Hello Sweetie

Okay, wow. I was almost reduced to doge-speak when I had this after breakfast this morning. Such wow.

This is fantastic. I can taste banana but it is a very natural banana flavor, not like Banana Laffy Taffy. It’s very mild and it blends oh so well with the coconut. It smells amazing. As the cup cools I get more caramely notes and cookie. Although my initial taste was at 3 minutes, I let this sit in my cup the whole time I was drinking and it didn’t get bitter, either. This is like banana bread with coconut. Much love!

Sadly, I just have a sample of this that Stacy recommended with my last order. I didn’t order more because I didn’t expect to like a banana tea. Now I wish I’d gotten more to share this weekend! Ah, well, there will be another order. I simply will not tell myself I can’t buy more tea with this waiting in the wings!

It’s Butiki day and Stacy is 3 for 3!!! I had forgotten the description of this one but knew I would love drinking it when I saw the color, a lovely deep caramel and then a rich malty aroma hit me and that was all I needed. I knew that was a lovely assam base right way with other subtle and complex flavors, nutty, sweet with nothing poking out or dominating the flavor. I don’t get much coconut but that could also be the banana just blending in with it. I like it. There will be more. As I’ve said a million times before, I can never have too many delicious black teas. Never.

The scent of coconut and banana wafting from this cup promises for something wonderful.

I kept pulling out this sample from keychange’s swap envelope and staring at it the last few days, because in my efficiency, I deleted our message and forgot what all she sent. This one was a mystery, and it has been bothering me since her envelope arrived. Today it finally hit me that it was this tea. This tea! The tea that everyone loved. So of course, I brewed it up immediately.

Both the banana and coconut are apparent, yet not overwhelming. AKA perfection. True to Butiki style. I’m also thrilled the back is PTA, rather than the original pu’erh planned. I’ll have to write a bit more later, because I had an incredibly garlicky dinner and I’m concocting ways to rid my mouth of the taste to further enjoy this tea. I clearly did not think through the timing for steeping. :P

Thanks keychange for sending me this one, and thanks to JustJames and Stacy for thinking and creating it.

HHTTB

This is so weird! I was eating cranberry and sage Triscuits with my first few sips of this tea and it made it taste like Indian food! Once I finished the box of crackers, the tea started tasting more like I remembered. Creamy banana coconut! It is strong, but subtle at the same time. The flavor is subtle during the sip, but it really pops out on the aftertaste with a tropical flavor. I love banana and coconut, but so often it is paired with pineapple (which I have allergies to) so I’m always excited when I see the two without the pineapple addition. Nice blend!

It’s been a good day! Well, except for my brain constantly melting down from work stress. But, sticking to the positive stuff…

Today I got some exciting things in the mail. First, my friend Meghanne sent Casey and I some vegan toffee. VEGAN TOFFEE! Also, I received a birthday present from my father: a fisherman’s sweater from this great Irish store in Riverdale, NY. Lastly, my Butiki order arrived! Stacy had run out of the Raspberry Truffle, so instead of waiting for the new batch to be blended, I told her she could send me an ounce of something else instead. I left it up to her. I was secretly hoping it would be this tea, and that’s exactly what she sent me! All I can say is that it is amazing and delicious and I can’t wait to have more tonight while wearing a traditional Irish fisherman’s sweater and eating VEGAN TOFFEE!

Realized the coconut in this blend is going to turn soon if it hasn’t started to already, so I’m prioritizing drinking it down while it’s still tasty. I picked out some of the coconut pieces just to be on the safe side. Given the age of this, I overleafed to get the right amount of flavor. I also needed to add some sugar to really make it shine. But with that, it was still pretty tasty! Creamy coconuty banana goodness. But definitely fading from where it was at its peak, alas.