Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Product Description:
After creating our Pumpkin Cheesecake blend last week, I was bitten by the pumpkin bug, and reminded of the delicious pumpkin pancakes my wife likes to make. As popular as our pancake breakfast tea is, I thought this could be just as popular–a Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast tea.
Here is the essence of pumpkin pancakes, drizzled in warm maple syrup and topped with a touch of fresh creamy butter. (To our vegan friends, I assure you this is still 100% Vegan, and we only use natural flavors–something of a miracle, if you ask me, but a delicious miracle.)
Taster’s Review:
As I sit here typing, this tea is in my mug which is placed right in front of me… and the aroma wafting out of the mug is irresistible. It smells so good that my taste buds seem to be focusing all their powers to make my hands stop typing and start sipping.
And … YUM! Yes, of course, yum. This is 52Teas we’re talking about. Frank is the “Willy Wonka of Teas.” I am sure that he’s working on some fantastic blend that is a 3 course meal all in itself.
But in the meantime, I’m blown away by this Pumpkin Pancake Breakfast tea. It really delivers what it promises: the flavors of pumpkin, pancake, butter and maple syrup are all there. Yummy! Plus, of course, I can taste the flavor of rich black tea.
The black tea base that Frank uses is a blend of Nilgiri and Assam teas, and it provides a very solid backdrop for the unusual blends that Frank dreams up. However, I have noticed that with some of the blends – more so than with others – it comes across as slightly bitter. And that is the case with this tea, so I recommend caution when brewing it, start out with just 2 minutes (or 2 minutes 15 seconds) and adjust according to your own taste. I brewed this cup at 2 1/2 minutes, and I think it could benefit with a little less time. It is still very flavorful, and I’m not getting much bitterness here, but, I can sense that if I steeped it even 15 seconds longer I would have a bitter cup.
As it is, though, it is rich and flavorful without being too bitter. Next time, though, I think I shall brew it for just 2 minutes.
I enjoyed my cup straight up and found that it is pleasantly sweet on its own. I then tried it with a little sprinkling of turbinado sugar and found that this brought out some of the maple-y tones a bit more which was nice. I think next time I try it, I shall try a drizzle of pure maple syrup and see how delightful that turns out!
At the time of this writing, this blend is sold out. I hope Frank does decide to reblend it for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to try it, because this would make the PERFECT tea to serve with breakfast on Thanksgiving morning!
