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“Luckily I remembered as I was steeping this how bitter it got at only 1:30 of steeping the first time I made it. I was able to yank the steeper out about 1:15 in and I’m glad I did, since this had...” Read full tasting note
“Woah. This tea doesn’t taste like what I expected it to. It looks like a CTC Assam, but does not taste like it. Definitely bold. Needed some cream and honey. I like it, but I don’t think it will be...” Read full tasting note
“This one was really good. I got the bready flavors without any problem. I took it on my recent trip to Vegas and it steeped up very nicely in subpar temperature water in the restaurant. Now I need...” Read full tasting note
“This is, in my opinion, a nice breakfast tea. Sure, it’s all cut up into teeny tiny pieces, which really resemble course coffee grounds and have a spicy aroma. But for making a pot of tea to enjoy...” Read full tasting note
Our Crimson Horizon originates from the Mount Kenya tea region in Kenya. Tea is grown at 5,000 to 7,000 feet above sea level in this region, where the soil is rich with minerals. This premium CTC (cut tear curl) has burned chocolate, nutty, mahogany, baked bread, and light bergamot notes. Our Crimson Horizon CTC is far more complex than most CTCs and has little to no astringency. This tea makes an excellent breakfast tea.
Ingredients: Kenyan Black Tea
Recommended Brew Time: 1 minute 30 seconds
Recommended Amount: 1 teaspoon of tea for 8oz of water
Recommended Temperature: 212 F (boiling)
For more information, please visit: www.butikiteas.com.
Company description not available.
This tea is strong, malty and somewhat bitter. I bought it during the Butiki %50 off sale so I have an unfortunate four ounces of it. Perhaps I will have to get some vanilla beans and try blending them in myself. This tea is just too strong.
I brewed this tea one time in an 18oz teapot with 2.5 TSP leaf and boiling water for 1 min 30 sec.
Flavors: Malt
Try a cooler temperature. I usually do 195F for my black teas. It is a very strong tea, as are all CTCs. (Or if you feel like passing it along, I might be willing to purchase some from you!)
AllanK, I can get this one to pretty much no astringency while still being full of flavor. I would recommend dropping the temp, like OMGsrsly mentioned but also dropping the steep time to a minute. Hope that helps.
This. Freaking. Tea.
I got my last Butiki order in the mail and this is the second tea I have tried from it tonight (yes, my tasting notes are out of order but I loved this one too much to wait to write a review for the first tea!).
This makes me even more sad that I can never order again, oh how I wished I had found this tea earlier so I’d have had more time to stock up on it! Don’t know why it wasn’t more popular here. Weird.
Anyway!
The dry leaf aroma was pretty bready, which made me excited! While it steeped that aroma was replaced by just a really bold wave of black tea. It smelled so strong that it came off almost bitter, which dashed my hopes a bit.
But when I went to drink it everything changed!
Yeah, it had a bitter edge to it, but it was still smooth enough to make for a thoroughly pleasant cup.
The main taste in this one was malt.
I have been trying to search for the best malty teas, and holy Shanghai! This is one of the best I’ve ever had! It is a bummer that I didn’t try it earlier, but I’m so happy to have half an ounce of this one. It’s delicious!
If anyone gets this tea and hates it, hit me up, I’d probably be willing to swap for it! :D
If you like malty teas you will seriously lovee this one!
Another win from Butiki Teas!!
Flavors: Bitter, Malt, Smooth
OMG I love this tea. SO good. I have another CTC that’s similar, but less malty.
CTCs are my comfort teas. :D
I have only ever had one other CTC teas, it was just Harney & Sons.
If you have any recommendations, I’d love to know so I can try more, OMGsrsly!
Unfortunately everything is local. I love the Rungagora from teacentre.ca (if it was in stock I’d send you some, but it’s my precious). Also, Janet’s Special Teas in Sidney has one I’m really liking, a Bukhial. I’m sure you can find these teas elsewhere. I usually find CTC Assams, though, so Crimson Horizon is quite different.
Oh okay, well was worth asking. If you ever find a really good one that isn’t local, please let me know so I can buy it and try! (:
They’re pretty common teas. If you see a CTC from Rungagora or Bukhial (I think these are gardens?) then it’s probably the same one.
Well good to know!
