sounds damn good!

Sil

Incendiare i like lasohan black better but I’m going to be picking this up from Stacy next order I think. I enjoyed this one a LOT! I love my interesting blacks :)

Fjellrev

Awesome, I should try both next time I order. :)

Bonnie

I have this and think it’s very, very good! Zhen Qu, Zhu Rong, Laoshan Black, Teavivre’s Black, Mi Lan Dancong Black …Yum!!! I keep these and I also love Stacy’s Congu Keemun.
The Dragon Pearls I get at my local Happy Lucky’s taste identical to the Teavivre’s, nice and malty cocoa. Adding an Assam, a Kenyan Strong Ajiri and some Darjeeling and Napal favorites and I’m happy! (We’re just talking Black Tea!)

Sil

Bonnie – ill have to try teavivres back then :) or get trade with you sometime on teh pearls from your tea shop heh. Seems we have similar tastes in terms of blacks. :)

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3294 tasting notes

The world didn’t end! Yeah!

This isn’t the tea I wanted. I wanted something dark & rich, velvety & heavy with malt. But I’m at Tony’s, & his selection isn’t so great, & I realized I had tossed this into my purse, so there it is. My first cup was with 1 tsp of tea, & it was ok, but not really all that exciting. That was this morning.

I’ve been kind of cranky this afternoon, & Little Terri wanted pancakes. Basically, she wanted to be indulged a little, & feel like she was getting away with something. So pancakes it was, & they were tasty, with just a little maple syrup & coconut butter. We also had a bacon & broccoli fritata.

I also just had another cup of Zhen Qu, using 2 tsp of tea. Much better! There is a really nice chocolate-ness to it, a little malt, & it’s very satisfying.

I feel better now.

MsWhatsit

I’m sorry, Little Bee is bee-ing a bad influence… :(

Terri HarpLady

Yes, she is!

Bonnie

Yes it did, Terri isn’t playing her harp…it’s an angel!

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81
6105 tasting notes

Bleh. So one of the lids of my travel mugs does not smell good, and unfortunately, this tea was affected by it. I swapped lids with a different mug (that had been emptied) to try and curb the problem, but the damage was already done… what should have been a nice, malty black tea tastes like something crawled into it and died (ok, I’m exaggerating, it’s not that bad, there’s just a bit of an off-flavour… just enough to make me want to dump this out. I need to pick up denture tablets ASAP!)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Skulleigh

Travel mugs are so delicate. I was sniffing through mine on Friday, trying to find one my husband hasn’t sullied with coffee. That smell never goes away.

Terri HarpLady

Soaking them in baking soda doesn’t help?

OMGsrsly

Denture tablets! Or bleach. Do not try oxyclean, as it leaves a lemony soapy scent. Ahem. Not like I tried that one yesterday or anything.

Indigobloom

I have two infusers at home that I can’t get the rust out of. Nothing seems to help. but now I am wondering about this denture idea…

inguna

I have discovered that scrubbing with baking soda really helps to remove any odor.

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87
2201 tasting notes

I probably won’t have very many sipdowns this week. I have gone through most of my easy sipdowns and am left with moderate amounts of lots of teas (and lots of a few teas). I will make myself crazy (and maybe bored) if I try to focus on only drinking the teas with the least amounts in them, so I am going to cycle through all the moderate-amount teas in the next couple of weeks. That way I will have a better idea of the amounts I have left as well.

I started with this one! It really is quite a tasty Chinese black tea. It reminds me more of the black pearl teas from Yunnan, with it’s nuts and chocolate notes, than the golden Yunnans with their honey and sweet potato. A solid, delicious black tea, and a pleasure to drink.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Chizakura

That’s me too. Except for the occasional reward tea, I’ve been drinking nothing but the sipdowns for the last couple weeks.

Sil

i read this as…time for sil to catch up again! only not ’cause thats not bloody likely anytime soon lol

Dinosara

Haha, perhaps, Sil!

Sil

dinosara….probably not. I can’t seem to help myself. soo close to 200 and yet sooooooo far.

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94
2816 tasting notes

Oh my… this tea is so good! I’ve had this type before, I believe it was a sample sent to me by ScottTeaMan. Scott- where are you? Haven’t seen you in ages.

Anyway, this is a great tea to sip on PLAIN, without additions. It does not need anything to make it better. It’s very gentle and has notes of cocoa, caramel and a hint of floral like a darjeeling. Not a trace of bitterness in sight, just a really lovely sipping tea. yummy!

