Pistachio is my favourite nut; I think I’ve cooked and served and eaten it in every way possible, but this is the first pistachio tea I try. Random fact: the Swedish word for ‘pistachio’ is one of the most commonly misspelled words in the Swedish language.
In the bag, this smells like fairly generic nut tea; it could be a walnut, or a hazelnut – either way, it’s definitely pleasantly nutty. Steeped, it retains much of the same scent, but it turns rounder and smoother.
Flavour wise, this tastes a little too roasty, or smoky, to be a plain pistachio to me. Roasted pistachio, maybe? I miss the ‘green’, fat flavour of the nuts in questions – pistachios are so characteristic. In terms of the ice cream, well, I should admit I dip into the pistachio gelato pretty frequently when I’m here in Rome, so my assessment might not be fair; either way, I don’t really get a creamy feel.
The tea definitely has a pleasant, mellow smoothness to it, and the base tea is as lovely as ever with Butiki – it’s just not quite what I’m looking for.
[From my Butiki order to Santa Clara, October 2013.]
80 C, 2 min 30