Duhuk Lumia Bitter Tea v2 Tactile: Review by Vere

Volume	Higher end volume for a tactile, though not the loudest of all, it is definitely among the louder and noisier tactile switches. Easily louder than most linear switches.
Pitch	High-pitched, a borderline piercing type of clack that is very apparent with its super short travel and noticeable bump. Together with the PBT bottom this switch's sound is definitely unhinged. I can't confirm it has the highest pitched around, but it definitely makes a statement with the sound.
Sound Profile	The main word I can use here is definitely noisy. There is a lot going on with these switches as the sound profile is filled with noises in every facet of its use. The bottom-out is crisp and pronounced, the top-out is bright and noticeable, and the duration of the sound is very short and frequent due to the travel but this switch still sounds refined.
Stock	Very usable stock, although it may be better to re-lube these switches for the sake of improving the sound profile or containing some of the wild clacks being demonstrated by the PBT bottom. Overall there is a minimal amount of leaf noise if it can even overcome the bottom-out, and the springs don't seem to be making noise. There is virtually no wobble.
Design	Very aggressive design in terms of sound, with a nice aesthetic boost from the original version. I think that the 3.0mm travel is quite the extreme choice but I think it will resonate more with tactile-fiends and hyper-tactile enjoyers.
Other	A new member of the PBT tactile gang.

 

Stock Experience:

The Bitter Tea v2 uses Duhuk's proprietary lubricant but in thin amounts overall.

Upon inspecting the stem, it seems to have the lubricant lightly covering the rails and mostly on the stem legs in small amounts, there is also a coating of lube on the leaf. I assume that the spring also has a coating of lubricant as I can feel it upon touch but it is hard to visibly see.

 

(Slight amount of lubricant covering rail sliders and stem legs)

Overall the stock experience is quite solid for a tactile as most tactile switches out there have poor stock experiences from noisy leaves or springs. I'm quite impressed considering the low amount of lubricant used in total. 

 

(Slight amount of lubricant on the bottom-housing railings)

I've been using the Bitter Tea v2 for around a week but I've only heard a small handful of them exhibiting leaf noise, but it is mostly drowned out by the sheer volume of the crisp sound profile.

 

(Coverage on the leaf, albeit not too much)

Would I re-lube them? A big maybe, re-lubing them does clean up the sound slightly but also removes the slight scratch that is present in the travel, so if you want to clean up minor transient noise it'll be worth doing, but if you like the stock sound then I would leave it be.

 

V2 vs the V1:

So I did manage to get my hands on the original switch and these switches mostly have differences in bottom housing and travel distance. A minor change would be the that the V2 now uses a standard MX housing vs the wing-latch style housing.

After comparing the two, the tactility is almost the same but the spring weight is different so that will slightly affect the strength of the bump. Heavier spring weights add more difficulty to overcome the tactile event, meanwhile lighter springs will be easier to overcome. 

(Left: V2 / Right: Original)

In terms of material, the big difference would be the change from a Nylon bottom housing into a PBT bottom housing. This certainly causes the pitch to become much sharper and higher pitched compared to the deeper sound profile of the original. It is noticeably harsher on the bottom-out and this PBT has been modified lightly for this switch, Dashan mentions that it likely has a small additive of fiberglass which causes this sharpness.

Next, let's talk about the travel distance, the Bitter Tea V2 apparently has a 3.0mm travel which is one of the shortest distances I've seen on a tactile, but it feels more like 3.1mm. The original Bitter Tea was actually rated at 3.6mm travel but in reality it was close to 3.1mm(Around that amount). Though to be honest, tactile switches with large bumps don't necessarily care too much about travel distance as most of the experience is simply *Press->Tactile Bump->Bottom-out->Return* on repeat.

(Upon closer inspection, the original was also near 3.1mm travel)

Where would you benefit from such a short travel? The first thing that comes to mind is obviously gaming, as having a short actuation and travel overall makes it easier to consistently hit the keys you wish to press on demand and at a rapid pace. This can also make your typing experience more consistent if you are a very fast typist as the short travel and extremely fast return would reduce the chances of mistyping.

I recall reading often that the original Bitter Tea tactile was actually a very well loved release and I can see why, these switches feel great and sound great. The V2 also performs well in that regard but in a slightly different way, the sound is much sharper and the feel is more consistent but harsher. I think that you don't necessarily need to get the V2 if actually own the original as I can't exactly call it an upgrade but more like a side-grade.

Here's a quick recap:

V2 sounds much sharper and higher pitched than the original.