Sorry I have not had the chance to write a lot of longer tasting notes recently!

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Kittenna

Noooo, not another Butiki tea to add to The List…!

Bonnie

I love this too!

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95
676 tasting notes

I am surprised to be the first reviewer of this tea (and pleased at the same time since I have great respect for Stacy and Butiki Tea!)

I first noticed this Black Tea at the end of the list of on the Butiki Website and the notes describing floral,chocolate and pecan flavors were intriguing. I’d also learned that Stacy likes to steep her tea for a long time…really long. I sometimes do the same (although she wins) and I thought that if this tea tastes that good with a longer steep, I wanted to have some for my own cupboard.

The leaves were small, curly and a 50/50 mix of gold and black leaves from Yunnan, China.

The steep time was 5 minutes

The comments for this tea were correct when they said the tea is mildly malty. I wouldn’t have guessed that. Usually chocolaty tea’s have a hefty amount of malt as a supporting base but not here, and there was a definite cocoa taste.
Honey flavor was easy to pick up but the nutty and floral taste came in after the tea had cooled and lingered in my mouth.

This was a smooth and mild black tea but one that wasn’t flat. The flavors were rich and thick enough for adding milk and sweetening which I did for my morning cup.

This day marks a year since I traveled with my granddaughter Schey to Alaska, Canada and Washington State. Today was our last “Cruise” day before a week in Washington. We were heading to beautiful Victoria, B.C. (Wow did Victoria look beautiful at night!Lit up like Christmas in September!) and believe it or not, our two week trip was sunny!
What a wonderful time!
Every day there was a ‘tea’ on board ship. We went to a big Indonesian Tea one afternoon, and in Victoria we went to the Empress and bought more Tea. I bought some Canadian Maple Tea in another shop.
Now remember, I had never heard of Steepster. I had never tasted ‘loose leaf tea’. I was almost blind because I needed operations on both my eyes. EVERYTHING was different in my life a year ago!

This morning when I drink this Butiki Tea and discribe how it looks…I can SEE it! It’s beautiful. And I am writing a review on
Steepster with all my new friends! (Unbelievable!)
I am reviewing tea and enjoying it with a knowledge that makes me laugh…I mean…how can this be? It’s been less than a year since I’ve been on Steepster!

For me to say, “I think this is a grand Black Tea” with some knowledge about it is humbling. I’m fortunate that everyone on Steepster has taught me so much (including Stacy) and shared in swaps fine tea’s so that I know that this is indeed a fine tea.

Awesome!

ashmanra

I have a Zhen Quo that is a little sentimental for me! My tea friend Sandy here in steepster drove me to a tea shop in Durham and we bought some and shared it. It was one of my first “Fine Tea” purchases from their wall and I still love it and keep it around. I sent some to Doulton in our last swap, and she loved it, too!

ashmanra

How wonderful to look back on a happy memory and find even more to be happy about! In one year, I hope there will be even more great things to recount! :)

Hesper June

I have been to Victoria (SO lovely!)
But, I have always dreamed of going to Alaska…hopefully someday:)
This tea sounds de-lish!

Bonnie

I spend some time in Fairbanks in early Sept. and Nov/Dec. (death in family in the Winter and -20 degrees with no sun…twilight). I saw the Northern Lights in Sept. and we drove far out towards Valdez and hardly saw anyone else. It was massive…beyond picturesque…huge…the largest ‘quiet place’ I’ve ever been in without the sound of even a bird.
Almost spooky quiet. When the birds fly South, there isn’t any sound if the wind is still.

Yogini Undefined

That was a beautiful review and story! So wonderful to hear about your sight. Wishing you an abundance of blessings and many more happy tea experiences :)

Bonnie

Thank you. I had my eye operations in Feb/march this year. What a difference! Now you guys are stuck with me!

K S

If we are stuck like glue, I hope its super glue! Loved the story with this one.

Terri HarpLady

I always love your stories, Bonnie! In fact, one of the things I love most about Steepster is the stories, the openness to share ourselves. This is really my kind of community!

Indigobloom

Oh Bonnie, how blessed WE are to have you here! so glad you discovered tea, and that your life is grand! :D

Bonnie

Thanks. I know I sound goopy sometimes but I don’t want to leave life with things left unsaid and stories untold.

