Blueberry Purple Tea

Another fantastic gift from JustJames, whee!

I was a little apprehensive about this one as blueberry in tea can fall into the “tart berry fruit dryness” category I find myself often so averse to, plus I’ve never had purple tea so while exciting who knows if I’ll like it? But like it I do! This is delicious. The blueberry is again not the fake candy kind (nothing ever is with Butiki though of course), but like drinking the juice of a fresh one exploded and warm. It’s fresh and zingy like a real blueberry but not very puckery. This is a bright, cheerful tea that manages to avoid that particular kind of astringency I hate. I would totally drink this again! I think it would be fun in the morning, the beverage equivalent of some fresh blueberries and yogurt for breakfast, yum. Instantly cheering.

People here are saying it resteeps like a dream too, so after I try some other teas tonight I think I will give that a go! If it does that seems like it’d make this a great bargain—you only use 1/2 teaspoon for 8oz, quite unusual.

omg somebody stop me i can’t possibly justify buying any sherlock cosplay stuff. no matter how comfy it sounds to me to walk around DragonCon in a navy satin robe. just no!
and i CERTAINLY can’t justify those sherlock teacups shipped from the UK. nuh uh.

i need to get out of this seat and go run 10 miles. if i keep procrastinating i’m not gonna be home until 11pm or something hah.

oh today.

i have more of this tea. so i’ll give it more chances.
i suspect i just had too high an expectation going in. (kinda like star trek 2) i’m sure i’ll love the second brewing of fresh leaves better. but right now i’m on the second steep of this cup and i’m wanting to love it more than i do. it’s possible blueberries in tea just aren’t really my thing. it’s subtle, don’t get me wrong. and i love the color of this tea. curiously murky. thank you Shelley_Lorraine.

let’s go to the gym now shall we?

Thank you to Stacy, owner of Butiki Teas for this Sample!
I have visitors this week! Last night I drove to the Denver Airport and back to pick up my ‘gulp’ 43 year old son Aaron who lives in San Francisco. Getting to bed at 2AM, I haven’t had time to review any new tea’s until this afternoon. This nice bright sample with a large plump blueberry all juicy looking appeared to be a healthy choice. Blueberry=Antioxident! I was in need of rejuvination.
The steeping time was 5minutes at 160F. The liquid pour was light brown with a hint of lavender. I made sure. I held my clear glass cup up to the window and there was a tinge due to the blueberry skin more than likely and not from the purple tea base. You smell heavenly blueberry. It is the same blueberry as breaking open a blueberry muffin all hot and steamy. The flavor straight up is very light, not astringent but a bit creamy and lighter than expected on the blueberry flavor… almost floral. I added a bit of sweetening (not too much) which enhanced the blueberry flavor adding a nectar like taste. Honeysuckle! Truly Honeysuckle Blueberry!

As the tea cools the astringency level increases. Beware. Don’t lose your cup to over cooling.
I think that I would have this again with a piece of toast spread with Creme Fraiche. It would be like having blueberries and cream…with a little bread butteriness.

My first purple tea! YAY! Thanks Courtney for sharing a little with me so I can try it.

Like other Butiki teas, the flavoring here is very natural and a little subtle but not in a bad way. Mmmm, I love bluberry! The base tea reminds me a little of a green or maybe white tea? It doesn’t have a really strong flavor either, but don’t get me wrong, this tea isn’t bland or anything! It is really quite nice. I’m glad I got to try it. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a nice natural blueberry flavored tea! I think its the best blueberry tea I’ve tried so far.

Well, I’m kind of embarrassed that I’ve had this tea in my cupboard for so long without even trying it. Today I’ve been loving fruit flavors, whether actual or in tea, so this was a good choice.

It is a pretty tea once steeped – brown with lavender undertones. It’s possible I’m seeing purple because its in the name, but blueberry does tend to give anything its in a purple tinge.

This certainly smells like blueberry! It reminds me of blueberry pancakes, but I think that’s because both those and this tea are served hot and have blueberries in. The steeping parameters were right on, too – there’s no bitterness, though things haven’t cooled down enough for me to say whether that’s the case for the whole cup. Right now I get all aspects of a natural blueberry – sweet, tart, perfect.

I’ve never had a purple tea before so I can’t attest to its flavor in this. If you like blueberry then for sure give this a try, though – it doesn’t get more fabulous, and it doesn’t need any additives to make it that way!

Stacy so kindly added this sample to my order.

I’ve been distracted this morning because we had no electricity this morning, general problem with half the town.I was so upset I cannot have my tea (everything is electrical in my flat)

it finally was fixed at noon and I rushed to my kettle.

