Watermelon Xylophone

Unlike most of my other Butiki teas this one held its flavour very well. The melon flavour remained bright and fresh pretty much from the first cup to the last. I’m sorry to see this one go.

I’ve been compulsively hoarding the last of my Butiki teas. It’s a bit like Smaug sprawled over a mountain of tea leaves, really.

But the tea isn’t getting any younger and I’d like to drink it while it’s still amazing.

Because it’s definitely still amazing.

This one held up so much better than I could have imagined. It’s still that clean juicy watermelon flavor with a subtle, natural sweetness that may as well be real watermelon. The flavor has faded just a little, but it only made the base shine more. Cream and sweet, wet straw.

Two delicious infusions.

It’s funny, prior to discovering Butiki teas my wife and I had a wonderful silver needle tea from Teavivre and we both tasted watermelon. We both thought that watermelon and white teas would work extremely well together. So when we discovered Butiki Teas and realised that they made a watermelon tea that had a silver needle base we ordered that, along with a lot of other teas.

What can I say that hasn’t already been said? This is a very well flavoured, well balanced tea. My only criticism is that there is too much watermelon I wish it were more subtle. It’s really a tiny, tiny criticism and quite frankly does not, and should not, detract from this epically wonderful tea. Cannot wait to try this as an ice-tea! One of my favourites from Butiki teas.

I’m finally getting around to tasting the last of my new teas from my two Butiki orders. I was hesitant to try this one after tasting the cantaloupe and cream. Both of the teas had a really nice melon smell mixed in with something funky smelling (to me at least). After I steeped this up per the instructions on the package, I could still smell that weird smell. It’s hard to describe. Maybe like something is spoiling? The tea starts off tasting wonderfully melon (but again, very similar to cantaloupe and cream), but then ends with that weird taste that I could smell earlier. Perhaps it is something about the flavorings that I’m sensitive to? I’m really sad about it because other than that weird smell and aftertaste, the melon is so wonderfully light and delicious! I will have to do some investigating and experimenting to figure this out (hopefully).

This tea is sweet, followed by sweet notes, and backed up by even more sweet notes. Did I say it was sweet? Normally, I would follow this up by saying it is too sweet, but not in this case. The sweet flavors blend perfectly into the background white tea. The background tea has no noticeable astringency or bitterness. This is a tasty tea. I am usually more of a ripe puerh fan, but this hits the spot. This is really good. If I could taste more tea behind the watermelon, it would rate a 100%.

I brewed this once in an 18oz teapot with 2.5 tsp leaf and 185 degree water for 4.5 minutes.

You know, I was almost hoping I wouldn’t like this one. Thus far, I hadn’t found a white tea blend that wasn’t seriously hampered by fruit/floral additions. Could such a thing exist? Well, if anyone could do it, Stacy at Butiki probably could—but I already knew that if I liked this one, I’d want to try some of the other white blends while they’re still available (Lemon French Macaron is calling my name). So that will only add to the problem of too many teas that I’ll be loathe to part with!

Well, this one is in fact pretty good. The blend consists of silver needles and pink fuzzy amaranth buds, and has a fresh, juicy watermelon scent. The brewed tea is almost colorless, with that same watermelon flavor, sweet but delicate and not excessive. The good thing about this tea is that once it’s cooled and steeped for longer, the natural fragrance of the white tea itself comes through—honey-sweet, vegetal, and distinct from the melon flavor. It’s a very “cooling” tea, somehow, and there’s almost a hint of mintiness to it. In fact, a good comparison for it would be to an after-dinner mint instead of a sugary dessert, it’s very nice as a palette-cleanser tea. (And after all, watermelon often serves the same purpose at restaurants in China during the summer months!) So now, time to think about what else I want to try…

Lovely and delicate. Another fantastic melon tea. It’s definitely general melon and not specifically watermelon in my opinion, but still I’m a fan. Who know I liked melon tea this much??

It’s a very rainy day and I would like nothing more than to be home on my couch drinking ALL OF THE TEA and reading the book I’m nearly finished with or playing hours of old school Rollercoaster Tycoon like I did basically all weekend. Oh what an exciting life I lead! But nope, I am at work and consoling myself with light flavorful tea.

Another tea from Roswell Strange! And another tea that I was curious about, although it didn’t quite make my Butiki order last weekend. The tea itself is quite beautiful – silver tips mixed with a few pink flower petals. It smells like lovely refreshing watermelon. I followed Stacy’s instructions and did 185 degrees for 4.5 minutes. I may have used a bit more than two teaspoons, maybe closer to a tablespoon.

The brewed aroma is very faint, but it’s the same juicy watermelon from the dry leaves. Yum, this tea! It’s definitely the most convincing, most authentic watermelon flavor (or any fruit flavor really) that I’ve ever tasted in a tea. I did add sugar to mine, just to amp up that lovely flavor. Stacy was right in her description, I did start to get more and more honey notes as the tea cooled. Yum, honey-drizzled watermelon! I didn’t get any floral, but I certainly don’t miss it. In the background, there’s a bit of that lovely hay and grain white tea taste that I love. Yum yum! And I can definitely see this being amazing as a cold or iced brew.

It’s been too long since I’ve posted anything here! I somehow thought summer would mean things would slow down a bit… boy was I wrong! Little time for anything, let alone a nice cup of tea to savor.

I have to say, I was a little bit concerned about whether I would like this one or not… not sure I would have braved purchasing a sample. My first taste of the cantaloupe and cream was not a favorite for me so I had this lingering feeling I would feel the same way about this “melon” tea. I’m happy to say I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

While hot, this was a mild white tea for me with little other flavor… a touch of sugar and a chance to cool a bit and the melon flavor came out. I enjoyed that the flavor was there, but not overly so. I don’t often go for plain whites but do find the occasion to enjoy one… I do find that I enjoy them more if they have some other flavor beyond a basic white tea, at least thus far.

Thanks CelebriTEA for sharing some of this with me and giving me the opportunity to try something I might not have otherwise. I think I might have to make a cup cold steeped with what’s left & see how that goes.

HOLY WATERMELON!
Did not expect that! Wow! That was a very flavourful cold brew :D