Zoltar

@Terri if we could put a likes under a reply i will click on it for that one simple review can be found anywhere on the web story from people who are good with word is what make steepster so special
and give hope to people like me to someday be good with word :P

@Bonnie keep the stories coming you didn’t force anyone to read it so the one of us who do is because we like them

Bonnie

Zoltar, never be afraid to be just as you are. (I really like your name ZOLTAR!!!)

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70
709 tasting notes

I’ve had this one three or four times since my initial review and have tried adding more leaf, more steep time and both extra leaf and time. No matter what I do I just can’t get the punch of flavour from it that others seem to. It is a perfectly acceptable black tea but nothing about it stands out. I have found many of the Butiki blends to be lighter in flavour than others I’ve had in the past but usually the base tea is quite impressive on it’s own. This one just doesn’t wow me though. I prefer the Taiwanese Assam with it’s chocolate kick. Man, I wish that wasn’t all gone already!

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1220 tasting notes

This is so amazing! It’s like a 2nd flush Darjeeling meets a Yunnan black. Out of all the black teas I’ve been drinking in the morning, this needed absolutely nothing added to it.

I taste nuttiness, honey, chocolate, and just a nice touch of floral notes to it. Maybe a bit of caramel too! The caramel especially comes out now that the remaining tea has cooled a lot.

It’s a very mild tea, I found myself sipping it very easily, without even thinking about the taste, other than about how good it tastes!

I’d definitely get more of this in the future, I really wanted to take advantage of Butiki’s sale yesterday but I couldn’t justify it, and I tried to get my mom to buy even $15 of it and she just tells me she doesn’t like tea (and 10 minutes later she liked the chocolate tea I had last night when I gave her the mug to try it). Oh well. I’ll have money one day.

Indigobloom

LOL that reminds me of that movie, He’s just not that into you, or something like that. Your mum… she just isn’t that into tea!

Sil

i LOVE this tea from butiki. It’s up there with laoshan black imo.

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437 tasting notes

The dry tea is really cute. Small downy curly leaves that are repeat with golden buds. The leaf smells slightly floral and nutty.

I brewed one TSP per 225 ml for around 4.5 min at around 95°C.

The resulting brew is a maple orange colour with a yellow ring around the edge of the cup.

At first sip the tea tasted a little thin, but as I let it cool a little, while I write this it developed more depth.

The scent is slightly chocolately, with sweet potato under the incensy influence of a touch of smoke, a hint of nut almost like sweet walnut, and a hint of something sweet ( more butter toffee than honey).
The flavour has a bitter chocolate, clover, sweet potato mixed with longan, with a hint of nut developing on the tongue at the end that deepens in the aftertaste. There is a hint of dried fruit which had the deeper notes of dried dates. The tea has a crisp top note almost like a Darjeeling that leaves a tingling underneath the tongue, and a slightly bitter base note that gives this tea a stronger presence than its texture or first taste suggested.

A fun tea, with a nice dose of caffeine. It makes a nice afternoon tea.

This tea is another one from my epic swap with TastyBrew, thanks!

AnnaEA

One for the shopping list! Thank you for the note.

TastyBrew

Ha Ha! I’ve been drinking a ton of the teas you sent me as well, but they’re not listed on steepster so I haven’t review them. Been really enjoying them. Especially the jin jun meis!

yyz

I’m glad you like them! I like how they all have their own individual characters. They are added to my cupboard mostly on page 4, I think. Which has been your favourite so far?

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96
4843 tasting notes

This is fantastic!

The dry leaves are gorgeous – lots of golden curls amongst the dark chocolate curled leaves. The aroma of the brewed tea is chocolate-y and sweet, with notes of malt and caramel. Nutty too. My taste buds are eagerly awaiting a sip as I wait a few moments to allow it to cool a bit.

Ohhh… so good! Rich and malty with a strong honey-esque tone. Chocolate-y, yes … and deliciously caramel-y too. The caramel and honey mingle together to form a honey-caramel overtone that possesses hints of the caramelized sugar that have not quite burnt… but have developed a really rich, brown color.

It’s remarkably smooth, and the flavor also possesses something I did not anticipate from the aroma – a floral note. Like a hint of flower somewhere in the distance. I did not really smell the floral tone, but I can taste it.

A really REALLY good black tea. It has some vigor to it too.

Bonnie

I really like this one too

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