Pharmaceutical scientist here who's taken up tea drinking as a nutritional genomics-based avocation:
The dried leaves present with an invitingly fruity, berry-like scent
The first stepping of the leaves produces a pale purple-brown liquor (best described as puce in hue) that holds following a second steeping and lightens ever so slightly with the third steeping (I typically steep whole leaf teas 3x before moving on to new leaves to see how the flavor profile evolves)
The first steeping opens with woody flavor notes interspersed with a subtle fruity sweetness (i.e. no sugar required) before settling on the palate into something lighter than a black tea yet more than a green tea; accordingly, it would slot somewhere around the oxidation levels of a yellow tea or oolong tea
I noticed that, as one finishes the first steeping, there are astringent, palate-drying closing notes from the tannins akin to a green tea (note that I keep the leaves in my cup to extract as much caffeine / theanine as possible); when resteeping those same leaves for second and third runs, the mildly sweet, fruity flavor profile continues to predominate whereas those astringent closing notes have lessened in intensity
Given that purple tea possesses a unique tannin called 1,2-di-O-galloyl-4,6-O-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-β-D-glucose (GHG), this is likely the chief constituent encountered towards the denouement of the cups
In addition to caffeine, theanine, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and epicatechin gallate (ECG), purple tea contains anthocyanins akin to what one would find in blueberries, red onions, or black rice as detailed in the product description
Overall, a superbly unique tea provided by Whistling Kettle team