I rushed too fast and I stupidely put boiling water on the leaves and immediately saw on the sample bag that it was supposed to be 160°F ooooouuuuupssss I immediately poured cold water in addition in my infusing mug.
So I was suspicious about the result of my mistake but it is really yummy.
I got a pleasant tea base, mellow, low on tannins, medium bodied and a suttle a very delicate flavour of blueberry.

It was my first purple tea and as it is a flavoured one I cannot say much about purple tea but I really enjoy this tea and the base wasn’t astringent at all to me.

I am still enjoying it with my blueberry muffins even if it’s 1 PM here.

Mmmm, blueberry tea! My fav blueberry teas are by DT – White Tiger and Blueberry Jam. But this is a purple tea? Ultra fun! Thanx to Stacy @ Butiki for this sample on my last order!

STEEPED: low saturated brown colour, very interesting! Smells like sweet blueberries. After steeping, the leaves look pretty smushy.

TASTE: Floral, blueberries and light to moderate astringency. Very tasty aftertaste of blueberries. I’ve never had purple tea – with this it is kinda earthy but light. Like a really earthy green.

Sweetened, the blueberries come out in a mellow warm honey like form and less astringency.

EDIT: second steeping, no sweetener needed! The purple tea held up and is not astringent anymore with a good aftertaste of blueberry that is sweet! This purple tea stuff is intriguing.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: someone looking for something a little different. Blueberry tea peeps should try this to change up having the typical white or black blueberry tea.

COMMENTS: Pretty fun tea! I’d love to have more than a sample to play with the steeping times to minimize the astringency.

Drinking so much tea today!

I’ve had this tea sitting in my cupboard since July. I don’t know why I hang on to my “good teas,” I really need to start enjoying them the second they come in. I’m pretty sure I’ve finally run through all my Butiki samples in the last week, so at least I’m making progress.

I really enjoyed my first experience with purple tea last week and since I’m a blueberry fan I couldn’t wait to try this one too. Don’t get me wrong, I did really enjoy this, but the blueberry was a little tart for my tastes so I ended up adding some sugar to help balance it out. That really helped give me the sweet-tart combination that I expected from the blueberry. I was really impressed with the quality of the blueberry flavoring, it is one of the most genuine that have tasted.

I actually preferred my second steep over the first. The tartness had mellowed out and I didn’t feel the need to add as much sugar. I’m not sure if this will be a reorder for me or not. Most likely I’ll stick to ordering the unflavored purple tea since I enjoyed it more and didn’t feel the need to sweeten it.

Ok, so I’ve been pretty absent on Steepster of late – had a doozy of a cold and wasn’t drinking much tea because of it. Then after the cold I got super busy. Things seem to have finally calmed down a bit, so I’m going to backlog a couple of teas (or at least I want to try… I have tasting notes written down in several different notebooks. Now to find them all!) and should be back to sipping this wonderful beverage.

ALRIGHT – now on to the tea! This was a sample that Stacy so generously added to my last order. Thanks, Stacy!
The dry leaf smelled super interesting. Blueberry? Yes. But there were also some slight buttery notes, slight floral notes, as well as an earthy scent. Overall, I’m getting a sweet factor. Smells really nice!
Once brewed – YUM! Very blueberry! As it was brewing I could hardly keep the lid to my pot on… it smells so nice. Sweet and tart blueberry notes are present, with that thick creamy/buttery note again (can something smell thick?). The earthy scent is still present and meshes well with the blueberry. It’s like getting the whole plant together in the pot – that’s what it seems to smell like.

Now for the true test – TASTE
Smooth mouthfeel overall, with a slight, slight, astringency and spice. The blueberry is definitely there – nice and natural tasting. I’m also getting those nice, smooth earthy notes in the taste. Sweet and yet earthy at the time… cool. Like I said with the smell, it’s like getting the whole blueberry bush.
The only remains of the buttery/creamy smell would be the smooth, slightly thick aspect of the brew. But that’s ok, it isn’t really missed. I think I may have to add this one to the list of purchases. It’s got a fairly light taste, but it’s enough for me to enjoy. I like how natural the blueberry is. Not candy sweet, but naturally so.

Glad I had this one tonight!

I placed a Butiki order yesterday, so I went to go have a Butiki tea to celebrate, I lifted up one of the bags, and this sample fell to the floor!! What excitement at finding this. I have no idea where it was hidden all this time….lol. Thanks to Stacy for this sample!

What an intriguing tea…purple tea, brews up a light yellow. I am not getting any bitterness at all. So this base is nice and smooth. I am definitely getting a sweet blueberry taste to this tea. It isn’t strong, but it is there for sure. Very yummy.

I am going to cold brew the resteep here and see how that turns out!