Well, we’re now in the first full week of September and it feels like we’ve instantly switched from summer to autumn. Pukka Wild Apple & Cinnamon with Ginger tea (yep, that’s a really long name) was at the top of my list of autumn teas to try in 2021.
Apple and cinnamon is a classic combo, but with the addition of a slightly fiery ginger, it has the potential to be magnificent. But any long-term readers of my tea reviews will know one important thing: Pukka tend to screw things up.
Either the tea ingredients don’t match with the tea name, or Pukka decide to swamp everything in liquorice for no apparent reason.
In my review, I’ll reveal how Pukka have done with this apple, cinnamon and ginger blend!
Pukka Wild Apple and Cinnamon Herbal Tea at a Glance
- Blend: Cinnamon, licorice and ginger tea with small amounts of apple, chamomile and spices
- Flavour: Dull generic herbs with no distinct flavours
A seriously disappointing tea. The initial aroma and the quality of the ingredients (before Pukka decimated them) was great, but the flavour just wasn’t there. It’s a generic herbal flavour with no distinct flavour notes.
Full Review – Apple and Cinnamon Tea with Ginger
- Type: Tagged paper filter teabags
- Ingredients: Cinnamon bark, liquorice root, ginger root, orange peel, chamomile flower, wild apple, cardamom pod, cloves, orange essential oils
- Health Benefits: Improve heart health
- Flavour Notes: Generic herbs
- Aroma: Ginger, cumin, apple cider vinegar, cinnamon
- Milk or Lemon: Anything to give it flavour
- Where to Buy: Amazon
Ripping open the paper packet (Pukka are really good with their biodegradable packaging) you’re instantly hit with a spiced aroma. Notes of ginger, cumin and cinnamon are mixed with sharp apple cider vinegar. It’s not a great flavour – the cumin-like scent and vinegar make it seem more savoury than sweet. But at least we’ve got all 3 titular flavours present.
It brews into a very dusty dark yellow-orange colour, like thick and concentrated apple juice. The aroma from the brewed tea isn’t as good. It’s lost a lot of the freshness initially present, leaving a generic herbal aroma with very slight hints of ginger, cumin, and vinegar.
As for the flavour, it’s just not good. There’s a distinct herbal flavour that’s present in numerous Pukka teas. I think it’s a mix of the liquorice with finely chopped/dusty ingredients that sucks out all the flavour. If you really focus, you can detect a little bit of apple…
…maybe. The problem with trying too hard, is that you create the flavour in your mind rather than tasting it on your tongue.
To summarise – okay aroma, terrible flavour.
How to Brew Pukka Apple Cinnamon Tea
Pukka’s extremely unhelpful guidelines to just brew it for “up to 15 minutes” means I usually have a lot of experimenting to do to find the right timing, temperature and water volume.
No matter what I do, I’m left with a generic herbal flavour. The best results I’ve had are from a 6-minute brew in 250ml of boiling water. Use 1 teabag (2g) per mug.
You can add some honey and/or lemon to this tea to add a little flavour too it… but then you might as well just make honey lemon tea and avoid these disappointing herbal teabags altogether.
Why Pukka Wild Apple Tea?
Pukka are experts at finding some gorgeous ingredients. They don’t just use apple, they use wild apple. The liquorice is FairWild certified too. And yet, Pukka nearly always butcher these ingredients by chopping them so finely.
Take a look at my photos of the teabag contents and the final brewed tea – it’s so dusty and the tea pieces are so finely chopped! This is bad for 2 reasons – the first, is the ingredients oxidise much quicker when they’re finely chopped (so they go stale very fast), and the second is they change the texture of the tea.
Some Pukka blends, like this one, are so dusty and thick that it catches in your throat. It’s irritating and rough.
Pukka Wild Apple, Cinnamon and Ginger Tea Health Benefits
There’s only 6% wild apple and 14% ginger in this tea. Cinnamon, on the other hand, makes up 28% of the tea blend with liquorice just behind it.
Cinnamon health benefits are mostly to do with the heart. According to Dr. Axe, numerous chronic diseases including heart disease can be fought by antioxidants found in cinnamon – though obviously, it’s not a cure.
But keep in mind that Pukka’s love of liquorice in their herbal blends make destroy cinnamon’s health benefits altogether. Liquorice can cause high blood pressure, hypertension, which is not good for your heart.
Summary
Overall, I can only recommend this tea to smell. Brew it hot and make it into candles or just use it to warm your hands. Whatever you do, don’t drink it! The flavour is just not good and, in my opinion, really not worth the money.
However, if you disagree with me or want to taste it with your own tastebuds, you can find it on Amazon using the link below.
Tea Recommendation
If you want to find a genuinely tasty apple tea that’s good for autumn, I recommend Naturaplan Wild Apple and Rosemary tea. The herbs are dominant at first, but then the apple sweetness sweeps in afterwards. It’s a very light and refreshing tea if you can get your hands on it.