Pukka

Well, what can I say… It’s licorice cubed.
Solid pseudo sweetness, sensation of thickness, overhelming taste, every single note comes from licorice.
And although I wouldn’t want to drink the whole package og this tea, one bag is great. But beware, know what you’re getting into!

Given that this is chai, I should probably brew it with milk, but I have only one bag, so I prefer to test it in the clean version.
The aroma is wonderful, warm, with a lot of cinnamon and vanilla plus subtle cardamom.
Unfortunately the taste doesn’t have much in common, but is has way too much in common with Pukka’s ubiquitous licorice and ginger combination. Every drop of chai character is completely obscured by this pair.

Pukka! Adding licorice and ginger everywhere you can in copious amounts isn’t really a way. More creativity, for cup’s sake!

The brew is surprisingly dark.
And it has a strong aroma, very much like European basil, but with even more clove-like notes.
Very herbal, basil taste, rich and complex, with long aftertaste and spicy notes.
I’m pleasantly surprised that the tea made just from one plant (although from three variations of it) can be this interesting. And fortunately Pukka didn’t spoil it with their usually overused licorice and ginger.

Obviously, it smells like fennel, with sweet, almost licorice-ish notes.
And, what shouldn’t be surprising, it also tastes like fennel. It is slightly sweet, slightly thick, with very faint bitter aftertaste and slight spiciness.
Not bad, although a bit one dimensional in my opinion. Three kinds of fennel are too mixed up with each other here to fully appreciate their uniqueness.

Chamomile and other flowers in aroma, but it’s not very strong or overly pleasant.
Flowers, licorice and vanilla in taste, slight sweetness.
Not bad, but too much dominated by licorice that kills a lot of other flavours. Can’t recommend.

Aroma dominated by chamomile, but I can also sense traces of lavender and rose flowers in the background. Not enough, though.
Taste is more balanced. Chamomile still dominates, making me think of pure chamomile tea I sometimes drink when I have stomach problems, so my first impressions are not exactly positive… Fortunately lavender lurks in the back, but rose flowers are barely detectable.
In short, it is not much more than pure chamomile tea and doesn’t have much in common with love.

It’s obvious that lemongrass dominates in both aroma and taste, giving this tea a very fresh, citrusy character. Finger and licorice lurk in the background, only enriching the taste.
Good tea, not overdone with licorice and ginger. May be the best Pukka I’ve had.

Fresh aroma, with lemongrass, ginseng and ginger.
The taste is obviously dominated by the base green sencha tea, with hints of licorice, lemongrass and ginseng. Very refreshing.
But I think that using “matcha” in the name, when matcha constitutes only 2% of this tea, is a serious abuse.

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.

Aroma dominated by chamomile and fennel.
Nice sweetish taste, also dominated by these two, plus a bit of licorice.
Very soothing and relaxing bland. I liked it, though I prefer my teas that have a bit more character.

Very dark in comparison to other Pukka teas, thanks to roasted chicory root.
Smells with fennel, cardamom and a bit of licorice.
And the taste? Surprisingly rich, malty, a bit toasted, with strong licorice, fennel and cardamom notes, and with subtle orange peel in the background.
One of the best Pukka teas I’ve ever drank.

The aroma is mainly licorice with a bit of nettle and fennel.
The same applies to taste, though the base sencha is discernible in the background.
Too bad that matcha is almost non-perceptible. If I hadn’t read about it on the packaging, I wouldn’t have detected it. That’s why the rating drops down.

A lot of cinnamon in aroma, then licorice, ginger and orange peel. Apple on a low level, only far in the background.
The taste is mainly cinnamon/apple, with the rest in the background. Nice and warming.

It’s quite outrageous to call the product “Matcha Green” if it contains 98% of mixed green teas and only 2% of matcha powder.
After steeping it smells of decent green tea with nice floral and grass accents, but the overall aroma is not strong.
And so is the taste. Not bad, actually, but way too watery. And if I hadn’t known there’s matcha in here, I wouldn’t have guessed.
In short, it’s a passable green tea, falsely claiming to be something more. That’s why my rating gets a negative modifier.

Smells mainly with ginger, but also with a lot of licorice and some lemon and honey.
Unfortunately the taste is dissappointing. Almost only ginger and licorice, only subtle traces of lemon and honey, and water, water, water.

Strong root aroma.
The taste is very earthy, a lot of it comes from turmeric, ginger and galangal, but licorice also plays a huge part. Nice invigorating blend, but it has too little spiciness.

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/

I´ve already written it elsewhere, but I´m definitely not a great herbal tea fan, mainly for “historical” reasons (my mother preparing me a blend of dried herbs whenever I got home and complained about some ache or so). However, I nowadays do make my own herbal preparations, for instance I pick and dry rosehips (wonderful infusion, naturally sweet, when having a sour throat), and I pick elderflower to make a brilliant elderflower cordial I like to add to gin&tonic.
I also used to pick elderberries (to make another cordial, or even a fruity gin), but this is less fun work to do (removing green berries, hands are coloured for a few days), and the cordial is very viscous and dense which isn´t the most pleasant texture in drinks. Basically, I remember my mother buying an elderberry sirope to relieve cough. I therefore guess, when buying this Pukka infusion, I had its use in mind over Winter. I now realise I just forgot all about it, used the rosehip infusion whenever the occasion called for it…and so, only now, when finishing some other teas, I´ve rediscovered this infusion and tried it.
It´s true the list of ingredients is large, but for me the elderberry really stands out. In comparison to the elderberry sirope (way too sweet!), this infusion is actually quite balanced in taste. I particularly like its fruitiness being based on something else than the hibiscus used in most supermarket brands. Finally, I want to say that the lovely design by Pukka is an added pleasure.

I think I picked this tea up from a friend a few years ago, not reading the ingredients list until I got to adding it into my tea cupboard. If I’d seen the heavy anise-flavoured ingredients I wouldn’t have touched it.

But here we are, it’s still in date and I need to clear down my huge box of single-serving tea bags to make room for more worthy loose leaf blends.

I was surprised at how subtle the flavours were – I brewed for half the recommended time in an attempt to calm the anise, but I don’t think that was really necessary now I’ve read other tasting notes for this tea.

It’s not too strong, the anise flavour from the aniseed and fennel is hugged by the cardamom to add some warmth. There’s also a damp grass/woody herb aroma/flavour. It provoked a very specific memory for me, from summer mornings in my garden. I describe it a bit better in my full blog review.

Despite not being a fan of anise, I’d still recommend this tea. It’s quite nice and I’d drink it again… but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it. Full review with comprehensive notes and a few pictures of this tea in my favourite vintage tea cup: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/pukka-detox-tea-review/

You defintly get the ginger coming through also a little peppery. It is okay but it is mighty bold for a tea. First time Tea drinkers might be put off by this But I think t is a good tea to have once in a while

In one word? Dismal. At first, the teabag had a lovely amber, sticky golden syrup honey aroma… once brewed, however, it was just overpoweringly strong ginger and anise. I brewed the first cup for the full 5 minutes but found it too strong… deciding I would be able to judge it more fairly at 3 minutes, I gave it another go. Besides the overbearing anise and ginger, there’s a little hint of lemon in the aftertaste but no sweetness or honey whatsoever that I could detect. For someone who usually loves strong ginger, this was just too much. It lacked depth as well.

I actually wrote a whole 1000 words about this tea because I dislike it so much, you can read it on my blog here https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/pukka-lemon-ginger-manuka-honey-tea-review/