Kandula

Another “Oh! Where has that been?” from my cupboard clean-up. This is still more of a novelty than it is a substantially flavored green tea, but it does have a nice silky-satiny texture.

As a lover of teas that whop you upside the head, I probably miss all the lovely subtlety that many of you pick up when you drink delicate stuff.

So there may be something really notable about this that I have breezed right by, even after half a box of the little sachets. It is fun to steep—the color is definitely pinky. And there’s no bitterness or vegetable taste if you steep properly. It is not assertive in the least, which makes it an OK evening tea.

This tea is more fun to watch than anything … authentically pink and all, and I’m intrigued that it’s possible to have hibiscus as an ingredient that doesn’t taint this nice, light tea with tartness.

If I were one of you cool-headed, analytical folks that numerically rates tea on a consistent scale instead of a flighty, emotionally/hormonally-influenced reviewer that gives tea a superlative number just because I’m wearing clean socks, I’d give it an 89 for entertainment value; 65 for taste.

Prepare to be impressed…I cooked dinner. Not reheated, not assembled, cooked … flounder coated in panko bread crumbs and pan fried. We’re talking dredging in egg and everything. (Those of you who have known me for any length of time are justified in laughing hysterically at my expense.)

Thus, something celebratory seemed appropriate for the after dinner cuppa…this pink green tea is so great to watch, first steep, is it gets all pale rosey. The rerun isn’t quite as exciting; this time, it came out apricot in color, and faintly hay-ey in flavor. More points for style than substance, but still fun.

The Easter Elephant came (he’s WAY better than the bunny because he can sneak in and out undetected as big as he is) and left this in my kitchen!

This gets off-the-scale wacky cool points for the color alone. PINK green tea. Box recommends a very low temp (I actually used a thermometer and kept it around 160) and short time (2 min) and by golly, it’s pink! Website tips you off to the trick, there’s just a bit of hibiscus in there, but you can’t see it in the pyramid teabags, and you can’t taste it at all. Pink!

Now, as for flavor—I’m still working on it. I used a clear mug for the christening cup because I wanted to watch the color, and the mug is oversized, so when it was full, I didn’t taste much but dishwater. (Nifty pink dishwater, mind you.)

The Kandula folks say each pyramid bag is good for 2-3 steeps, so the second time around, I didn’t top off the cup, did 2 more minutes and got some really nice flavor. Light, fresh hay. Second steep color wasn’t as pretty, more of a pale rosy beige.

So, if I don’t overdo on the H20 next time, I anticipate a lovely balance of color and flavor. This has been fun to play with! (Thank you, Easter Elephant. I will never forget how thoughtful you are.)