V2 has 3.0mm travel vs the original 3.1mm(?) travel. (Wish I had calipers)

The tactility is basically the same! Only spring weight differences.

V2 uses a PBT bottom housing instead of a Nylon bottom housing.

V2 uses the standard MX housing instead of Wing-latch style.

 

PBT Tactile Gang:

To my knowledge there are only 2 other long-pole tactiles that use PBT in the housing, one is the Moyu Black (Everglide Dark Jade) and the other is the Meirun Purity, both of these switches use full PBT housings instead of only in the bottom housing.

Notably the Moyu Black is referred to as having a very sharp feel as a "Holy Panda-like" tactile, but that is to be expected from the PBT material in the housing. On the other hand, the Meirun Purity has a midrange based sound profile due to the mystery material stem but still has a sharp bump. The main thing is that ALL of these switches are hyper-tactiles or holy panda-likes, they want that bump to be substantial and the bottom out to be crisp.

Personally, I think that PBT should definitely be considered more often for hyper-tactiles or at least tactiles with large bumps as the material definitely boosts the sound and solidity of the bottom-out, however I can understand that there are already a lot of difficulties in making good tactiles and adding the additional worry of shrinkage with PBT is putting a lot on the table.

Should you try a PBT based tactile? Absolutely, unless you can't handle anything past a Cherry MX Brown's bump, I think that these should be a great addition to any tactile lover's collection. They may not have the largest tactile bump around, but the feeling of the PBT bottom simply hits different.

 

Overall Design:

Before going over the overall design, I will say that I enjoy these switches a lot as a strong tactile option as we really haven't had any new strong tactile options since the BSUN Hutt released a year ago. Although they are tad strong for me to daily drive them, I think that I just need to find the right board for them to reside in.

Let's go over material composition first, the noise-maker combo.

The Bitter Tea V2 has a very noisy sound profile which results from the usage of a Polycarbonate top housing and PBT bottom housing. This means that the switch makes plenty of noise on the top-out and bottom-out, albeit the bottom-out is noticeably louder, it doesn't mean the top-out is inaudible. I will also add that the POM stem from Dupont (Source of Kailh Cream stems) also introduces some unexpected scratch into the equation despite the 3.0mm travel. Ultimately that makes this switch Public Enemy No.1 for office spaces since it will make a noticeable amount of noise, though not as bad as clicky switches.

Next let's talk about feel, the short travel, PBT bottom housing, and sharp tactility.

Like mentioned above, 3.0 to 3.2mm is very short, on a tactile you simply press and you've hit the bottom. This means that you will receive quite the strong feedback on as there is almost no pre-travel and post-travel since it's at 3.0mm, you get a bump and that's it.

So what about the PBT bottom housing with a slight amount of fiberglass? That is the main star of the show here as the bottom-out is definitely harsher than other tactile switches I've tested with comparable bumps. We can also attribute some of the harshness with the extremely long pole tip as the increased length will cause a fiercer impact after the tactile event itself.

This is the main charm of Holy Panda-likes and other hyper-tactiles as most of the feedback comes from the moment the tactile event is overcome and the increased force of the weight impacts directly into the bottom housing. If the stem has a sharp or long taper/elongation, then you can expect a more powerful sound or harsher feel.

 

Tactility (Holy Panda-like):

So the tactile event seems almost identical to the original despite the change in travel distance as apparently Duhuk has also adjusted the angle of the leaf spring to maintain tactility.

The bump is almost immediate with no pre-travel and barely any post-travel as it very quickly hits the bottom. The D-shaped bump description is accurate as there is nothing but bump and bottom-out.

If you enjoy tactile switches along the likes of Holy Pandas and their clones, Green Jackets, Voyagers, Geon x Haimu Whites (and most Haimu tactiles), then you will likely enjoy the tactility here as well.

 

Sound Profile:

As mentioned above, the Bitter Tea V2 is loud and proud when it comes to sound. 

Thanks to the strong tactility, you can expect to hear a clear audible bump during the travel like most other hyper-tactiles, and with the short 3.0mm distance you can also hear the top-out with the strong spring return. The sound profile is very... busy to say the least.

If the tactile bump was slightly weaker then it may have resulted in a more lackluster sound, as the tactile event would act as a brake in the momentum and wouldn't produce such a resonant bottom-out.

Tactile sound profiles are always very different when compared to linear sound profiles as the sound is very dependent on the size of the tactile bump. Cherry MX Browns sound completely different from most Holy Panda-likes out there. The bump can alter the sound by acting as a small speedbump or acting as the major drop on a rollercoaster. 

