This was a close call. I almost brewed up a large cup of this tea to drink before bedtime, thinking it was a herby sleep tea. But no! This is a fully caffeinated, fresh and fruity green tea. The connection to Sleeping Beauty was lost on me for a minute, until I connected this tea to the scenes in the old Disney movie where Aurora dances around in the forest.
That’s what this tea is all about. Forest greenery and wild berries with a sweet, light green tea base.
I have 100g of this loose leaf to play around with, so let’s dive in. My full tea review below covers the flavour, best method for brewing, plus some info about the ingredients and brand.
Pumphrey’s Sleeping Beauty Tea at a Glance
Izzy’s Rating
- Blend: Sencha green tea with heather, rose buds, and fruit flavouring
- Flavour: Smooth, warm sencha with subtle heather and sweet berry notes
This green tea is on the mellow, warm side rather than the fresh and grassy side. The berry flavours are a tad fake but the sweetness isn’t overpowering. It’s a nice tea.
Full Review – Flavoured Sencha Green Tea
- Type: Loose leaf
- Tea: Sencha green tea
- Ingredients: Rose buds, rose petals, heather buds, raspberry flavouring, blackberry flavouring
- Flavour Notes: Smooth, warm sencha, mellow, blackberries, sweet
- Aroma: Strawberry jam, tangy, heather musk, artificial blackberries
- Milk or Lemon: Neither
- Where to Buy: Pumphrey’s Coffee or find their Grainger Market Stall in Newcastle
Opening the packet (which is the old fashioned paper bag that I love), the initial aroma is strawberry jam. It’s sticky sweet and fruity with notes of strawberry and raspberry, but with a tangy edge and complex floral heather musk.
It’s a promising start!
Once brewed into a pale and cloudy yellow-green tea, the aroma changes from strawberry jam to artificial blackberry. It’s not unpleasant, but it’s instantly recognisable as blackberry flavouring rather than fresh blackberry.
Now for the important part. The flavour.
Green tea takes the forefront with smooth, warm sencha notes. Some green teas can be grassy, bright and astringent, but this isn’t one of them. Instead, it’s mellow and warm like a hug. The fruit and heather notes are subtle but definitely sweet. The fruit is clearly flavouring but not bad tasting.
Overall, it’s a decent cup of tea. Much like a Disney film, it’s a sweetly pleasant experience but it’s no epic blockbuster.
Drink again? Yes. Buy again? Probably not.
How to Brew Green Tea
The trick with green tea is to lower your water temperature a little. So, fill the kettle with fresh water and let it boil, then you can either use a kitchen thermometer to check when the water drops down to 80°C or just let it sit for 5 minutes.
Brew 1 teaspoon in roughly 200ml (or 1 cup) of water for 3 minutes, then strain and serve.
It’s already quite sweet so don’t add any sugar or honey without tasting it first. You could add a lemon slice if you wanted to bring out more of the freshness in the green tea, but that’s not essential. It’s good just as it is.
Why Buy Tea from Pumphrey’s?
Pumphrey’s is a coffee house in the UK that happens to have a rather spectacular line of teas. You can buy their teas online or try them in-person at their Newcastle market stall.
I received this tea, Sleeping Beauty, and their China Jade Wings as a gift.
Looking at the tea leaves, I see nothing overly special here. It’s a standard sencha green tea – not the highest quality but still respectable. The raspberry and blackberry is flavouring, so that’s visually undetectable. The rose petals are a mix of yellow and pink, plus I later found some whole rose buds in the packet too (and kicked myself for not photographing them). The small specks are heather buds.
This tea is ideal as a fruity everyday drinker. If it wasn’t caffeinated, I’d even recommend it for kids. It’s sweet and smooth, not too expensive and incredibly inoffensive.
I have been drinking it both iced and hot this summer. It works well as a cold brew in the fridge overnight.
Summary
Ultimately, Sleeping Beauty is anything but sleepy. It’s warm, mellow and fruity with good sweetness and no astringency. If you want a fruity green tea that you can drink hot or cold in the summer, it’s a good option.
You can buy it directly from Pumphrey’s Coffee with the link below.
Tea Recommendation
If you came here looking for a fruity sleep tea to have before bedtime, fear not. I have just what you need. Read my review of Clipper Blackcurrant and Blueberry Tea next, to discover a naturally sweet and calming fruit infusion you can sip before hitting the hay.
