Pukka – Feel New
Ah, herbal teas. They promise so much, don’t they? Well, this one certainly did. The clue’s right there in the name, I came to Pukka’s ‘Feel New’ with no lesser expectation than to feel completely reborn and revitalised. A brand new me, I thought, that sounds just the ticket. And it all takes, apparently, is some aniseed, fennel, cardamom, liquorice, coriander and turmeric.
Let’s jump straight to the denouement, this tisane did not in fact make me feel like a new person. I’m still very much the old model, but that’s OK because I remembered that I quite like me. It would probably be a big faff to have a brand new upgrade of yourself, anyway. All your menus would be in the wrong places.
This herbal brew wasn’t anything like as unpleasant as I thought it would be either. I have oft spoken of my dislike for liquorice and liquorice-like herbs in tea blends. I’ve been pretty rude about turmeric teas in the past, too. So with liquorice, aniseed, fennel and turmeric all in attendance, I thought I would be in for a rough ride. I’m quite amenable to a bit of coriander and cardamom but, you know, that still left 66.666666 (recurring) per cent unwelcome entries on the guest list.
And yet, it was quite drinkable, albeit in a medicinal, ‘this is probably doing me good’ kind of way. The fennel was a nice surprise. Despite its liquoricesque-ness, it actually turned out to be a fairly sweet addition to a tea steeping. The turmeric didn’t remind me of chip shop curry sauce this time either so that was a win.
I won’t be drinking Feel New tisane on a regular basis. It’s not about to replace a proper cup of Earl Grey as my go-to morning tea, but I did find the whole experience quite refreshing and uplifting and not actually unpleasant. I seem to be becoming more mellow about herbal tisane blends. Maybe I am a new me after all.
Today’s featured book is Moon Ahead by Leslie Greener. For some reason. I really like the fact that despite the fact that this book was published in 1957, it totally looks like Futurama’s Bender is on the front cover.
