Butiki Teas, Creamy Eggnog

Butiki Teas Description:
Creamy Eggnog pairs our buttery Organic Huangshan Mao Feng with a rich creamy eggnog flavor. The tea and flavor work well with each other and neither overshadows the other. This tea is sweet with a heavy cream and eggy quality. Add a little brown crystal sugar and the tea becomes extremely creamy, rich, and very much like eggnog. Some vanilla notes become pronounced and so do the egg notes. We added safflower for a touch of red for a festive Christmas colored tea.

Ingredients:
Organic Chinese Tea, Safflower, Organic Natural Flavoring (vegan)

My Review:
Yesterday I reviewed a Halloween/Thanksgiving/Fall tea. It's the end of May and the temperature and humidity are climbing, so I am thinking cool thoughts. Carrying on in that vein today it's Christmas time! So time for some holiday cheer. I never would try eggnog as a kid. My grandmother loved it. I think she added a little nutmeg to her recipe (and a little shot of something from under the counter).

This is my first experience with Butiki Teas. I have heard nothing but praise for them. I am looking forward to this one. Opening the bag this smells incredible of sweet creamy vanilla. It is not overpowering like some vanilla scented teas. Examining the leaf, the Huangshan Mao Feng green tea is big beautiful full leaves. The red safflower doesn't show up in my picture. I didn't realize it at the time or I would have exposed some of it so you could see. It really does add a festive touch.

I joyfully added this to the press along with 180 F water for a 4 minute steep. This is one of those teas that benefit from a glass brewing vessel. The leaf is like a hanging garden flowing down from the surface. Some of it forms a carpet on the bottom. The rest dances silently. Beautiful.

The liquor is bright and clear with a light honey color. The wet leaf has a very different vanilla and steamed spinach aroma.

I am sure adding the brown sugar as recommended would be awesome but I only had Splenda available. Even so, this is incredibly delicious. It is creamy and lightly vanilla but thicker and more egg like. I am not sure how you can pull that off in a vegan tea, as that means no eggs. My favorite part of this cup is I can taste green tea. What restraint on the part of Butiki. This Mao Feng is too wonderful to bury under a ton of flavoring. Excellent job Butiki.

If I were to file a complaint it would be the absence of nutmeg. I realize there are a thousand different ways to prepare eggnog so giving us the base to work with makes sense. We can all add our own holiday classic twist later. No Nana, we don't need to add anything from under the counter. Actually Nana, if you were still here, I'd get the bottle for you. Yep, this is making me miss the old aluminum Christmas tree.

This is a seasonal item so wait for it. It's worth it.

Visit Butiki Teas here.