Bahari Teas – Purple Tea
I’m reviewing purple tea for the first time, so I think before we crack on with the actual review part of the proceedings, I need to address the obvious question. What is Purple Tea, exactly?
Well, for starters, it is a legit Camelia Sinensis-based brew. Its purple-y hue is down to anthocyanin, which also turns up in blueberries, blackcurrants, red cabbage and probably most of the things one can put in the ‘purple’ category when trying to ‘eat the rainbow’.
It’s a cultivar rather than a specific tea type, so it doesn’t get to join the ranks of Black, Green, Yellow, White, Oolong and Pu-Erh. I think, technically, purple tea is a green tea but don’t quote me on that. It was originally grown in China, but Kenya is now doing a brisk business in purple tea cultivation, which is where this Bahari Purple Tea comes from.
There are many and varied claims about the health benefits of purple tea, but that sort of business is very much outside the Tea Fancier review remit. Round these parts, we’re entirely concerned with what it tastes like.
Bahari Purple Tea is actually very nice. It’s not very purple, mind. The dried leaves are charcoal grey, and the brewed tea is a sludgy green colour, reminiscent of water that you’ve used to rinse paint brushes. I think this is par for the course with purple teas, though. It’s not so much purple as ‘a bit more purple than other kinds of tea’.
Bahari’s tea packaging suggests brewing this tea with boiling water. They make the same suggestion for their white and green teas as well but I decided to play it safe by brewing it at 80 degrees. The result was a light, fragrant tea with a rather delightful hint of berry flavour. I don’t think that I would have been able to tell that it wasn’t a green tea, had I been drinking this tea in some kind of blind taste test, but I think the anthocyanin might have something to with the fruity vibes.
Having been cautious with my brewing temperatures for the first pot, I then discovered during my research, that one of the things that is popular about purple tea is that it is far less sensitive to brewing temperatures and steeping times than green teas. Apparently, you can whack boiling water on your purple brew without it going bitter on you. Naturally, I cranked up the steeping temperature for the second pot and can confirm that this indeed seems to be the case. Unlike some of its tea brethren, purple tea can handle boiling water without getting all weird about it.
This is a delicate, fruity tea without any bitterness or astringency. And while it may not be – strictly speaking – purple in colour, it is purple in spirit.
Today’s featured book is DK’s The Little Book of History. Because it’s purple, obviously.
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