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“I’m not gonna write an actual review on this, because I haven’t drank the sample Stacy sent me yet, & also because I think Sasha should write the first review. BUT I AM gonna say that it smells...” Read full tasting note
“I’m almost ready to break into another package of this tea! That’s exciting. :) I still love it. SO licoricey, no sweet aftertaste. THE BEST. What’s also super fun is that once it’s steeped the...” Read full tasting note
“mmmmm…another chai i figured i should try this morning since it’s a colder spring day today and i much prefer drinking chai when it’s cold. Let me first start off by saying that this smells like...” Read full tasting note
“I haven’t had this one in a while, but decided to try it with a little bit of honey and coconut almond milk. It’s good, but I think I really need to try this one with real milk at least once no...” Read full tasting note
One of our customers, Sasha, challenged us to create a unique licorice masala chai custom blend. We ended up loving her blend so much, that we decided to offer it on our website. The name of this tea is a reference to one of the owner’s favorite authors, Douglas Adams. This soothing tea features licorice; however, the spice notes are also present and linger long after the sip and meld with the licorice notes. With each sip, the licorice and spice notes seem to become stronger yet they are not overly aggressive. While this tea is fantastic plain, this blend shines with a little rice milk and sugar. For a short interview with the brains behind this tea, please visit: http://www.butikiteas.com/Custom.html
Ingredients: Organic Guranse (Nepalese Black Tea), Natural Super Concentrated Flavor Powder Licorice (Dextrose, Natural Flavors), Organic Cinnamon Chips, Organic Anise Star, Safflower, Organic Fennel, Organic Clove, Organic Nutmeg, Cardamom, Organic Natural Flavors (Blend is completely vegan)
Recommended Brew Time: 3 minutes 30 seconds
Recommended Amount: 1 1/2 teaspoons of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 212 F (boiling)
For more information, please visit: http://www.butikiteas.com/Black.html
Company description not available.
Sipdown (150/155)!
I actually drank this last night while watching the movie Hysteria, because Hugh Dancy is such a bamf. I was gonna be done with tea for the night, but after that Thunderstorm our laundry room flooded (a few inches of water over half the floor…) I just kinda went “Fuck it, I deserve one more cup”. It also means I realized one of my “mini goals” for yesterday, which was to finish all three sample teas that came in my Butiki order.
Dry, the leaf of this one looked kinda waxy and smelled strongly of fennel. Hooray for fennel; I love fennel! Steeped up, the fennel and star anise were definitely the strongest flavours in the cup and for sure where the black licorice flavour was coming from. It was kinda weird having that flavour be provided by something other than licorice root in a tea, but I liked it a lot. However, there was also lots of spice because this is a chai (ergo why I was skeptical and only asked for a sample size) – and the cinnamon was really present and left an unpleasant dry feeling on my mouth.
If you’ve ever done the cinnamon challenge before it sort of, in a way, felt a lot like that. That definitely detracted from the cup overall and will probably keep me from ordering this one again in the future. I’m glad I tried it though because the fennel was divine. I didn’t realize how much I was in a fennel mood until I had this one and had that secret craving satisfied.
Only one thing left to say about this one; so long!
Oh, wow! I think I’ve already made it clear that I love spice teas, but this is really special. I wouldn’t have thought to put cinnamon with licorice but it works. It’s smooth and the sweetness of the licorice blends perfectly with the sharper cinnamon. I used to think I wasn’t a licorice fan but I’m finding I love it in teas. Definitely one for the to-buy list! A Butiki order may be in my future.
Slowly working through my untried Butikis. This one is a double win for me – the name makes me smile, because I love Douglas Adams, and a smile from me at work is a rare thing these days. Black licorice is also one of my favourite things, and to have it replicated in tea form is something out of my dreams. Usually licorice in tea is in root form, and I just don’t get along with that. Anyway, we started off an a good foot, as this tea has given me TWO reasons to be cheerful this morning!
So. The tea. As per the recommended parameters, I gave 1.5 tsp of leaf 3.5 minutes in boiling water and added a splash of milk. While brewing, the scent is primarily chai like, with very prominent spice notes. The initial flavour is also predominantly chai, and I can pick out cinnamon, clove, cardamon and fennel. In a way, this is a tea of two halves, because as the initial chai flavour fades it leads naturally into a delicious, almost chewy, black licorice flavour. There’s a hint of aniseed sweetness, but it’s not really a particularly sweet blend – a hint of sugar might make this one more candy-like. I’m happy with it as is, though. Licorice isn’t a particularly sweet flavour to my mind, and I like the almost tarry, molasses-like depth of flavour that it adds to this blend.
This is another Butiki stunner, and pretty much the perfect chai blend in my estimation. Just the thing for a chilly January morning.
ewww licorice. :( how does it taste like lemons?
I normally love it in this blend. You know that vague lemon like taste that you get from pound cake sometimes? Like lemon if it wasn’t sour, but milder.
i think i understand :)