Purple Tea of Kenya

I’m a little puzzled, this was a great tea but I’m not getting much of what anybody else is noticing.
It’s a bit claylike, with that drying sensation I get with wines sometimes. Reminds me of grapes in some ways! but certainly not of an oolong.
There is also a hard hitting bitter note towards the end of the sip, and a mild honey sweetness. All of this is overshadowed by the essence of something smokey, though I don’t actually taste any smoke, its more of a texture thing.
The second infusion really picks up on the honey aspect and balances out the clay. Light Pu-erh meets Dragonwell. Yum :)
Many thanks to Raritea for this sample, I quite enjoyed my cup!

Darn… computer died and I lost the tasting note I’d written up.

Anyways, I picked this tea up as part of the ‘Explore Kenya’ sampler pack, which I bought on a whim – my Masters project is focused on health-beneficial phytochemicals in asparagus, which include flavonoids (which is what the anthocyanins that make this tea purple are a subset of), so ever since I began my project my interest in foods containing such things has been piqued.

Visually, this tea didn’t look particularly purple to me – it looked more blackish. I’ll have to look more closely under better lighting though. The steep temperature seemed awfully low, but I went with it, and stuck to the lower end of the time range, which gave me a cup of lightish yellow/amber liquor (that’s the best I can do – it’s in a green cup!).

It tastes much like green tea to me, with a bit of an mild astringency showing up briefly (but it’s very mild). It’s a touch sweet, and has a definite tea aftertaste, kind of green/oolongy (like I said in a previous post – perhaps they’re actually all the same, and I just associate it with the tea I’m drinking at the time!) Good, certainly, but nothing particularly special. I would have been more intrigued if the liquor had come out purple :D However, I would love to know if there’s a greater health benefit associated with drinking this tea… one of the professors on my advisory committee did some research on antioxidants in green tea; maybe I should look things up/ask him!

ETA: 175F/way too long, for the second infusion. Tastes… rather like a black tea, actually. Can’t believe that it’s so lacking in astringency though, given that it seriously must have steeped for about 10 minutes or more. There’s some but it’s quite bearable. I will have to try a proper second (third, fourth?) infusion the next time.

Sample from Butiki thanks to owner Stacy. Naturally Purple Tea! Of course I had to try this! For me it’s like going bunjee jumping but less dangerous! Tea Adventure!
Not knowing what to expect when I followed directions for 8oz. steep 4min. 160F. the liquor turned out to be a pale yellowish lavander. The scent isn’t very strong and reminds me of a hint of wine…like someone has left a few drops in the wine glass but my glass pot and the cup have not been used for tea recently and are sterile. My first sip proved a little sweet and astringent in a pleasent way. I didn’t want to make a comparison to my recent tasting of muscat tea but kept coming back to that flavor. It tastes faintly like mulberry and muscat wine. I know, I know…it could be a phantom…but as much as I try to force the flavor away, it comes back as a yes to those flavors. Since this is a new varietal, I hope it is successful and that Butiki continues to carry it. I’d like to try some more!

I have been waiting to try this tea because I sent an email to both Jason and Ricky hoping they would add a PURPLE TEA Category to the Category List. I haven’t heard back from either one of them regarding this.

Anyhow…

I have LOTS of stuff going thru my head right now about this tea so I am just going to virtually BLAB about it…

At first glance it looks like a finely slivered black tea but after infusion I inspected the leaves and they were reminiscent of a darker green! Very interesting!

At first sniff I could pick up on a savory or food like aroma prior to infusing. After infusing it reminded me of a green and black blend!

It ‘brews’ dark much like a black tea with a bit of a cloud texture to the color…NOT an actual texture to the liquid (like some greens) but the color if that makes sense.

At first taste it reminded me of a few grassier senchas I have tried…but then it changed up to a slightly astringent black tea taste. There is an interesting maltiness to it too – not your stereotypical maltiness like you would find in a black tea tho. The aftertaste has more stereotypical traits of a green tho.

I love the conflicts here. I love the change-up. I like how it morphs back and forth.

The aftertaste of the aftertaste is more of a combo between the woodsy and the grassy but it’s a neat happy-medium that I am appreciating!

I’m excited to try more PURPLE TEAS and am looking forward to their popularity growing!!!! I like this!

1 tablespoon for 375 ml

Lightly buttery vegetal flavour. Very delicate taste. Light broth-y mouth-feel. Crisp finish. Only the slightest hint of an astringent note near the end of the sip which is well balanced with the flavour profile. The overall flavour profile tastes like mix of green tea notes and the delicacy of white tea (about 65% green tea traits and 35% white tea traits). Fruity grape-like notes in the lingering aftertaste.

Second infusion using 82 degrees Celsius water, 300 ml, for 4 minutes. The taste of the tea reminds me a lot of the Gyokuro Imperial from Teavana (Creamy, vegetal spinach). There’s more of a smoothness in the flavour and a very buttery finish. The aftertaste is very sweet grape-y. The grape flavour reminds me a bit of an artificial grape taste but there is a astringent quality to it near the end of it that makes the taste bloom into something much more refined. I’m detecting the grapefruit-y hint that I sometimes find in the aftertaste of oolongs. This second infusion is incredibly flavourful- the best tasting second infusion that I have experienced.

Third infusion using 100 degrees Celsius water, 248 ml, 5 minutes. There is a corn-like aroma from the brewed tea. Mild, brothy green tea taste. Very faint hint of a leathery, astringent black tea note near the end of the sip. Grape-like flavour develops close to aftertaste as the tea cools.

