Pukka

Pleasantly spiced without being too strong. Like a milder (in a good way) version of chai. I wouldn’t add milk to it, and only maybe the tiniest bit of sugar or it would overwhelm the flavors

The tea bag smells pretty bad, so I was worried. Actually, this tea tastes good. The primary flavor is chamomile with a slight sweetness from the licorice at the end of the sip. I’m having a nice time tasting this warm, but I can tell it would be great cold. I wish I could taste the lavender, but I can taste hints of indistinguishable other herbs. I have only a single tea bag of this, but I would totally grab more if I had the chance to get it for cheap. It’s always nice to have a tea of this variety around.

I feel like I’ve had a lot of tulsi teas lately; at this was probably my least favourite as of late. Despite having the trio of different tulsi varieties in the blend it still tasted kind of flat and watery. In that vein of being stale, maybe?

I feel like lately my attitude towards bagged mint teas has been very “It’s mint, duh. You get what you get – they’re practically all the same” and I suppose that sort of rings true here? But I at least appreciate that because it’s a blend of different types of mint that’s it’s a step or two up from your typical bagged mint tea. I enjoyed it it; even if I wouldn’t personally buy it.

359/365

This one’s a slightly unusual choice for me, being a blend of rose, chamomile, and lavender. Floral teas generally aren’t my jam, but I’d heard a reasonably number of good things about this one and I figured I should probably give it a try before my challenge ends. It’s so close now!

In the end, I didn’t find it particularly memorable. It’s lightly floral and very sweet. There’s so much liquorice, it couldn’t really be otherwise, but I guess it’s fitting for a tea named love. If it wasn’t sweet, there’d be disappointment. Especially when it comes in a bright pink box. Like, retina searing.

Anyway, the most prominent flavour is rose, followed by lavender. I couldn’t really tell there’s chamomile there at all, even though it’s purportedly the main ingredient in quantity terms. I found it reasonably palatable; more so than I’d expect for a blend containing some of my least favourite things. I’d like it more, except the liquorice really spoils it.

It’s not one I’d buy again, but I had to try it at some point. It’s by no means bad, just not for me.

350/365

This one’s described as an aniseed, fennel & cardamom blend, but it also features liquorice and coriander. At first glance it doesn’t sound as busy as some Pukka teas I’ve tried, which is encouraging. I also spent most of Saturday at a beer festival, so it seems fitting to begin the week with a detox tea – despite the fact that it’s not usually my thing. I’m more about moderation, in general.

I’ve tried a few detox-type teas in my time, though, and this has to be one of the nicest tasting I’ve come across so far. Fennel and aniseed are the main flavours, followed by liquorice. The overall effect is very sweet, but thankfully the liquorice isn’t too cloying. Another case of Pukka getting the balance right there, which I appreciate.

There’s not much cardamom at all, and very little coriander. On the whole, it’s a little too sweet for my tastes (when do I ever say that?!), but nice all the same. I’d drink it again, but for flavour more than supposed effects.

345/365

This one’s more complex than it first seems, comprising liquorice, elderflower, fennel seed, and turmeric in addition to lemon (many & various – verbena, oil, zest & myrtle) ginger, and honey flavouring. In fact, considering there’s so much emphasis on lemon, my first thought is that it’s not actually very lemony at all. It’s not particularly gingery, either, but that works for me given that I’m not a fan of ginger anyway. The lack of lemon is upsetting, though.

It’s sweeter than most lemon & ginger blends I’ve tried, the dominant flavours being liquorice and honey. There’s also a decent amount of fennel, which I like, but which makes the whole thing sweet and aniseedy. I don’t actually mind the liquorice, which is something I’ve found with a few of the other Pukka teas I’ve tried. It doesn’t taste as artificial and isn’t as throat-coatingly obvious as it can be – which is usually when I hate it most. Perhaps it’s just that the balance is right for my tastes here.

This one’s nice enough, but I wouldn’t really say it’s a lemon and ginger blend. Another thing I’ve found with Pukka is that their blends tend to be quite “busy”, and this one’s no exception. Sometimes I haven’t minded it, but it’s definitely detrimental to the overall flavour this time. Nothing really stands out, except how sweet it is, and how little it lives up to its name. A bit of a disappointment.

