This one I ordered completely on a whim – I don’t have more than a fairly indifferent relationship with the fruit itself. The dry tea smells like candied tamarinds, and I get a vague taste/scent recollection that doesn’t really place me in a specific time or place; nonetheless, it’s familiar.
As was the case with strawberry oolong, also from Butiki, the flavor perfectly follows the scent. However, and as I have come to expect from these teas, the flavor is very subtle. It doesn’t lack in personality, but it’s so unassertive it would disappear in a lineup. In the, ‘A Chorus Line’ of teas, then, it would be a case of a very early, ‘Hey, you over there! Yes, you, you with the perfect technique and breathtaking beauty. Get off the stage, willya!’.
I was frustrated by this at first, considering various manners in which to tease more flavor out of these teas, but after my small break from writing tasting notes, I’ve come to appreciate their understated quality far more.
The base tea itself has a leafy, earthy roundness to it that intermingles very pleasantly with the tamarind notes, and I was happy to find there’s just a slight hint of sourness, which is perfectly balanced out by the other flavors.
[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
Boiling, 3 min