So I tried being an adult and drinking this without any additions. It was okay when I was sipping it in between bites of my breakfast, but on its own it was a tiny bit overwhelming. I didn’t taste any of the interesting flavors I normally pick up from Stacy’s straight teas; what I got was basically generic Black Tea and made my head feel funny. I think CTC black tea (aside from maybe Ceylon) without milk or sugar is probably not for me, but I probably will give this another try to see if I can get anything more from it.
Ermahgerd this is amazing.
So malty, so sweet, so perfect. I really love these CTC teas, and this one is delicious. Now I am really super ultra sad!
Not only did I get my (possibly second-to-)last Butiki order ever, but I got my Halloween mug from DavidsTea and the handle is broken.
:(
Oh well. I shall revel in the tealiciousness that I have in front of me, and hope that DavidsTea can find me a new mug. :)
(This is different from Grandpa’s Anytime Tea, which I’ve found another supplier for shhhhh… It’s more sweet, more light, more brisk and almost lemony. Yum yum yum.)
1.5 tsp in 12 oz.
Glad you are enjoying the Crimson Horizon! It’s so tasty! Don’t even get me started on the Grandpa’s Anytime tea. Ugh.
Haha. Oh no! Now I’m curious. :) I like this one so much, but I have a couple other CTCs I have easier access to and huge supply of. My mom likes buying me teas, you see. :)
I’m really loving CTCs lately. The quality has really gone up.
Yes. And they tend to be my favourite types of flavours, which are strong, knock your socks off, malty deliciousness. My mom got me this one, and it’s fantastic.
http://steepster.com/teas/tea-centre/47679-rungagora-bps-ctc-india-assam
If you’re OK with cheezy dollar store packaging, I could send you some. :)
Ok, MAN I need to get a Butiki order in as soon as possible, don’t I? It’s all so beautiful and I’ll hate myself a lot if I miss my chance!
Yes you do!
OMGsrsly-That would be awesome. I could send some CTCs your way as well.
:D
this tea does not possess patience as a virtue. it does not coddle someone new to the tea world in the least. it is impatient and demanding. while it would be very nice for you to recognize its impressive aspects, the presence of ‘crimson horizon’ doesn’t really require it… it stands very well all on its own whether you recognize its brilliance or not!
absolutely caffeinated. it taps its foot waiting for you to WAKE UP!!!
quite a dark tea… a non tea equivalent might be in the neighborhood of guinness.
aspects of bread, brown sugar, nothing floral, a sense of astringency that doesn’t evolve…… a Credible Threat! lol.
very nice. as smooth as an outright call out can be (this tea is a scrapper).
and of course it came as a sneaky sample in my order- enough for one steep and one resteep. stacy, how do you do that consistently!!??
I’m so glad this tea exists! I have such a horrid allergy/sinus headache. This tea is absolutely perfect for when I need something strong yet flavorful. Loving the burned chocolate, bergamot, and bread notes right now. Now if only this headache would go away. I’m trying to drown it out in caffeine and Excedrin.
In other news, we have been pretty darn busy. In case you missed it we added the following new teas:
Kenya Obsidian-wonderful Kenyan black tea
Baked Ali Shan-Lightly oxidized and lightly roasted
Fu Shou Shan-Lightly oxidized, very high elevation, very flavorful
Taiwanese Bi Luo Chun-very fresh, flavorful
Hong Yun Black-tastes like PTA & Mi Xian Black crossed paths
Lattakajoon Assam-Chocolatey Assam
Organic Sourenee Black Blossom-Like a chocolatey cross between Darjeeling & Assam
1994 Aged Bai Hao-Like a honey drizzled on top of baker’s chocolate. Another lovely leafhopper bitten tea
Blackberry Lime Guayusa-Steph’s idea for our Custom Blend Contest
1989 Suncha Blend-Mostly shou but some sheng. Very flavorful and smooth
Still to go-
Kenyan Silver Needle-Incredibly buttery, creamy, flavorful!
2009 Banchang-heavy Apricoty notes. This puerh has quite a story behind it. Rare.
Blueberry Purple-back soon!
Added back-
Birthday Cake
Crimson Horrizon
Whew! We certainly have been busy in the last 3 week!!!!!
