Elderberry & Echinacea

The berry flavor is pretty pleasant. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I’m as big a fan of the echinacea and other herbs in here. They make it a little too savory and herbal. I’ll always try a new Pukka flavor in a TTB though!

A comforting, fruity tea, like a bowl of warm, tart berry jelly you can eat with a spoon. Well maybe not quite that sweet. I do tend to grab this when I see it in a store because I know it is a soothing cup, even if it is pricey for a bagged tea. I can use one bag in 12-16 oz of water and not be disappointed with a weak tea.

Layered rich, warm and spicy-sweet aroma with a strange something – I think it’s the echinacea. The sweetness on the tongue is more mellow than expected, considering licorice root is the first ingredient listed. It is also liquidy brown sugar tasting rather than cloyingly sweet. Its thickness hits on the sip where it transitions to the taste of echinacea-mild orange peel mixed with subtle tart and earthy berry-type flavors and then swallows with the elderberry syrupy flavor and mild ginger mixed with licorice root; lingering tart aftertaste.

Simple conclusion: good enough bagged herbal tea but…

I have received this UK produced tea from a postcrossing member located in Ontario, Canada. And well, I am located back in Europe. Okay, a big carbon footprint behind this tea.

Anyway, I am always happy to get a tea that I haven’t tried yet. And this one seems summery for me. The suggested brewing time is up to 15 minutes, so I did around 6 maybe? It wasn’t changing colour too much, so I kind of forgot about it.

It’s okay and quite sweet. Licorice sweet. But it’s mellowed by elderberries, which are kind of tart. And it’s somehow decently herbal. In last sips roships took the place.

Ah well. Quite common a bit of fruity tea. Not even sure if I should consider it as fruit or herbal tea. Probably the latter.

Very fruity, warm, pleasant aroma.
A lot of fruity notes in the taste, especially elderflower. Licorice and ginger are thankfully subdued, because I’m pretty tired of sensing them in almost every Pukka tea.
Nice, warming brew with no pretenses to be anything more.

I enjoyed this one more than I was expecting. It has a rich summer berry aroma and flavour, with a hint of anise. I was also getting these red wine notes which were very pleasant – and I don’t usually like/drink wine.

What stood out, however, was the texture. It’s soooo juicy. With wine and slightly tart berries you’d expect it to be drying… but it’s the opposite. It bathes my mouth in moisture with every sip and leaves me feeling very refreshed.

The aftertaste lingers for quite a while, getting slightly sweeter as time passes.

Can’t say I detected any elderberry or echinacea though. You could say the flavour was a little generic, but it’s definitely not bland.

Full review with pictures, in case anyone is interested: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/pukka-elderberry-echinacea-tea-review/

Pukka Days of Christmas#10

This is the only Pukka tea I have in my cupboard. As I noticed that I only wrote one tasting note about it, 2 years ago, I see if it needs correction ;-)
Well, elderberry clearly on the foreground, but I think I can appreciate the complexity of this blend more now. Indeed, no dominant hibiscus (great!) and the licorice, ginger, beetroot, aniseed or even peppermint of the list of ingredients make up a good whole without standing out, maybe only the peppermint in the finish. Nice for a fruity herbal infusion, which you can drink year round (it might make a great iced tea as well).

338/365

I’ve not tried any Pukka teas in a long time, so I figured it was time to give them another go. They’re pretty standard bagged supermarket affairs on the whole, but there are some gems to be found sometimes. This one’s a blend of liquorice, ginger, echinacea, beetroot, aniseed, elderflower, peppermint, orange peel, rosehip, elderberry, acerola cherry, and blackcurrant. So, quite busy then! There’s no hibi at least.

I chose this one today specifically because my throat is sore again, and I’d rather it didn’t develop into a full-blown cold. That would be silly – I’ve had four already since the end of August.

In practice, this one isn’t as muddled or confused-tasting as I feared it might be. The liquorice is very subtle (thankfully!), as is the ginger. The flavours that seem to predominate are aniseed and blackcurrant, although there are hints of cherry and elderflower, and a tiny bit of orange in the background. There’s a slight earthiness that I’m attributing to the echinacea and the beetroot, but it’s mild. I don’t mind it much, in any case, since it cuts through some of the liquorice sweetness.

I’m pretty pleased with this one! It’s more pleasant than I thought it’d be, and I’d definitely drink it again. It’s not often I say that about a tea with liquorice as an ingredient!

It appears that I forgot to review this tea I don’t remember it that well.
The flavor was very light but pleasant. The main flavor note was sweet licorice. It wasn’t a fruity tea like the name would imply. I would have rated it higher but considering the name it’s not what you’d expect it to taste like. As well as the fact that I would picture most people purchasing this tea for when they are sick. Someone with a cold would not be able to taste this at all. Throat Care tea is cheaper to buy, tastes very similar and doesn’t give you a false impression of what it will taste like.

1 tea bag used

There are too many flavours in this tisane which can be detected in the aroma which is slightly off-putting. Flavour does not have a focus- it is mostly bland, savoury-tasting. I can pick out the orange note as well as the licorice.