Blueberry Purple Tea

This was my first time trying a purple tea. I look forward to trying more. As recommended by Butiki Teas, I tried it using different times and water temperatures. The info provided below was the first go round. I tried it at 160 degrees first and it tasted much like a lighter oolong, or perhaps a strong white. The blueberry was definitely present and pleasant, but didn’t hit you over the head. At the other extreme, i.e., boiling, this tea came across similar to a weakish black tea in color and taste. Again, the blueberry was nicely balanced. In short, I think this would be a great desert island tea because you could brew for whatever you were in the mood for and only need the one package. With that in mind, the tea stands on its own merits. It’s not a gimmick. Worth trying and enjoying.

THE PURPLE IS A LIE. It’s just normal looking tea. Sadface.

Colouring aside, this tea was good while it was still hot – tasted like blueberry muffins, nice rich flavour – but as it cooled it got decidedly bitter for me. Maybe I’ll need another cup to get a real good test, but I couldn’t even finish my first cup.

This is another of the samples that Stacy so generously included with our order.

The smell is impressively blueberry-y, so I was expecting a stronger flavor. I was definitely not disappointed, though, because the subtler berry flavor is just so lovely and authentic. It’s very delicious, and I wish I had a bit more for another cup.

Might have to order this one next time, to try it out a bit more.

As you can see, I’m on a Butiki kick. This one is interesting (in a good way). Since this was my first purple tea, I found the difference in color between the dry and brewed leaves interesting due to the contrast. The Blueberry flavor is just right.

Sipdown cup #2! I’m aiming for four sipdowns this morning before I go to work instead of my usual huge pot of tea. Next up is a sample of Blueberry Purple tea, my second go round at a purple tea. I can smell the blueberry as the water hits the leaves—it makes me happy. I do love blueberries, so anything with blueberries is something I’m predisposed to love.

My first go round at purple tea I wasn’t such a fan of. This is better. Much better. It has a less astringent flavor, which makes me suspect I oversteeped my pot of the purple tea I made the first time. The blueberry isn’t as prominent in the brew as it was when I poured the water. Definitely an earthiness and a woodiness to the brew that isn’t bad by the cup. I also suspect that I might like the purple tea on a cup-at-a-time basis, rather than four cups at a time, like I made it when I first got it. That probably is a good lesson in general. Perhaps new teas ought to be made just a cup at a time instead of a four pot cup at a time. Hmm, things to ponder.

Interesting. Slightly astringent. Definitely Blueberry, but subtle not in your face fake. Not sure my palate is sophisticated enough to totally understand all that is going on here. Little bit of a strange aftertaste. When it was HOT more astringent, less aftertaste, as it cools less astringent more aftertaste. Wish I had more than just a sample, so that I could try it again and try to wrap my taste buds around it.

Thanks to Shelly_Lorraine for the sample.
This tea smells so yummy that my first couple of sips I was actually a little disappointed. But I kept smelling and drinking and enjoying more and more with each sip. I actually paused the movie I was watching so that I could close my eyes and just inhale and taste without Chris Hemsworth mumbling through some other crappy movie. When I fished my cup, I IMMEDIATELY went to brew a second cup. I don’t normally sweeten my tea, but I thought it might bring out that little sumthin’ sumthin’ in the tea, so I brewed, very lightly sweetened, and…… proceeded to knock the cup over spilling everything but one little teeny tiny drop. But oh that drop was good. So good, in fact, that I contemplated licking the counter as I was sopping up the spilled tea. Instead, I settled for using many words unbecoming of a lady and I think I cried a little.

*i just came back to say that I rebrewed the leaves and YUM. I think this would be KILLER iced.

Finally a good one!

I was surprised at the overall look of the brewed tea- I’ve never had purple tea, so I’m not sure how I came to any expectation. It was light in color, but was definitely a cool toned light bluish purple brown. Cool!

Taste wise it was light and delicious. It isn’t sour, though there is a slight tang, and it is naturally sweet and fragrant. A bit of sugar would surely make this resemble jam.

The second steep is also really great, but I only took a sip. I have a suspicion this will be heavenly cold, so I am letting it sit until after my walk!

This is a very enjoyable cuppa. The blueberry seems to be spot on perfect. No artificial blueberry flavoring. I did use a little stevia which I think helped bring out the blueberry nicely.

I was surprised that it didn’t have either a blue or purple color. I’ve never had a purple tea before so maybe I had a false expectation.

Does anyone know the caffeine levels in purple tea?

This is the third time this week that the refrigerator repair man has had to come out.
ANNOYING!! I hate sitting around waiting for someone to come and then waiting while they do the work. Errrrg.

Yay another Butiki tea! :) This was one of the samples I asked for with my order. I love blueberry teas so I couldn’t resist! I must admit, I got really nervous about this one when I was reading the other tasting notes on it. It seems a lot of people had a really hard time with this tea coming out very bitter. Eep. It looks like a black tea, though the leaves are smaller and some of them are rolled up like oolong. There are a few blue flower petals and my small sample had one giant blueberry in it. The dry leaf smells like yummy blueberries and not much else, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I followed the directions on Butiki’s website for steeping.

So, I didn’t read up on purple tea at all, and for some reason I expected it to be similar to black tea, probably because the leaves are so dark. Let me tell you, I could not have been more wrong! I knew as soon as I saw the liquid that it was nothing like black tea. I took a sniff and it smelled like blueberry and not a lot else, just like the dry leaf. Not helpful, tea! :P I took a sip and it was pretty much the last thing I expected… It tastes like white tea, and a very mild white tea at that. The blueberry is definitely the star, and there’s a light hay-like flavor there too. The aftertaste reminds me of green tea though, sort of leafy or something. I find it kind of amazing that a leaf that dark can brew up so light! I was really worried about it coming out bitter, so I measured out a precise half-teaspoon instead of using the whole sample. I think I could’ve just used the whole thing to make the flavor a bit stronger. Overall, delicious and unexpected! :)