Smooth, distinctive and naturally vibrant, Perfect Purple is a rare high-grown Kenyan tea with a character entirely its own. Its remarkable purple leaves are naturally rich in anthocyanins and polyphenols, giving the tea an exceptionally high antioxidant content while producing a light, refreshing cup with a flavour closer to black tea than green.
Grown high in the mountains of Kenya, purple tea is immediately recognisable by the unusual colour of its leaves. This pigmentation comes from anthocyanins – naturally occurring antioxidant compounds also responsible for the deep purple and blue colours found in fruits such as blueberries and blackcurrants.
Alongside these anthocyanins, the leaves contain the polyphenols naturally found in tea. Together they give purple tea its distinctive antioxidant profile, with higher levels of antioxidants reported than in conventional green tea.
The high-altitude growing environment plays an important role in the character of the leaf. Cooler mountain temperatures combined with intense equatorial sunlight create challenging conditions for the tea plants, encouraging the production of the natural protective compounds that make purple tea so unusual.
In the Cup
Despite the colour of the growing leaf, Perfect Purple produces a surprisingly light, golden infusion. The flavour is smooth and refreshing, sitting much closer to a delicate black tea than a typical green tea, with gentle woody notes and a subtle tartness towards the finish.
This makes Perfect Purple particularly interesting for those who are drawn to green tea for its naturally occurring antioxidants, but don't enjoy its grassy or vegetal flavour. Purple tea offers another way to explore antioxidant-rich tea, but with a softer, more familiar character that's remarkably easy to drink.
Add a squeeze of lemon and you'll discover another unusual quality. The naturally occurring anthocyanins respond to acidity, causing the infusion to brighten and change colour – a visible reminder of the compounds that make the leaf so distinctive.
Rare, unusual and exceptionally rich in naturally occurring antioxidants,
Perfect Purple combines one of tea's most fascinating leaves with a smooth flavour you'll want to drink every day.
Origin: Kenya
Style: Purple tea
Growing conditions: High elevation
Naturally occurring antioxidants: Anthocyanins · Polyphenols
Liquor: Light golden
Character: Smooth · Light · Woody · Refreshing
Best enjoyed: Without milk, particularly good with lemon
30g - 10 to 15 cups of tea
100g - 40 to 50 cups of tea
200g - 80 to 100 cups of tea
500g – 200 to 225 cups of tea
1kg – 400 to 450 cups of tea
Looking to give this tea to someone as a gift, why not try check out our luxury gift tubes:
https://www.r-tea.co.uk/product-page/gift-pack
New to loose leaf? Try adding teabags
Make brewing loose leaf easy by adding our refillable teabags to your order. Just put a few teaspoonfuls of tea to the teabag, pull the drawstring and brew as normal. They are fully compostable and completely plastic-free so they are also an eco-friendly option too.
