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

1 Image

10 Want it Want it

25 Own it Own it

  • +10

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

97
166 tasting notes

Forgot to review this before, so now I’ve had this delicious Chinese Yunnan black several times. This is outstanding! This is a dreary, damp, grey day in Atlanta, and the perfect day to sip tea. (As is every day!) As others have pointed out, the dry leaves are very pretty with their golden and dark curls. In fact,when I first opened the package, just by the appearance, I had an idea I would like it very much. I can both taste and smell floral notes, and yes, it is rich and smooth with just the right amount of maltiness and sweetness. I have experimented with it, and found it to be very forgiving. I’ve brewed 1 tsp./8 oz for 5 minutes, as well as 2 tsp/8 oz for 3 minutes and gotten great results both times. It takes a second steeping well too. Even with a longer steep time, I didn’t get bitterness or astringency. I love good blacks, and this one is high on my list. Glad I’ve got a little left, but it will be time to re-order soon! And I like so many Butiki teas-it will be hard to narrow it down!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Terri HarpLady

This is also on my re-order list from Butiki!

Donna A

Terri, I just got a box from Butiki today, and already tempted to order other things, including more of the Zhen Qu, which I’ve used up already. Butiki has SO MANY things I like!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

423 tasting notes

Thank you for this sample Terri! It’s nice with some honey and dark raisin notes, and I love the way that the dark leaves look like. It’s a good Yunnan tea, and I’ll probably order some when I (finally) break down and place an order with Butiki.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

70
254 tasting notes

I spent seven years living in Alaska and northern Washington, but until this morning it didn’t really register that I always lived close enough to school (whether I was attending as an undergrad or teaching) to walk there every morning. It didn’t occur to me to start my car periodically during the five days away from school, so this morning she just sat there like a brick. I had to switch cars with my husband (who drives the clunker we used during the storm) so he could call AAA and get mine back up and going.

So, understandably, this tea was a little cooler when I finally got a chance to drink it! This came my way via a swap with Shadowfall a couple months back, but it fell between a couple teas in my stash and I forgot about it for a while.

Too bad, really, because I think this would have been a lot better if I had been able to drink it hot. It’s a nice, smooth tea that’s leaving me with a bit of a licorice aftertaste… and I love licorice! There is some astringency, but nothing I’m too concerned about.

An interesting tea to take for a test drive! For now, that’s one more sipdown!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85
110 tasting notes

1 tsp in 8 oz

This was a very nice, smooth tea with some Dian Hong characteristics to the flavor, though not as intense. Non-astringent and earthy. I liked it a lot but maybe not enough to stock it in my cupboard. I’d rather have a classic Dian Hong when I am wanting a cup of this type of tea.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Doug F

I had the same reaction to this tea: solid, but not something I feel I need to reorder.

Rachel J

Interesting, Doug!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83
111 tasting notes

I was very comforted to discover that I hadn’t written a tasting note for this tea yet. Having a tea on hand that I had yet to write about is helping suppress the urge to place an order at Verdant after already reaching my maximum for ordering for the month of May. (Yes, I did it that quickly. I need to learn to pace myself)

Anyway, I am glad I held off on writing a note for this. I went through a bizarre week where no matter what tea I drank, all I tasted was black pepper. ._. Even in Mi Xian Black which is currently the sweetest black tea — unflavored — I’ve ever had. I might’ve thought something had somehow gone terribly wrong were it not for the fact that I was even getting that taste in teas I’d already had in my stash and had drunk from, so it was clearly just me.

(Speaking of which Stacy, disregard my comment on how Hattialli Golden Lion Assam tasted on the long steep. That was during my BLACK PEPPER phase. When I order some up next, I’ll try the long steep again and tell you what I think. :D)

So because of that phase, the first time I drank this, it was just PEPPER so I took a break from drinking this until I went back to normal.

Anyway, I find this tea works great both at the 3 minute steep, and at a 4 minute steep. I vaguely taste a bit of a chocolate note — though it’s wrapped up in something I can’t quite put my finger on — and then just when I think it’s going to turn into CHOCOLATE, it then has a very strong nutty pecan like flavor that lingers after the sip.

I find if you hold it on your tongue longer, you can taste the cocoa-wrapped-in-something flavor longer, as the pecan taste comes more just when you’re swallowing.

This is my first Yunnan tea and overall I think it’s a very good experience. :) It’s a very nice cup. It has a very creamy texture even though the pecan gives you an impression that the tea tastes salty. (Which it doesn’t really, it’s just that I tend to associate nuts with salt)

While this didn’t leap to my favorite, I would definitely purchase this again. This tasting note was based on the three minute steep which is delicious, but I think I like a bit of a longer steep to really make the flavors pop a bit more.

DAY AFTER EDIT: Hmm, this time I’m tasting more chocolate with a hint of pecan. Funny how the more you have a tea, the different it becomes. If this is how I taste it from now on, this’ll definitely be a regular tea for me, yummy! :)

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

I would say peppery does actually describe Hattialli Golden Lion Assam. I don’t think it’s overly peppery but I did notice a pepper note. That’s so interesting that you tasted peppery notes in tea for a week, especially with the Mi Xian.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

189 tasting notes

This has a similar flavor profile to other Yunnan teas I’ve been drinking but it has less oomph than I would like in a black tea, even with extra leaf and a longish steep. It does have a nice flavor of bran muffin with raisin and a hint of honey, making it a pleasant, easy tea to drink.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

523 tasting notes

pecan? chocolate? honey? I’m not getting any of these. . .well, maybe the honey, just a little. Honey notes in tea sometimes confuse me and don’t always come through the same. I’ve had a couple of black teas like this one. I call them mushroom teas as that’s all that comes too mind when I taste them. Not quite my cuppa, but not a bad tea. No bitterness or astringency.

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

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

81
183 tasting notes
I’m getting earthy smells that remind me of pu-erh while it steeps. Taste is earthy as well, and I’m getting notes that are reminiscent of raisin as it cools. It’s quite smooth on mouthfeel. I think I prefer this without sugar, it is good straight on it’s own.
Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

50
224 tasting notes

I love how the leaves for this look. Like the leaves in Three Friends. Little curls of fuzzy golden rope.
Brews up a dark red color and smells fruity, raisiny maybe? Tasting it, well, for some reason this tastes watered down to me. I can’t understand why since I brewed it with the directions and so far haven’t been led astray. Maybe next time I’ll try a tsp and a half and see if that makes a difference.
I get a nice maltyness from this, and a sweetness which is nice. It’s a little more astringent than I would like, but then I can’t really stand much astringency sometimes. I don’t really get any chocolaty notes from it, but then, I’m horrible at picking out that kind of taste from black teas in my opinion. Added a small bit of sugar since I figure it couldn’t hurt and I get a bit more honey-esque notes (though I don’t know how much of that is just from adding sugar to it).

I’ll try it again with a heavier measuring of tea and see if I get stronger tastes from it. And while I’m glad I tried it, I’m not sure this is one I’d reorder.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

15575 tasting notes

A little bit flat now because of age, but still smooth malty and fruity goodness with starchy sweet potato type notes to it. It’s also still an absolutely beautiful tea! I made it yesterday morning, and one of my coworkers surprised everyone for Valentine’s day by leaving flowers on all of our desks so I got to enjoy my tea with a beautiful flower!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/B8jl835Aniv/

Martin Bednář

Wonderful flower!

ashmanra

How sweet of your co-worker, and thoughtful, too! It is lovely!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.