I was pretty excited to try this unique tea and I do like supporting small local vendors who bring us offerings like this so that was definitely a great reason to try it.

I steeped mine with 180 F water for around 3.5 minutes in a glass infuser mug. This is such a curious tea with very interesting properties. I agree with TeaEqualsBliss that at first it reminds me of a sencha both in flavor and consistency but the color and strength are more like a dark oolong and it definitely has an astringent finish. That’s the only thing that bugs me a bit so I am going to try doing a few other things with it including steeping at a lower temp. and cold brewing so my rating may go up a bit soon. I am leery of astringent teas due to my issues with acid reflux but it doesn’t seem to bother other people. This is pretty unique so if you aren’t afraid of something unusual I suggest you give it a try!

I mostly purchased this tea for the novelty factor as this is the first I’ve heard of purple tea. It sounds vaguely gimicky to me, but whatever.

I may have used too much leaf as it was only after I added the water that I noticed that the steeping instruction on the bag said to use 1/2 tsp rather than a whole teaspoon. Oops. The leaf was very fine – teabag-sized basically – and had a sweet, cured-hay scent. Dry it looked like a black tea but when it got wet the leaves turned distinctly greenish. The tea itself was quite astringent – too much so for my tastes, I’m afraid, but that might be my fault so I’ll hold off rating this tea until I try it again using a smaller amount of tea (and maybe a shorter steep).

I never rated this tea?! Crazy! I had a nice amount of this tea also. The leaves are finely ground up. There is barely any bitterness to this, which is good. I like this tea. It is like black tea, but somehow different. This tea is light tasting and perhaps it is because I hadn’t touched it in quite some time. There is a hint of fruitiness and sweetness to it. I can’t really pin it down.

I have to admit I only received a small sample so I will do the best I can to give a decent analysis. I went by Butikis instructions. I do not know if the water was exactly 160. I think it’s time to invest in a thermometer. I assumed the 3 to 5 minute steep would be appropriate. I let it go for maybe 5 minutes. The first second or two into the steep the liquor was a slight purple but soon became more amber. The end result was a delicious brew. I am not doing cartwheels but lets just say it’s something totally different and refreshing. In order to make a better review I would definitely need more tea to play with. This tea is to me a curiosity. After the first cup I am feeling very good. Even in what i would consider to be a weak amount of tea. So for cup 2 I am going to do as Mr. Norman does and boiling the ever loving you know what out of it. It’s now very light and not as enjoyable as the 1st. I know this is fine tea. The moral of this tale is to have ample leaf….

First infusion 4min @ boiling: Smells really unique – almost like musty asparagus. (Not that asparagus can really get musty, but you know, I’d imagine this is what it would smell like if it did.) Color is a really fun golden purple; as if someone mixed apple juice with watered-down grape juice. Tastes… burnt? Maybe ‘roasty’ is a better word. It’s possible that I under-leafed, as I’m getting only a mild taste. I’m not noticing any astringency while it’s piping hot. Wait… now that’s it’s cooled off, it is getting a little astringent.

Second infusion 5min @ 180: Probably would have made more sense to do the lower temp first, but was early in the morning, and logic escaped me. Color is lighter, like a muddy gold. I guess it could be perceived as having a lavender tint, but honestly I wonder if that’s just because I’m looking really hard for something “purple.” The smell is faintly sweet, rather than asparagus-y. I think I like this cup better than the first. It’s a subtle flavor – tastes like a green and black tea blend. I used less water this time around, but it’s still pretty weak (due in part to boiling first, I’m sure) so I don’t think I’ll bother with a third steep.

Overall, this is a very drinkable tea. I’m glad I got the chance to sample it!

I absolutely love notching a unique tea off my list. I’d been looking for Kenyan Purple Tea for over half a year, and Butiki was one of the ONLY suppliers of the stuff. It lives up to its experimental moniker; as in, it’s a hard one to classify. Part green tea, part oolong, and oddly tisane-ish on taste. I had a tough time coming up with a label. I tried three different temperatures to see which one I liked best. Boiling the ever-loving s**t out of it seemed to fit my palate the best. All in all, though, I really liked it and look forward to more like it in the future.

Full Review: http://lazyliteratus.teatra.de/2011/11/09/four-eyed-no-horned-flightless-purple-tea-drinker/

Drank my sampler of this boiling hot, and quite quickly. I had enough to steep in 200 ml.
Don’t take my word for it as I have a cold, but the dry leaves ressemble that of black tea, the liquor green, the smell oolong, and the taste is a nice wrap-up of the all the aforementioned. More precisely an astringent black, combining the grassiness of green and the thickness of oolong. Also, is it weird that I find this fruity?

This was a sample with my last order. I was really excited to try it, admittedly in large part because of the novelty. I like it, but I’m not blown away – though that might be because I haven’t experimented with it enough.

The dry leaves smell fruity. The brewed tea also smells fruity, though I can’t quite articulate what fruit. This brews up a light pink-purple, very pretty. It tastes of toasted rice and a hint of jasmine. Like others have mentioned, this tastes similar to sencha, only sweeter and maybe not as dry. It has a light, smooth mouthfeel. Pleasant enough overall. Glad to have tried it.

Hmmm, I don’t know what I think of this one yet. I made a four cup pot in my Breville, which meant 2 teaspoons of tea, at a three minute steep. That particular combination gave me troubled water that really didn’t taste like much at all. So I restarted the Breville and am brewing it for another couple of minutes, to see how a five minute brew comes out.