Also, if anyone is interested we are only asking for shipping charges for these lovely wooden display cases: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1470625936506048&set=a.1383480678553908.1073741827.100006759666084&type=1&theater
I’m so sorry, Excedrin doesn’t help me w/headaches:(. I’m on Zurtec for abt 2 months. If I skip for any reason it’s a nightmare, I feel suffocated. So excited about your new teas. Feel better;)
I’m all over that Banchang as soon as you add it! Sounds way up my alley! And I will have to order more blackberry lime, too :D
And I hope your headache goes away soon :/
boychik-Thanks! :) Excedrin Migrane is the only thing that helps but only sometimes. I’ve been going to an allergist since I was 8. Have had to take some kind of allergy pill every day. I’m usually ok except when the seasons change. Then all hell breaks loose.
Steph-Thanks! :) The Banchang is delicious. There is a bit of a story behind it but I just don’t have enough room in the description. I might do a separate blog post for it. In the region of that jungle that it comes from, over 78,555 tea trees are more than 100 years old, and 9,412 are over 800 years old. It is a super interesting tea and pretty rare!
I get awful headaches when bad weather is rolling through.
Sorry to hear that Marzipan.
I wondered if that might be the same with you, but just read your post above.
Wow I would love try all of those teas! They sound great!
Thanks, Tea Sipper! :)
I’m so sorry about the allergies!!! I was super close to an allergy induced asthma attack today in the office. Gods, Spring sucks. Have you tried taking Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen at the same time? That sometimes helps me with my migraines and sinus headaches. Aside from that, I have a prescription medicine that immediately helps! I can PM you the name. Please feel better!
Side note: That Bai Hao…. ::drools::
If it’s allergies why aren’t you taking a antihistimine? like reactine or benadryl? as for teas that help I would say anything with licorice root, or dandelion root. They open up the airways and make it easier to breathe. Mint works really well on headaches if you rub the leaves on your temples the oil helps. Or just drink a mint tea. Hope your allergies leave you alone soon!
Thanks, Tea Pet! Spring is brutal. I’ll have to try that trick. For now, I’m trying to avoid prescription meds. My doctor prescribed some but the side effects are making me hold off on trying them.
Helena-I’m just taking Allegra daily. I might give licorice root a shot. Thamks for the suggestions!
It’s too bad licorice tastes like licorice. :(
I hate licorice and all licorice flavored things, but I can do licorice root as part of herbal blends! Just adds a sublte sweetness, I find.
oooh a kenyan silver needle sounds super intriguing.
Hope today is better for you! <3
I got a nice sample of this from Jennkay Thanks!
I was extremely curious about a “premium” CTC tea…and on a quest to Try All the Butikis!
This was a very nice bold malty breakfast tea. I enjoy the flavor, but I only really get the one flavor note from it. I’m ok with that though, since that one single flavor is so nice! I will have no problem at all finishing the sample but I doubt it’ll be a re-buy for me. So many other nice black teas out there, even others from Butiki!
Thanks Kat_Maria for letting me try out this tea! I had this tea in the morning and it was a perfect morning kind of tea. Nice and bold, malty goodness that CTCs usually offer. I’m seeing some other reviewers mentioning asparagus? That’s odd, and I don’t recall tasting any of that in my cup, but I do have more of the sample left, so I will try to see if I detect it the next time around.
In honor of Butiki closing their doors yesterday, I am having a big mug of Crimson Horizon this morning. It is the first tea that truly surprised me with an unexpected flavor when I had just begun my journey of non-bagged teas, and even after a year of exploring the black teas that the world has to offer, I have chosen this tea to honor Butiki. Not Hong Yun, not Zhen Qu, but an often overlooked CTC who’s notes of malt and baked bread give a gentle round mouthfeel with an astringency that lifts the flavors of the tea without becoming obnoxious, and who’s opening note of asparagus, fleeting as it may be, opened my palate up to the world of “unexpecteds” in tea. Butiki was a perfect first instructor in tea. Weeding through “meh” teas and only offering those that had something unique about them was Butiki’s gift to everyone that purchased from them. This “not so humble” CTC will be missed terribly when it is gone…..
Flavors: Asparagus, Bread, Malt
I enjoyed this one too :)
I am hoarding this one.
i am trying hard NOT to hoarde