344/365

I’m always up for trying a new sleep tea, and this one jumped into my basket last time I went to the supermarket. I had some success with Twinings’ new Sleep Superblends, but it did give me crazy dreams (as does Bird & Blend’s Dozy Girl). They’re both effective, but I’d like to find one that works without bizarrely vivid dreams as a side effect.
I suspect I’m not going to enjoy the flavour of this one particularly, since it contains liquorice (basically my nemesis). I don’t necessarily think flavour is the most important factor when it comes to sleep teas, though, so I’m willing to overlook a degree of unpleasantness/strangeness if it works. If it tastes nice, it’s a bonus! This one also contains flowering oat tops, chamomile, lavender, limeflower, valerian, and tulsi. I suspect it won’t be particularly effective for me based on past experience with similar ingredients, but I’m willing to give it a decent chance. The efficacy is something I’m going to have to comment on in a future note, though, since I don’t know yet how that’s going to work out.

In terms of flavour, it’s actually more palatable than I thought it would be. The liquorice is there in the background, but it’s not too obnoxiously sweet. It does linger a bit in the aftertaste, but I can perhaps overlook that if I try really hard. It’s certainly a very herbal tasting blend, as these things so often are, but it’s reasonably gentle and really quite soft tasting compared to some I’ve tried. Possibly it’s the oat? It comes across quite…milky and starchy aren’t quite the right words, and oaty isn’t descriptive enough, but perhaps you know what I mean? If I manage to work out what I mean, I’ll be sure to let you know.

The chamomile and lavender are present mostly in the mid-sip, adding a mildly floral sweetness. There’s a hint of earthiness, too, but on the whole it does well to disguise it’s more pungent ingredients. No one thing really dominates, which is good in some ways (there are a lot of ingredients in here that would never make it on to my favourites list), but basically means that it just tastes confused. It’s not particularly cohesive, and not particularly tasty, but it’s not bad – and not bad is much better than awful in my book.
I’m going to rate this one around 60 for taste, since I don’t mind it – I should probably have my own scoring scale for this kind of blend, since I have different expectations and I tend to be more forgiving of flavour if it works well – there are more things at stake than enjoyment, after all. I definitely wouldn’t drink this one for pleasure, but if it helps me sleep – I’m there! I’ll probably increase my rating a little if it actually does, but I guess we’ll see about that over the next few weeks. I’m not put off so far, though!

342/365

This one’s a blend of peppermint, spearmint, and fieldmint. I’ve not come across the latter before, so I’m kind of intrigued by that. It brews up a murky brown, like most bagged mint teas, and I have to admit that at this point I was unconvinced.

In terms of flavour, it’s more subtle than I expected – but then it’s not just peppermint. That tends to be the issue for me generally, because I find peppermint alone too dank and somehow grubby tasting. It’s just not my thing. This one is sweeter than straight peppermint, thanks obviously to the spearmint. I love spearmint! I was the child that always wanted the spearmint polos. The fieldmint is intriguing, too – it adds a mildly vegetal undertone that’s making me think of fresh cut grass, meadows, and summer.

I like this one. I’d happily drink it again, which isn’t something I say about a lot of mint teas!

Name is a bit misleading, only like 2% Matcha powder here, though the price obviously reflects that. Decent green tea but is a little bitter, almost grassy as other users have described. Had it late (11pm) but still calmed me down. Probably would be good with milk.

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!

Well tasting. Does have to steep the Whole 15 min to get the full taste out of it. Very Nice anise aroma but also a pronounced cardamom taste. Its herbal so its safe to use in the evening for coffein sensitive People. Sweetish. A sting of the anis and licorice.

Boring and overwhelming licorice flavor. Not a fan. Had high expectations. That packaging is nice.

I do not like this. The licorice root is too sweet and is almost highlighted by the contrast to the underlying ginger flavor. This was a big miss for me from my SipsBy Box.

I feel like I might be getting a bit of a cold – I’ve just been a little stuffy and my throat is tickle-y. This was a light night pull for something that was quick and easy, caffeine free, and would probably still be good as a sick tea. In fact, I keep this around purely to have an easy access sick tea. Big check of the lemon and mandarin, but also a coating sweetness (licorice root?) that felt really good on my throat.

I was feeling a touch sick one of the evenings last week after getting home from work; I’d had a migraine for literally the entire day and I felt like that was coming to a head, with some nausea as well. I just couldn’t bother with loose tea in that moment, but I needed something warm and soothing to drink – so I went with teabags, this one in particular because I find the lemon really comforting when I’m feeling unwell. The mandarin tastes a little weird, sure, and the licorice root is cloying but this was a cup not meant to be the best in terms of taste but to be soothing and comforting to someone feeling unwell and it did that.

Made a hot mug of this one, as a sick tea. It mostly tasted of strong orange and licorice root notes. I wasn’t the worlds biggest fan flavour wise, but it was actually very comforting and soothing as a sick tea and really seemed to cut through the haze of this cold.