To recap: It has a very crisp bottom-out that showcases a bright high pitch, with an audible tactile bump and some scratch in between. The top out is also noticeable and not muted, however the bottom-out is overwhelmingly louder in comparison.

Crisp refers to having a solid bottom out that is clear and is easy to hear, doesn't necessarily mean loud and bright.

Scratch refers to the scraping sound that is audible during the switch travel when the stem is moving inside the housing. This sound is somewhat similar to using chalk on a blackboard, or perhaps scraping some paper with your nails.

Noisy refers to having multiple facets of sound in the profile, not in a bad way, but the switch can have an audible top-out, scratch, or something else which adds character to the sound.

I appreciate this switch as one of the brightest tactile switches I have ever tried.

 

 

Direct Comparisons to other Tactiles:

Gateron Azure Dragon V3 (PC/POM/POM Stem) 3.2mm Travel

• These switches only share a similar top housing and stem.
• The Azure Dragon is slightly louder.
• The Bitter Tea has a much better stock experience. (Less crap sounds)
• The Bitter Tea is higher pitched.
• The Azure Dragon has more wobble in all directions.
• The Bitter Tea is slightly more tactile.
• The Bitter Tea has a fuller and more clean sound. (Even as a tactile)
• The Bitter Tea has a firmer bottom-out.

Akko CREAMY Purple Pro (Nylon/Nylon/Nylon Stem) 3.0mm Travel

• These switches share no similarities besides travel distance.
• The Bitter Tea is slightly louder.
• They share similar stock forms. (Bitter Tea slightly smoother?)
• The Bitter Tea is higher pitched.
• The share similar wobble control.
• The Bitter Tea is more tactile.
• The Bitter Tea has a fuller sound. (Creamy Purple is more muted)
• The Bitter Tea has a firmer bottom out.

Tecsee Green Jacket Tactile (HPE/Nylon/POM Stem) 3.1mm Travel

• These switches share similar stems and almost the same travel distance.
• The Green Jacket is slightly louder.
• The Bitter Tea has a slightly better stock experience. (Less leaf noise)
• The Bitter Tea has a higher pitch.
• The Green Jacket has more vertical wobble.
• The Green Jacket is slightly more tactile. 
• The Bitter Tea has a cleaner sound.
• The bottom-out is of similar firmness.

 

Flaws:

Are there any notable flaws?

Not really, this switch has great performance out of the box and has good consistency throughout the batch.

The only minor flaw would be the barely audible leaf noise from a few of the switches, but that is mostly drowned out by the switch's natural volume.

I would say that maybe the stock lubricant makes the switch feel dry, but that also helps keep the tactility alive and the scratch apparent.

No real complaints from me.

 

PERSONAL BUILD RECOMMENDATIONS: (PREFERENCE/OPINION BASED)

Immediately my go-to choice was the Carbon Fiber plate with gasket mount, the higher-pitched and busy sound of these tactiles was definitely be able to shine further with Carbon Fiber's brisk profile.

The results were as expected, crisp, noisy, and had a fair amount of tactile feedback on my fingers in good way.

However this is definitely a bit of a hardcore choice, I think that these switches would also sound good on ABS or Polypropylene, as the sound would be very lively but much softer for the user's feel. PC and POM are hard to recommend as the sound might be too dampened by the deeper sound profile of those two plates, and I think that you would be better off using a naturally deeper tactile.

I don't think you'll get much mileage from using foam as that would interfere with the unique sound profile that these switches provide.

 

Closing Summary:

Duhuk Lumia returns with an old favorite but using a new blend of ingredients and specs. These switches still resemble the original's charm points so you don't have to worry about a drastic change.

For $0.35 per switch, the Bitter Tea V2 joins the grand plethora of Holy Panda-like tactiles at a whopping 3.0mm travel. They are sharp, clacky, and feel amazing to type on.

Thanks to the modified PBT bottom, you can expect a powerful bottom-out leaning on the higher pitch with the added fiberglass and aggressive travel distance. The POM stem from Dupont also seems to be naturally scratchy whilst utilizing the low amount of lubricant on the stem rails, adding more character to the sound profile.

With no noticeable flaws or caveats, I can recommend these switches easily to any tactile lover or perhaps someone who's interested in a loud and bright sound profile. 

If you've never tried the original switch, or perhaps you just want to try your hand at a tactile with a larger bump than a Cherry MX Brown, then I think that these will be an exciting option. Please keep in mind if you're only used to the clean sound and comfortable typing experience of linear switches, the Bitter Tea V2 might just be too bitter for you in more ways than one.

 

FINAL SCORING: 9.2/10